THIS CLASS IS NOW OFFERED 1X  A WEEK IN AN ONGOING FORMAT WHERE STUDENTS CAN ATTEND CLASSES THEY NEED. PLEASE GO TO THIS LINK TO SEE THAT LISTING: 
https://outschool.com/classes/keyboarding-101-ThN7jGOE?usid=aTGfXp5C&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link

***This listing is for an interactive fifteen day course taught over the course of 5 weeks (three days a week for five weeks) to help students learn how to type properly, efficiently and have fun doing it! If you are interested in a flex option, you may find it here: https://outschool.com/classes/beginner-keyboarding-101-yC5cl6WT?usid=aTGfXp5C&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link

Prior to class beginning, there will website information shared in the classroom tab and login information will be sent as a private message to each student. The site used for practice of what we’ve learned is shared weekly in the classroom tab as a new post for learners to be able to access the site out of class hours for practice when they are able to do so. It will be titled, “Typing Site Information” under each post as a link to click. A new window will open with the link to the typing site at the top and login information at the bottom. This is a great printable for your student to have near them at the start of each class so they too can know how to login in!  

At the beginning of each class, students will be given an activity or a question to answer which helps all of the learners get to know each other. Students who are too shy do not have to participate. Only those who want to share will be called on. The chat box is set to privately message the teacher should students want to share without others knowing.

This is an interactive twelve day course taught over the course of 4weeks (3x a week) to help students learn how to type properly, efficiently and have fun doing it! Students learn how to type the letters of the alphabet, numbers, the main punctuation we use almost daily, our name, some symbols and we will use the home row or home keys to practice proper positioning. We will also practice what we learn using a website. 

To begin class, each student will be allowed time to introduce him/herself and answer a question of the day to warm us up. We will have relaxed conversations at the beginning of each class following the first week to get to know each other and build community in class. 

Day 1: We will learn proper positioning, posture, how to login to the typing site and we will complete our pre assessment to see where are now with our typing speed and accuracy. We will also begin typing by learning F, J and spacebar. There will be an assignment to complete in the classroom tab and a lesson to complete on the typing site for practice. 

Day 2: We will learn how to use the shift buttons, which shift buttons to use when and we will practice typing the main punctuation we use often when typing papers or texting. A correlating lesson will be our assignment for students to complete before our next class. Games are included on the website for fun practice!

Day 3: This is a great day to begin learning the letters of the alphabet. Now that we know how to use our shift buttons properly, we will practice using them more to create capitals. We will have a teacher versus students challenge during this class too in the chat box. Make sure you know how and can use chat during class! There are many lessons I’ve added to our class for practice on the typing site that helps us practice our alphabet typing skills. Do your best to do as many of these as you can! Watch your wpm (words per minute) increase and your avatar on the typing site change the more you type! There are many lessons so don’t worry if you do not finish them all. Everyone completes their lessons at their own pace. Our focus keys for this day are U, R and K. 

Day 4: We will continue learning the letters of the alphabet. Now that we know how to use our shift buttons properly, we will practice using them more to create capitals. We will be using our chat box for communication and typing practice to utilize what we have learned so far. There are many lessons I’ve added to our class for practice on the typing site that helps us practice our alphabet typing skills. Do your best to do as many of these as you can! Watch your wpm (words per minute) increase and your avatar on the typing site change the more you type! There are many lessons so don’t worry if you do not finish them all. Everyone completes their lessons at their own pace. Our focus keys for this class are D, E and I. 

Day 5: For this day, we will be learning new letters on the keyboard in small chunks so that we can gradually begin to memorize (through muscle memory) where the keys are on the keyboard. Increasing our awareness of where keys are helps us to become even more proficient typists. Now that we know how to use our shift buttons properly, we will practice using them more to create capitals. We will have a teacher versus students challenge this day too in the chat box. Make sure you know how and can use chat during class! There are many lessons I’ve added to our class for practice on the typing site that helps us practice our alphabet typing skills. Do your best to do as many of these as you can! Watch your wpm (words per minute) increase and your avatar on the typing site change the more you type! There are many lessons so don’t worry if you do not finish them all. Everyone completes their lessons at their own pace. Our focus keys for this day are C, G, and N. 

Day 6: To continue learning the letters of the alphabet, we will focus on three new letters. We are going to learn how to type T, S and L this day. We will continue our practice of using the shift keys and keeping our fingers on the home row. Students will have games for a fun practice session on the typing site as well as in class to practice what they have learned.

Day 7: W, X and ; will be our focus for this day. We will continue our practice of using the shift keys and keeping our fingers on the home row. Students will have games for a fun practice session on the typing site as well as in class to practice what they have learned.

Day 8: O, B and A will be our focus for this day. We will continue our practice of using the shift keys and keeping our fingers on the home row. Students will have games for a fun practice session on the typing site as well as in class to practice what they have learned.

Day 9: V, H and M will be our focus for this day. We will continue our practice of using the shift keys and keeping our fingers on the home row. Students will have games for a fun practice session on the typing site as well as in class to practice what they have learned.

Day 10: Q, Y, Z and P will be this day's focus keys. We will continue our practice of using the shift keys and keeping our fingers on the home row. Students will have games for a fun practice session on the typing site as well as in class to practice what they have learned.

Day 11: Let’s have fun typing numbers and symbols this day! Now that we have tackled the letters of the alphabet, we will be learning how to type the numbers and symbols across the top of our keyboard. This will push us to practice the rules we have learned for how to use shift keys properly when typing. We will learn how to use proper positioning while typing these difficult keys and learning to reach without moving our fingers off the home row. We will also have lessons for practicing these keys on our typing site. When you’re caught up on your lessons, check out the fun games on the site!

Days 12 and 13: We will put to practice all we have learned. There will be kid friendly jokes, riddles, and commentary shared from the teacher in the chat box for students to respond to, using their new typing skills, while they practice typing words, sentences, and paragraphs on the typing site. Occasional brain breaks will occur to ensure fun is had and students are still practicing their typing skills while having fun! The idea is to have so much fun typing, we miss that we are practicing to gear up for our final day!

Day 14: This will be our final day before the cycle restarts for ongoing classes. This day we will complete our post assessment and students will be allowed time to play games with each other or individually (their choice) in celebration of completing our typing skills lessons. Students will receive a certificate of completion in their messages on Outschool (for privacy) along with a certificate showing their wpm and proficiency from the first day pre assessment. They can use these to compare their progress and see how far they have come. Some students progress rapidly while others may take more time. We are all at different levels and abilities. Not everyone has time to practice often either! It's important for students and families to know we will only focus on our personal goals and not others. Progress may be a little or it may be a lot depending on the amount of time given to practice, the experience had prior to class and the age of each student affecting their hand size as well as development. I send both certificates to help students see all progress should be celebrated no matter if it's big or small! The certificates are sent via Outschool to be printed anytime and students can always refer to them in the future that way.

Day 15: We will learn mnemonics to help us remember where the letter keys are located on the keyboard. There will be various challenges given to students to practice these. We will also finish up our lessons, our post assessment and play games. 

I look forward to helping you build your confidence and improve your typing skills!

Lauren Cannon