Keyboarding Using Master Key
All students begin keyboarding in 6th grade and continue practicing through 8th grade. I use a traditional, full-sized keyboard with a thin, black mask on it to cover the keys while teaching keyboarding. We plug these keyboards into the USB port on their laptops. This encourages the students to learn to type quickly while looking at the screen rather than the keyboard. Students have been very successful over the years using this method. I have had many students type over 65 words per minute. The fastest student I have taught was a young man named Ryan who successfully consistently typed 130 words per minute.
I use a keyboarding program called Master Key. Master Key consists of drills which progress slowly. It shows lines of letters and words to type on the screen. The first drill begins by teaching the letters f & j. Students also use their thumbs on the space bar and their right pinkie on the RETURN and DELETE keys. The 2nd drill add the keys of d & k. The 3rd drill adds s & l and the 4th adds a & ;. The 5th, 6th and 7th drills are all review and conditioning drills so that the students are reviewing rather than learning new keys. The drills continue in this pattern until they have reached drill #24 and have learned all of the basic keys.
The primary focus in keyboarding is to use the correct finger placement on the keys at all times. For most students this is a matter of breaking bad habits. That is the primary reason I DO NOT focus on speed until the students have completed drill #24 learning all basic keys.
The Master Key program measures individual progress on a log which students are encouraged to review after each drill. Progress is measured by all 3 of the following: WPM (words per minute), Error Rate and Accuracy. I focus the students' attention on their Error Rate at the beginning. Their goal is to keep the Error Rate at 5% or less. Accuracy measures the end result after the students have corrected their errors. Their goal is to keep Accuracy at 97% or better. I do not focus on the students' WPM until they have reached drill #24 and learned all of the basic keys.
The students progress together through all of the drills up to drill #24. At that time I review the log with each individual student and set a WPM goal for them. The students then spend a part of most of the remaining class periods attempting to meet their goal. To show consistency, they must complete drill #24 twice with their WPM goal met along with less than 5% error rate and more than 97% accuracy.
I keep track of students' progress toward meeting their goal on a class chart. Students are only competing with themselves to improve. They are NOT compared to others in the classroom. When students meet their goal, it is raised by 5 words per minute. If a student meets their goal 5 times within the quarter, they will be awarded a CD to decorate and hang from the ceiling in the classroom. If a student meets a goal of 65 WPM or higher, they will be awarded a CD to decorate and hang on the wall in the front of the classroom.
Grades are based on each student's ability to meet their individual goal. Two keyboarding grades are earned during each quarter. If a student meets their goal once during the quarter, they will automatically earn an A. If a student meets their goal twice or more during the quarter, they will earn an A+. For students who never meet their goal, their grade will be a B+ or lower based on the number of times they have completed drill #24. Students are allowed to work on Master Key in my classroom during Advisory and any completed drills will count toward their grade.
The primary focus in keyboarding is to use the correct finger placement on the keys at all times. For most students this is a matter of breaking bad habits. That is the primary reason I DO NOT focus on speed until the students have completed drill #24 learning all basic keys.
The Master Key program measures individual progress on a log which students are encouraged to review after each drill. Progress is measured by all 3 of the following: WPM (words per minute), Error Rate and Accuracy. I focus the students' attention on their Error Rate at the beginning. Their goal is to keep the Error Rate at 5% or less. Accuracy measures the end result after the students have corrected their errors. Their goal is to keep Accuracy at 97% or better. I do not focus on the students' WPM until they have reached drill #24 and learned all of the basic keys.
The students progress together through all of the drills up to drill #24. At that time I review the log with each individual student and set a WPM goal for them. The students then spend a part of most of the remaining class periods attempting to meet their goal. To show consistency, they must complete drill #24 twice with their WPM goal met along with less than 5% error rate and more than 97% accuracy.
I keep track of students' progress toward meeting their goal on a class chart. Students are only competing with themselves to improve. They are NOT compared to others in the classroom. When students meet their goal, it is raised by 5 words per minute. If a student meets their goal 5 times within the quarter, they will be awarded a CD to decorate and hang from the ceiling in the classroom. If a student meets a goal of 65 WPM or higher, they will be awarded a CD to decorate and hang on the wall in the front of the classroom.
Grades are based on each student's ability to meet their individual goal. Two keyboarding grades are earned during each quarter. If a student meets their goal once during the quarter, they will automatically earn an A. If a student meets their goal twice or more during the quarter, they will earn an A+. For students who never meet their goal, their grade will be a B+ or lower based on the number of times they have completed drill #24. Students are allowed to work on Master Key in my classroom during Advisory and any completed drills will count toward their grade.