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Keyboarding

          The keyboarding class is designed to learn or to review proper keyboarding technique in order to develop both speed and accuracy of keyboard input.

          During the first half of the first quarter of this one-semester class, technique is the ONLY thing evaluated.  The technique grade (which counts 40 percent of the total grade for the first quarter) is based on ten elements:

1.   Finger curve—keep your fingers curved and quiet; make tiny finger movements from one key to the next.  Drop your arms/hands to your sides.  Relax.  Move your hands up—look at the deep finger curve.  That kind of curve will make you both faster and more accurate.

2.   Wrists—should not rest on the keyboard or the desk.  The wrists should remain level and quiet.  (If I put a quarter on the back on your wrists, the quarter should remain in place while you are keyboarding.  If I put a 3x5 card over your wrists, the wrists should be nearly as level as the card itself.)

3.   Space bar—ONE thumb is used for the space bar.  Since most people are right handed, most people use their right thumb; but it is not required to use your dominant thumb.  The space bar is typed with a quick “down and in” motion of the thumb.

4.   Shift key—the shift key is used to type capital letters.  The hand opposite the letter you are typing is used for the shift key.  The shift key is held down with the pinky finger of the appropriate hand.  The other fingers stay on home row.  Think, “Shift, Type, Release” when learning the shift keys.  Eventually, the thought process switches to a quick two-step process (shift, type).

5.   Return key—the return key (ENTER key) is typed with the right pinky.  All other fingers should remain in place while the enter key is typed.  It is NOT a chance to drop the wrist to the keyboard or move the other fingers off the keyboard.  Just ENTER and continue typing.

6.   Posture—good typing posture has several elements.  The feet should be on the floor; flat is best, with one foot a little ahead of the other.  The hips are back in the chair (not the shoulders).  I should be able to put my hand easily between your shoulders (upper back) and the back of the chair.  The shoulders themselves are relaxed, not tense or “hunched.”  The arms should be hanging easily at the sides—not “chicken wings”; not scrunched in tight.  Just drop your hands at your sides, relax; then raise your hands and put the fingers on home row.  The shoulders, arm positions should be correct.

7.   Alphabet—toward the end of the quarter I check each student’s typing of the alphabet and the numbers individually.  I check to be sure that each letter of the alphabet is typed with the correct finger.  While doing so, I also look carefully at each students finger curve, shift key, space bar, return key, posture, and general typing fluency.  Each letter that is typed with the wrong finger lowers the grade for this element of technique a full letter grade. 

8.   Eyes—eyes are to stay on the copy at all times.  Don’t take eyes off the book to find a key, at the ends of lines, for capital letters, or for any other reason.  This is a class where you should type by TOUCH—so looking at the keyboard is not necessary.

9.    Eyes—eyes are such an important part of technique that this part of the grade counts double.

10. General work habits—the last part of the technique grade is based on a student’s general work ethic and effort.

In the second half of the first quarter, timed writings and directed speed/accuracy drills are added to the daily routine.  The timed writings (which count 40 percent of the first quarter’s grade) is based on a 3-minute timed writing.  All timings that meet the maximum error limit (of five errors in the three minutes) are scored and recorded.  At the end of the quarter, the three best timings are graded.  The grade scale is as follows:

            Words a Minute*                  Grade

             50 and above                          A

40-49                                      B

30-39                                      C

20-29                                      D

(Since keyboarding is taught to all 7^th graders at Norris, these speeds are reasonable.  However, if a student is new to Norris and has not yet had at least a semester of keyboarding, five words are added to that student’s speed for each timing.  That is, if the student actually types 38 words a minute, the speed will be raised to 43 words a minute before recording the score in the gradebook.)

Even though a timing must have five or fewer errors to count at all, the number of errors also influence the grade by adding a plus or a minus to the letter grade. 

          0-1 error                                   Add a plus behind the letter grade

          2-3 errors                                  Letter grade only (no plus; no minus)

          4-5 errors                                  Put a minus behind the letter grade

The remaining 20 percent of the grade for the first quarter is “proofreading.”  The students are given weekly assignments of simple, straight-copy material.  The student is to type the material and fix all typing errors before handing in the paper for grading.  Each un-corrected error counts off five points from a perfect score of 100.  The minimum grade for any one assignment is 50.  (That way, a student who leaves out an entire line of copy would still receive a grade much better than not doing it at all.)

In the second quarter of keyboarding, timed writings are generally given once a week.  In the second quarter, timed writings account for 40 percent of a student’s grade.  The same general format is followed for grading except that the speed increases five words a minute as follows: 

            Words a Minute                   Grade

             55 and above                          A

45-54                                      B

35-44                                      C

25-34                                      D

The number of errors is treated exactly the same as the first quarter’s timings.

The technique grade is reduced to 10 percent during the second quarter. 

The other 50 percent of a student’s grade is based on production-type jobs (letters and reports).  The “report” assignments are scored the same way as the straight-copy proofreading jobs of the first quarter—i.e., 5 points off for each mistake.  However, format errors, spacing errors, etc., are now taken into consideration as well.  The “letter” assignments are generally graded as pass/fail (A/F).  No business would intentionally send out a letter with any kind of mistake in it!  However, if a student receives an unacceptable grade (F), the student may fix the mistake, reprint the letter, and raise the grade accordingly.  (Assuming the letter was acceptable the second time, the grade would be a C—the average of "A" and "F.") 

A complete list of jobs for each week is given to the students on the first day of the semester.  That way, a student who misses school will know exactly what the missing assignment is—or can even make up the work before the absence.