Keyboarding Rationale and Common Core Standards

Why Teach Keyboarding?

Typing faster in not the primary objective of keyboarding; rather it is a desired side effect. Once your students are able to type with all ten fingers without needing to look down at the keyboard, their overall productivity when using a computer will improve dramatically. When typing with two fingers, the visual and frontal cortices of the brain are forced to focus on where individual keys are located. Keyboarding removes this burden, enabling students to work on things like sentence structure and grammar while they type. To help students in the classroom, the best thing you can do is to make sure students are not looking at the keyboard.

Keyboarding and the Common Core Standards

Grade 3 - “Use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboard– ing skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.” http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/3/6

Grade 4 -TYPE ONE page in a single sitting,” approximately 11 WPM.* http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/4/6

Grade 5 - “TYPE TWO pages in a single sitting,” approximately 22 WPM.* http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/5/6

Grade 6 - “Type THREE pages in a single sitting,” approximately 33 WPM.* http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/6/6/5

Grade 7 - “Interact and collaborate with others.” http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/7/6

* Fluently communicating with others via the internet, especially when instant messaging, requires keyboarding proficiency.

Grade 8 - “Gather relevant information...and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism” http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/W/8

* Academic integrity is one of the most important values we can instill in young students. Keyboarding lessens the physical burden of typing, thus making students less likely to copy-and paste entire paragraphs.

College Readiness - “Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two)” http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/W/10

TypingClub Teacher Handbook 2011 - 2017

Keyboarding Rationale and Common Core Standards

​