Keyboarding at Prairieview

We have begun our keyboarding program in all three grades at Prairieview. I cannot see the future, but unless there is some magical change, our students will have to do lots of keyboarding throughout their years in school and, most likely, in their jobs. It is important to learn to do it correctly.

Many students have told me it is like learning to play an instrument. They are right. It needs to be done the right way and it takes lots of practice. The launching pad is learning the home row position. Each finger has a home key and several other keys it is responsible for. Thumbs are dumb and they both live on the space bar. That is their only job.

Ideally, the students will practice enough and internalize the keyboarding so they can watch the screen while they are typing. We can't afford enough time to practice this skill adequately at school. It would help if parents would remind the students to use the home row position and to keep their eyes up on the screen as much as possible.