Keyboarding in Elementary is always controversial. Over the years the discussion seems to boil down to a few questions.

 

1 - Should it be taught in the lower grades?

2 - Can the younger students learn it? Are they developmentally ready?

3 - Who should teach it?

4 - Where do we get the time?

5 - What about those students who get to middle school or high school and can not type?

 

1 - This question is answered by the State of Texas. Yes!

 

In other states you may have a choice, but here the Technology Applications TEKS spell out that keyboarding instruction starts with the K-2 second. I quote: "use proper keyboarding techniques such as correct hand and body positions and smooth and rhythmic keystroke patterns as grade-level appropriate; (C)  demonstrate touch keyboarding techniques for operating the alphabetic, numeric, punctuation, and symbol keys as grade-level appropriate; (D)  produce documents at the keyboard, proofread, and correct errors;"

 

2 - Are student capable of learning this at such a young age? Yes. 

 

Both my wife and myself have taught keyboarding all the way down to first grade. We both did this long before the State required it. However, there is this problem of their hands. We taught with regular size keyboards and with child size keyboards. The products, such as LittleFingers, designed for the smaller hands children have make a huge difference. Using these keyboards you will be able to teach successfully starting at first grade. The regular size keyboards cause more problems then they solve and are best saved until 5th or 6th grade or when their hands fit.

 

3 - Who should teach it? A teacher trained in typing and computer skills.

 

The worst thing you can do is give little children bad habits on the keyboard. That makes teaching touch typing in the upper grades extremely difficult. A normal 7th thru 10th grader can learn basic touch typing in one semester. A student who has learned to look and has bad typing posture and habits can take three semesters to reach 40wpm. This becomes even more critical at the districts where there is no keyboarding class in the upper grades.

 

4 - Where do we get the time? From time savings.

 

This is the hardest part for administrators and teachers. As the children learn to keyboard they need to have their practice be a part of other activities. They need to do their writing assignments on computers or the dana. As the kids because more proficient they will be able to accomplish more of their writing in a shorter time and so the training will not be wasted. The trouble is that the lower grades give up the most time, percentage wise, and they gain the least. However, over the course of 1st thru 5th the total time savings more than makes up for the time spent training. This requires teamwork and a campus pulling together. Not always possible. (Or an administrator who just makes the schedule.)

 

5 - What about those kids who get to high school and can not type? There must be at least one keyboarding class.

 

I totally agree with a prerequisite of keyboarding or a quality "test" for competency before BCIS. The State agrees. I quote "§120.23. Business Computer Information Systems I (One-Half to One Credit). (a)  General requirements. The prerequisite for this course is Keyboarding, one-half credit or equivalent, as described in §120.26(a) of this title (relating to Keyboarding (One-Half to One Credit)). This course is recommended for students in Grades 9-10.

 

The problem is that many times the keyboarding class the students took did not come close to the speeds needed for the real world. (40+ wpm) I know a number of schools that address this with a speed test. If you are at 40+ you only need one semester of Keyboarding, any less and you have to take the entire year.

 

I also know that too often the keyboarding class is graded poorly and students with 10-15 wpm speeds are passing. Grade inflation is a different topic altogether.

 

The best success that I have seen is with the vertical teams. When all the elementary grades are represented and the administration makes the goal fulfilling the TEKS, you have a chance for a successful program. The technology plan we developed in Corsicana included a phased-in approach to keyboarding in elementary. This took a long time, but finally all the committee members agreed. 

 

On the campuses where the scheduling and equipment followed the plan it was successful. As you all know, the best ideas and plans are dirt if people take short cuts. If you go to www.cisd.org and find their technology plan, you will see on page 23 (if there have been no changes) the implementation plan for the district-wide keyboarding program.

 

This issue is more about money than anything else. To do this properly you need quality computer teachers, keyboarding appliances or computers, and very good oversight. Yet today the computer teacher in elementary are disappearing and being replaced with aides. Then a few years later the aides are eliminated and the regular ed teachers are expected to do it all. And how many schools will spend the money to purchase the keyboard that fits their fingers?

 

I have worked and trained teachers in elementary to do this themselves and most can not. Once students are in the computer lab they expect the person running the lab to fix every problem and most teachers are not able to add computer technician to their list of skills they must master each year. If they have good computers and/or appliances with spares that they can switch students over to, then they have a chance. But ask yourself, how much must they do on their own and how much work must they do every year to keep up?

 

I witnessed excellent elementary keyboarding programs, built a couple and watched others disintegrate from lack of funds, quality support and poor oversight. I wish you a lot of luck on developing and maintaining a top notch program.

 

Dirk D Dykstra