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At What Age Are Kids Developmentally Ready for Typing?

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Up to a certain age, children’s brains are like sponges.

Studies show that children have a much easier time learning a second language if they start before their third birthday.

This early start will help them reach better levels of fluency and retention than if they start later in life.

Additionally, some studies even indicate that learning multiple languages at a young age can lead to cognitive benefits in critical thinking and creativity.

Like learning a second language, there can be serious benefits to introducing children to typing at a young age.

Is a child ever too young to take a stab at keyboarding?

At what age should you start to introduce typing to kids?

There isn’t a clear-cut answer for what the ideal grade is to begin keyboarding instruction.

Obviously, there is a big difference in the motor dexterity of a 1st grader versus a 5th grader, so our expectations of what each grade level can accomplish on a keyboard need to to be realistic.

Experts agree, though, that there’s no harm in starting students early on typing, even if it’s only for a small chunk of time per week.

Many teachers and parents have found that kindergarten is a great time to get kids familiar with typing.

Since students are learning to read and write letters, learning to type the same letters can be a great way to reinforce letter recognition.

In fact, there is some evidence from research that learning the same information through multiple means (reading, writing, typing) can benefit children in terms of cognitive development.

How to introduce young kids to typing?

So while there’s no right answer to when is the best time to introduce students to typing, there’s general agreement there’s no harm in starting early.

Introducing very young students to keyboarding will need to look different from teaching the skill to middle schoolers.

Young students don’t yet have full command of their motor skills, and some may have hands that are too small to feasibly rest their fingers on the home keys.

Thus, the goal here is to help familiarize young students with where keys are on a keyboard and how typing works, not to push touch typing at this age.

Once students reach second or third grade, then it makes sense to start them in on touch typing instruction.

Using a program such as Typing.com is a great way to help students learn the foundational skills of hand placement, posture, and letter sequence to help them avoid falling into the trap of hunt and peck typing.

An online typing platform is also ideal as it allows students to move at their own pace, monitor their progress, and practice typing in fun and engaging ways.

Recommended typing benchmarks for very young kids

If you decide to take the dive to teaching keyboarding with young kids, it’s essential to have reasonable expectations of what they should be able to accomplish.

Many schools and districts have developed benchmarks for what typing performance should look like at each grade level.

While these may vary slightly from school to school, the following are general grade level typing benchmarks for accuracy and WPM.

3rd grade: 85% – 100% accuracy, 15 WPM
4th grade: 90% – 100% accuracy, 20 WPM
5th grade: 90% – 100% accuracy, 25 WPM
6th grade: 90% – 100% accuracy, 30 WPM

These guidelines are a great place to start when it comes to setting goals and getting kids motivated to improve their typing.

So consider giving your students a leg up by introducing them to typing well before they reach middle school.

With a little practice, they’ll soak it right up!

Will We Need Typing in 50 Years?

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Education

No one can know for sure what the future of technology holds for us.

Computers embedded in our fingertips?

Teletransportation?

The possibilities are fun to think about, but at this point, we can only speculate about where technology is headed.

One area that some people believe is due for a technological overhaul is typing.

With all of the technology that exists today, how is it possible that we still need to learn to type?

In particular, the growth of “Voice to Text Technology” has some students and parents wondering if it isn’t time that we phase out typing instruction altogether.

Read on to find out just how likely this possibility is—

Voice to Text Technology

Voice to text software has increased both in use and sophistication in the past several years.

For those unfamiliar, this is a tool where users can speak into their computer’s microphone and the words will appear for them on the screen as they speak.

Sounds cool, huh? Well it is!

Voice to text platforms are especially useful for students who have either learning or physical disabilities that prevent them from typing.

This digital tool can allow students to record their thoughts or test answers without needing a teacher or other student to do the typing for them.

While currently, voice to text technology has fairly limited use in schools, it does have some students and parents wondering if this means that typing will someday replace the keyboard.

Why teach students to type if they can achieve the same outcome just by talking into a microphone?

This is a great idea in theory, but there are a few limitations to the technology that have prevented this idea from becoming a reality just yet.

Voice to Text Limitations

There are a handful of reasons why voice to text technology hasn’t (and likely won’t) completely replace typing anytime soon.

Noise

The main reason is the requirement to talk, and thus make noise, in order to type.

Imagine having a classroom full of thirty students who are all trying to write an essay using voice to text software.

This would require thirty students to be talking simultaneously.

Not only would things get very loud and very distracting, but each student’s microphone would likely pick up part of what other students are saying.

And you thought students’ writing was confusing already!

Accuracy

A second reason that voice to text technology has yet to replace traditional typing has to do with accuracy.

As the technology currently exists, voice to text transcriptions tend to have errors, and the process of revising text or going back and changing something that’s been recorded is more complicated and cumbersome when you aren’t using a keyboard.

Teachers try to instill in students that good writing is a process, of which revision is a key step. Using software that makes revision a challenge doesn’t support this teaching philosophy.

Privacy

A final reason why voice to text technology is unlikely to replace typing anytime soon has to do with confidentiality.

Increasingly, states and districts are having students take standardized tests on computers. These tests often include an extended response component.

If students were to read their answers aloud as opposed to typing them, it would be very hard to ensure that one student wasn’t listening to another’s answers.

The same goes for the workplace. How comfortable would you be if every email you composed you had to read aloud within earshot of your coworkers?

There’s no doubt that voice to text technology is cool and is very useful in certain specific situations.

That said, we’ve likely got a long ways to go before this technology is ready to replace typing.

In order for this to happen, both the technology itself and our organization of classrooms and workspaces would need a serious overhaul.

So in the meantime, keep your eyes on the screen and your fingers on home row!

How To Keep Students From Getting Frustrated When They Make Errors

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Teachers

American poet Nikki Giovanni wisely said, “Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.”

While most adults can recognize the truth and value in this statement, children don’t always see things this way.

Many students are high achieving and perfectionists and expect that they’ll get things right the first time, sans errors.

When it comes to typing (and most things), it’s nearly unheard of to never make an error.

Errors are part of the learning process! Unfortunately, though, for some students a few errors can entirely derail a typing lesson.

So how can teachers keep students from getting frustrated when they make typing errors?

Read on of some of our favorite tips and ideas.

Institute a Typing Pause

The longer students are sitting in front of their computers, the more frequently they’re likely to get frustrated.

Even if your typing block is only 20 minutes long, it’s a good idea to have a mandated “pause” in the middle. Give students 30 seconds to stand, stretch, wiggle their fingers, and then get back to the lesson at hand.

Depending on the age of your students, you might want to have a pause every 8 to 10 minutes.

Model Making Mistakes

Even expert typists make mistakes in the heat of the moment. It’s important to let student know this.

Login to Typing.com as a student and project your screen for your class to see. Then, model what authentic typing practice should look like.

Will it include some mistakes? Definitely. Will you give up, get angry, or restart a lesson every time you make a mistake? No way!

If students can see that learning to type is a process that requires some errors, they’re more likely to be okay with making their own errors along the way.

Reward Resilience

Students of all ages are eager to impress their teachers, especially if there are rewards involved.

Find ways in your class to acknowledge and reward students who stay focused on their typing lessons, even in the face of frustrating errors.

You could shout out these kids at the end of a lesson, find a place on your wall to highlight the most resilient typists, or even incentivize students with a candy or small prize at the end of the week.

This is especially powerful because you aren’t recognizing the fastest typists, but instead the ones who have the best attitude towards learning.

Set Ground Rules

Decide how you want students to approach mistakes that they make in the moment and set clear ground rules for what is and isn’t appropriate behavior.

Some students will be tempted to go back and restart a lesson the second they make a mistake. This is not only time consuming, but frustrating as it’s difficult to complete a lesson with 100% accuracy.

Set clear expectations for when it is and isn’t ok for students to restart a lesson. Have clear procedures in place for when kids finish a lesson with less than desired accuracy.

Show Non-Exemplars

Some students can get REALLY worked up about making mistakes in their work. When it comes to typing this can lead to a downward spiral as they lose focus and continue to make more and more errors.

If you notice this happening with your students, take a few minutes at the beginning of class to demonstrate non-exemplar behavior when it comes to typing.

You can do this yourself, or have a particularly theatrical student act out what it looks like to get overly frustrated while typing.

Then have the rest of the class share out reasons why this isn’t a productive way to act.

What other tips or techniques do you use in your class to keep students focused and working, even when they make a dreaded mistake? Share your favorite tips in the comments below!

The Hottest Typing Game Right Now

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Typing Games

We know that spring can be a difficult time to be a teacher.

Warmer weather and longer days make students itchy to get out of the classroom and onto the playground.

And with summer just around the corner, it can be hard for students (ok, and teachers too) to focus on the hard work ahead of them.

That doesn’t mean, though, that these last few months of the year are any less important for learning than those that came before.

It does mean that teachers might need to be a little more creative in finding ways to get students really excited about maintaining an academic focus.

Here we have the Nitro Type Spring Event to the rescue!

If you’ve never had your students participate in a Nitro Type holiday event, you’re in for a treat.

This is just the thing to boost the energy and excitement in your typing classroom, even if your students have never used Nitro Type before.

Read on to find out how to incorporate the event into your classroom.

How to Participate

It’s quick and easy to get started with Nitro Type in time for the spring event, whether you’ve used Nitro Type before or not.

Go to nitrotype.com and click on “sign up”.
Create a username and password (putting in an email address is optional).If you teach younger students or know that remembering a username and password will be a challenge for your students, you can pre-assign these and merely hand them to students on slips of paper.
Once students log in, they’ll do a practice race to gauge their basic typing speed.
Voila! They’re ready to compete.

The more students practice and compete the more money they’ll earn.

To join the event itself, all they have to do is head to the dealership to purchase the easter egg themed car.

With this car, students will be able to earn 25% more bonuses with each race, so the more they “drive” this spring-themed car, the more themed achievements and cars they’ll be able to unlock.

The fun just keeps multiplying!

Bring Nitro Type to Life

Apart from being fun, kids love Nitro Type because it’s a great chance to compete with one another and reap the benefits of their increased WPM.

Collecting achievements, tracking progress, and earning prize money keep kids coming back for more.

That said, all of the prizes and recognition students get through Nitro Type is digital.

If you want to go the extra mile and really hype kids up about the spring event, consider bringing some of this competitive action to life in your classroom.

One fun way to do this is with a spring themed raffle.

Before your students start with the spring event, buy a few bags of plastic easter eggs at a party store.
Set some predetermined ways that students can “win” an egg.Maybe student get an egg for each gold medal they earn, if they increase their WPM, or for earning a certain amount of money on Nitro Type.You could also award one egg per class period to the student who did the best job of keeping perfect typing posture and form.
Whenever a student earns a plastic egg, have her write her name on a slip of paper and put it inside. Store eggs with student names in a big basket.
At the end of the Spring Event draw eggs from the basket to receive prizes. The more eggs a student earns, the better his or her chance will be of winning a prize.

Your students are bound to think this is an egg-cellent idea!

How Do You Break Bad Typing Habits?

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Teachers Typing Tips

Bad habits happen.

When it comes to typing, it almost feels like bad habits are inevitable.

By the time students get proper typing instruction in middle school, they’ve already spent their formative years pecking out messages to friends on an array of devices.

So how can typing teachers engage kids in the grueling task of breaking their bad habits in order to master touch typing?

There is certainly no silver bullet to solve this problem, but keep reading for a few ideas on how to get started.

Focus on Form

Make a big deal to students about the importance of correct form and technique when typing.

Even if it feels like you’re beating a dead horse, take the time at the beginning of the year to teach, review, and reiterate the importance of posture, hand position, and looking at the screen while typing.

Celebrate students who do this well, and incentivize others to follow their lead.

The easiest way to show form matters? Grade it!

Make posture and technique a part of students’ grades. These could be worth anywhere from 10% to 40% of a student’s grade depending on how much you think kids need an extra push to work on form.

Use a simple rubric or checklist to grade students on their form during typing time.

In addition to checking posture and hand position, it’s also worthwhile to include having both feet flat on the floor and eyes on the screen as requirements for perfection.

Use Tools

There are a handful of tools and resources that nudge students to drop bad habits and adopt touch typing.

Keyboard skins can be used to cover the keys while students are typing.

If students cannot visually see which letter is on which key, they’ll need to rely on the keyboard on their screen and their ability to use the correct finger to strike a given key in order to succeed.

Similar to skins, you can purchase or make keyboard covers that achieve the same purpose.

Keyboard covers are like small benches that sit above your keyboard with room for your hands underneath.

By removing the visual cues for which key is which, students will need to rely on their muscle memory to learn key placement.

Finally, Typing.com comes with built-in resources to help tackle bad habits.

Our favorite? Problem key custom lessons.

Once a student gets started on Typing.com, the software will collect typing data to identify which keys a student tends to get wrong – his or her problem keys.

From there you can assign a customized lesson to each student to work on problem keys in order to help build muscle memory for the correct key placement.

Build Typing Investment

Of all the skills that students learn in school, there is no doubt that typing is one they’ll likely need to use after they graduate.

Invest kids in the importance of learning to type well, and they’ll be more willing to do the hard work required to break bad habits.

For example, you could share with students a list of jobs that require typing skills.

Or, stress the importance of accuracy in typing by doing a mini-lesson on the most expensive typos of all time.

If you can show kids real-world examples of why good typing is important, they’re more likely to care about tackling the challenge of touch typing, regardless of what habits they currently have.

Start Them Early

While it may not be an answer that can solve your problems right now, your best bet for beating bad typing habits is to prevent them in the first place.

Students are starting to access keyboards at younger and younger ages.

If they spend the first several years of their digital lives pecking away at keys without any instruction or supervision, bad habits are likely to form.

On the other hand, if students get high-quality typing instruction at an early age, it’s much easier to circumvent bad habits altogether.

Starting kids earlier on typing instruction won’t help with the students who are in your classroom today, but will help with future generations of students.

Talk to your school or district administrator about introducing typing instruction into lower grades.

Many states and districts have had success with introducing keyboarding as early as second or third grade.

As more and more state tests are becoming computer-based, schools have good reason to want to help their students learn to type quickly and accurately.

Got any other ideas for how to break students of bad typing habits? Please share them in the comments below!

Keyboard Skins vs. Covers: The Best Tool for Learning the Keyboard

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Teachers

One of the biggest challenges for keyboarding teachers is to get students to stop looking at their hands when they type.

Even if one knows the keys, the temptation will always be to look down.

One great strategy is to cover the keys, hiding them from students’ eyes.

But what’s the best tool to do this? Skins? Stickers? Covers?

While each of these tools has its merits, the criteria for the best tool is that it should sufficiently cover the letters on the keys, that it’s removable, and that it feels natural while typing.

Read on for some of the pros and cons to each of these approaches.

Skins

Keyboarding skins are an easy option for covering the keyboard.

A cinch to install, skins are merely a rubbery sheet that sits directly on top of your keyboard. Each individual key is still distinguishable with a skin, but the characters are invisible.

Skins are just as easy to remove, making them useful for giving students multiple ways to practice even with a limited amount of time.

There is one major downside to skins, however, in that they don’t feel natural to the touch.

The rubbery texture can make it harder to press down on the keys. Additionally, sometimes they might disguise the bumps on the F and J keys that students use to find their starting position.

Stickers

Stickers are another relatively easy way to hide the characters on the keyboard to help students learn to touch type.

In addition to being easy to use, stickers are cheap and provide a totally natural feel.

Teachers can even use color-coded stickers to remind students which fingers go where.

Another perk of stickers is that teachers can choose which keys to cover and which to expose. Unlike skins which offer an all-or-nothing approach to covering keys, stickers provide plenty of different levels of support.

The biggest downside to stickers is that they are not removable. Once you’ve applied stickers to a keyboard, they are there to stay.

Covers

Finally, covers are a fan favorite for supporting students in becoming touch typists.

A cover is merely a bench shaped structure that sits atop a standard keyboard with room for students’ hands underneath.

With a cover in place, students will be able to type away naturally on their keyboard but without being able to see where each key is situated.

They are even faster than skins to install and remove, and they still provide a totally natural feel.

The only thing to be wary of is that covers need to be high enough that students can type freely, but low enough that students can’t look under them.

Our Pick

As the easiest to use and remove, and the provider of the most natural feeling typing experience, keyboard covers are our favorite choice for a touch typing tool!

Tip: Don’t want to invest in covers for your typing class? You can also take the cover from a box of paper and cut open the sides.

What’s More Important in Typing – Speed or Accuracy – And How Should I Emphasize It With My Students?

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Teachers

Imagine there is a baseball player who can pitch the ball at 150 miles per hour, breaking the world record. In a game, though, he only throws a strike one out of every ten pitches.

On the other hand, you have another pitcher who throws at 90 miles per hour, which is fast but not record-breaking. This pitcher throws strikes 99% of the time.

Which pitcher would you rather put in if you were a coach? Obviously the pitcher with better accuracy!

The bottom line? Speed matters, but accuracy matters more.

This statement holds true for pitching, as well as typing.

While both skills are an important part of being a proficient touch typist, for beginners, there is nothing more important than accuracy.

Speed will come with practice and repetition, but if students internalize bad habits by sacrificing accuracy for speed early on, these habits can be difficult to unlearn.

Make Accuracy Matter

While there’s no doubt that accuracy matters most for new typists, this truth often goes against the natural instincts of students.

Many kids crave instant satisfaction and have a tendency for speed.

As a teacher, it can be a challenge to slow kids down and help them internalize the importance of accuracy.

A good place to start is by sharing the above baseball analogy. By putting speed vs. accuracy in a different context, you can help students see just how important accuracy is.

Apart from just sharing this analogy, there are other ways you can show students that accuracy reigns king.

An easy way to make this distinction is to grade students on each of these skills, with accuracy being a bigger part of their grade.

Maybe accuracy on lessons and tests is worth 40% of a student’s typing grade while WPM is only worth 20%.

This breakdown sends a clear message to kids that accuracy is most important, while also incentivizing them to slow down.

Another good way to message the importance of accuracy to students is to set clear accuracy benchmarks.

Depending on the age and typing experience of your students, you’ll want to set clear expectations of what constitutes acceptable accuracy.

Make Accuracy Fun

Sure, shooting for 100% accuracy might not be as enthralling as beating your top speed on NitroType, but there are things teachers can do to build excitement around accuracy.

Find a time or space in your classroom to recognize those students who have shown performance or growth when it comes to accuracy.

You can even reward students by giving them a raffle ticket or other small prize for every lesson they complete with 100% accuracy.

You can also organize typing lessons in such a way that students need to complete a certain number of lessons meeting accuracy benchmarks before they can move on to a typing game.

Regardless of how you spin it, teachers are responsible for helping students fight the urge to focus on speed, and make sure that accuracy doesn’t take the back seat.

Have tips or ideas that you use in your classroom to incentivize typing accuracy? Share them in the comments below!

How to Help Students Differentiate Between the Number 0 and Uppercase O

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Typing Tips

For all the ways that technology is changing the school experience for both teachers and students, an often overlooked one is legibility of student work.

Most teachers can appreciate how much easier it is to read students’ typed work as opposed to (some) students’ written work.

In a way, typing almost levels the playing field in allowing students to get their ideas on paper, without the need for perfect or even passable penmanship.

Sure, penmanship still matters, but as a teacher, I’d rather read a typed essay than a handwritten one any day.

That doesn’t mean, though, that typing is foolproof when it comes to confusing characters.

A common mix up?

Switching the number 0 and the uppercase O.

Sometimes even proficient typists will swap these two characters. These lookalikes can be particularly frustrating for students using Typing.com who are working on their accuracy.

So how can a teacher help students distinguish between these two characters?

0 vs. O

There’s no denying that the differences between these two characters are subtle.

Your best bet in helping students know the difference during a typing lesson is to give them a chance to “preview” the characters they’ll be using in a given lesson.

As a teacher, it can be useful to log-in to a student account on Typing.com and project your screen.

With your class, you can preview any confusing characters that students might encounter in the day’s lesson.

In addition to 0 and O, this might include the number 1 and the letter l or even similar punctuation marks such as the colon (:) and the semicolon (;).

Let students take a minute to observe and share out the subtle differences between these characters.

When it comes to 0 and O, in most fonts, 0 is narrower and O is rounder.

I recently heard one teacher help students remember this by saying that 0 is skinnier because it has “zero fat”.

If students have a chance to think through these differences before they start a lesson when they aren’t stressed about WPM and accuracy, they’re more likely to internalize the subtle differences.

You can also remind students that in the real world most reading and typing on the computer happens in context, where it will usually be easy to figure out which character is intended.

As long as you’re being thoughtful about which key you want to hit, you shouldn’t have many problems.

And hey, it’s still easier than making sure your handwriting is perfect.

Online Typing Jobs So You can Work from Home

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Typing Jobs

With the emergence of Covid-19, the appearance of remote jobs on LinkedIn has skyrocketed by 457% percent. Encouraging news if you’re currently a job seeker looking for typing jobs from home! As an increasing number of people seek out the freedom to work from home amid the pandemic, typing skills have never been in higher demand.

So, what career path would you recommend for the child in your class who has held down the number one spot on your WPM leaderboard all year? Or for the adult who needs the flexibility to work from home to be present for her child’s distance learning?

(more…)

We’ve Banished Video Ads on Typing.com Games!

Last updated on August 29th, 2022 typingcom

Site update

Experienced teachers know the fine art of avoiding “down time” for students.

Unstructured time is when students are most likely to find trouble.

Whether bothering their neighbor or leaning back too far in their chairs, most minor misbehaviors can be avoided by keeping students busy.

Even 30 seconds of unstructured time can be enough for students to get off task.

With this in mind, we have now removed the pre-roll ads on our Typing.com games.

This way students will be able to play typing games without interruption.

Not only will this help students maximize their time spent typing, but it will also eliminate any chance that their focus turns from their computer to something else while they’re waiting to play.

We’re always looking for ways to improve the customer experience, and removing ads from games seemed like an easy win.

So go ahead and try out a game now!