Teaching Typing Skills

Since the publication of the Renewed Framework for Literacy and Mathematics, the issue of children learning to type has come back to the fore. Strand 12 (Presentation) of the Literacy Learning Objectives states that children should use a computer keyboard to enter text. Year 1 asks for children to use the space bar and to type their name; Year 4 objectives state that children should be increasing their typing speed and accuracy; Year 6 are expect to select from a wide range of ICT programs to present their text effectively.

There are a lot of programs that teach ‘Touch Typing’ – teaching the children the ‘Home Keys’ and then presenting a series of drill exercises usually made up of dull repetitive sentences, “sad; dad; lad” etc. While there is a place for such exercises, it is perhaps more relevant for children to initially be taught keyboard familiarity rather than touch typing. One tool for developing keyboard familiarity is Keyboard Crazy (see our discounts page).

Children do need to be shown how to place both hands on the keyboard at all times and to use all their fingers. This should be started from an early age in order to prevent bad habits that will hamper development later.

Children of course need to learn the location of the keys so that they can find them without thinking. However, true fluent typing will only happen once the children have reached a certain level of reading and spelling proficiency. It is asking rather a lot of a child to compose a sentence in their head, work out how to spell it and then to find the individual letters on the keyboard – that’s a lot of skills and knowledge!

So my advice?

• Ensure that the children have regular opportunity to practice and at the early stages, ideally daily.
• Children should be taught keyboard familiarity – i.e. where the keys are. This can be done away from the computer with paper or plastic keyboard templates and bingo or quiz style games.
• Ensure all teachers encourage children to have both hands on the keyboard at all times and are aware of good posture and typing techniques.
• Use the thumbs for the space bar.
• Children should be using the right hand for pressing keys on the right hand side of the keyboard and the left hand for keys on the left hand side. If they keep both hands on the keyboard then this comes more naturally.
• Use the shift key (not Caps Lock) and two hands for creating capital letters i.e. one finger from one hand (preferably the little finger) hold down one of the shift keys while a finger on the other hand presses the appropriate letter.  Caps Lock should only be used for sustained typing in capitals.
• Begin teaching more formal typing from the end of Year 3 upwards when reading and spelling levels are up to the challenge.
• Encourage children to watch the screen more than their fingers as their skills increase.
• Encourage support from home and try to make it as enjoyable as possible.

Take a look too at this blog post from ICT Inspirations.

Here are some relevant links to typing tutors, resources and software:

Free Keyboard familiarity sites

www.abcya.com/keyboard (Drag the keys to the correct location on the keyboard.)

www.freewebs.com (hit the letter shown on the keyboard)

Free tutors (online)

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing (Best with headphones!)

www.powertyping.com (The lessons are a bit dull, but the games are good!)

www.typing-lessons.org (A comprehensive site for teachers that will explain the principles of good typing. Plus there are some colourful charts that might be useful.)

www.ukspeller.com (simple interface, but effective)

Free software download

Tux Typing (An open source typing tutor for children.)

Commercial Products

Keyboard Crazy (a wildly used and researched product to teach keyboard skills. Banes Schools discount available). It is a non-computer based resource and can be used to support other curriculum areas.

2Type (A simple and attractive effective typing tutor from 2Simple with with a good range of activities. Banes Schools discount available)

Type with Tizzy (Sherston’s ever popular Tizzy character teaches typing for KS1. Click here for a demo.  Banes Schools discount available)

Easi Keysi (Sherston’s KS2 typing Tutor. Click here for a demo. Banes Schools discount available)

ITPs – take another look

When it comes to mathematics and ICT most people think of the ITPs from the Primary Strategy. When they were launched everyone invested time and training to ensure they were being used in the classroom appropriately. Although they are not the most dynamic programs in terms of design or ‘wow’ factor, there are very much orientated around allowing the teacher to teach using a good interactive visual modal. If you’re looking for some guidance on how to use the ITPs, take a look at this post from Wendy.

Since the initial launch of ITPs things have not stood still. All the ITPs are listed in the library section of the Primary Framework for Literacy and Mathematics which saves a lot of hunting around. Also there is a PDF guide on how to operate the programs.

Also, there have been some additions to the original line up. Take a look at:

Bead Sticks	Counting
Multiplication Board	Ratio and Proportion

If you’re a SMART Notebook user, then you can add the Flash versions of ITPs onto a Notebook page.

By the way, this is my first post written using Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer. Thanks Keith for the head’s up about the post from Primary Nuggets! Isn’t all this sharing great!

Screenshots from Windows Media Player

Since moving from Windows XP to Vista I have had a lots of reasons to be searching on the internet for fixes to various problems I have encountered. Here is a fix I found recently – not vista related but very useful.

Ever tried to print screen from windows media player and just got a black screen here is the answer.  Very useful for taking stills into other programs for discussion with students.Free simple way to capture Images from Windows Media Player

• Open Window Media Player
• Then go to Tools | Options
• In Options, select the Performance Tab
• Way below you click on the Advanced Button
• Uncheck “Use Overlays’
• Click Ok
• And you are ready.

Now run your movie in any size or screen resolution. Use the standard ‘Print Screen Key’ Method as described and you have captured a snapshot from your favourite movie on windows media player without using any special multimedia software

Use of ITPs

ITPs

Have you ever seen an ITP demonstrated and been inspired to look at them further and then got back to school and been frustrated by what to click on and how you might adapt them to your particular year group.

A couple of useful resources to help are the tutorial which goes through the mechanics of how you use them. This can be found from the primary frameworks site  web address above.

Also Gateshead LA produced some really useful guidance which looks at the ITPs and how they could be used in each year group, the type of questions you could ask and the investigations they support. I can’t find them on the Gateshead website, but I have found them on the Wirral learning grid – definitely worth a look.

http://www.wirral-mbc.gov.uk/maths/ITPLessonPlans/index.asp

There are also video tutorials on the Keys to Learning DVD – if you can’t find your school copy you can order another one from the details on this webpage.

Keys to Learning order details

ICT in the Primary Framework – Maths – Useful documentation

Use of Spreadsheets

All the spreadsheets produced to support the Primary Framework are available on the Primary frameworks website. They are a really useful resource, especially for supporting mental oral work, calculation exploring patterns etc… However, sometimes they can be difficult to locate and when you find them, there is little explanation of what they do and how they might support you without clicking and opening each one, which is very time consuming.

Dudley LA have produced some helpful guidance, for each spreadsheet they have written a brief overview and have given each one a star rating.  For the guidance and links to the spreadsheets click on the link below.

http://www.edu.dudley.gov.uk/primary/frameworks/5_star_ratings.htm

Renewal of the Frameworks

ICT CPD to support the Renewal of the FrameworksSchools will be involved in the renewal of the frameworks training this term. The ICT requirements within the frameworks build upon the embedding ICT work which has been going on in schools. However, for some teachers the expectations may be challenging. Resources that can support CPD work in school are the keys for learning DVD which all schools will receive a copy of as part of their training. All ICT subject leaders also received a copy in October.
The ICT team can also offer various staff meetings/ inset to support schools.
renewal-of-the-frameworks-ict-staff-meetings.doc