Lesson Plans: March 2-13

TK-5th: Keyboarding

Why it’s Essential to Teach Keyboarding in Schools – The 4 Top Reasons
July 25, 2019 at: https://nearpod.com/blog/teach-keyboarding-schools/
Take a look around…What do you see? Electronics. Everywhere. Not only is keyboarding (correct typing) prominent in everyday activity, it’s also needed to complete classwork and assignments. Which is why it’s important to teach keyboarding in schools. So much so that keyboarding is now part of the Common Core Standards.
Poor typing skills slow students down, preventing them from completing work on time and understanding lesson material. In this post, we’ll cover the top four reasons why schools need to teach keyboarding.

Teaching keyboarding is essential in schools. 

1. Keyboarding is Part of the Common Core Standards
The Common Core is a national standards initiative that details what K–12 students throughout the United States should know. Several of the Common Core Standards require keyboarding. This is part of a trend of computer literacy becoming an essential element in K-12 education. The Common Core clearly states a typing requirement for each grade. For example, in grade 6, students should be able to type three pages in a single sitting. This equates approximately to typing at 25 words per minute with 95% accuracy.

2. Keyboarding Helps Students in Computer-Based Assessment
Many schools, states, and districts now rely on a range of computer-based assessment technologies. So it stands to reason that if a student is typing answers on a keyboard, fast and effortless typing will help them score higher. Instead of struggling to find letters and “hunting and pecking”, students who know keyboarding can type quickly and automatically, allowing them to focus their attention on what matters – doing their best in the test.

3. Keyboarding Builds Classroom Success
As technology continues to grow, so does the need for proper typing skills. Classrooms are becoming technologically inclusive, integrating online collaboration and discussion into lesson plans. Since a huge amount of class and assignment work is completed on a computer with a keyboard, when students type well, it makes everything else faster, easier, and more enjoyable.

4. Keyboarding for Real-World Success
While phones and iPads have become popular for watching Netflix, texting friends, and surfing the web, you still need a keyboard in order to do “real work”. If you type fast, you are more productive at work, process information faster, and are less likely to develop painful RSI (which is caused by incorrect typing). This is why typing is an essential skill for almost any job, especially for high paying jobs. Proper keyboarding sets students up for success in the high-tech future, where many jobs will involve using computers, coding, and analyzing large amounts of data.