Suggested Activities

Saskatchewan Education's document A Handbook for Educators: Keyboarding provides a "starter kit" of activities beginning on page 16. The following activities are in addition to those in the above document.

• Develop a bulletin board display illustrating proper care and handling of the equipment (hardware) and/or software students will be using.

• Develop a display illustrating the basic parts of the equipment.

• Show a film or a video illustrating proper technique while keyboarding. High school students could model and develop the video.

• Demonstrate proper and improper technique while keyboarding. Technique is extremely important in the development of keyboarding skill and must be continuously encouraged. Keyboarding should not be taught sitting down but rather by moving around the room motivating and praising students. Written evaluations of students' techniques are important, but verbal encouragement and reinforcement of good technique on a daily basis will be beneficial to learners.

• Videotape students so they can evaluate their own technique.

• Make use of brightly coloured wall charts and/or overheads when teaching touch keyboarding.

• When introducing a new key, have students find it on their keyboards. Encourage them to look down at their hands only during the introductory phase of each new key. Vocalize the strokes while the students key, using rhythm and a suitable pace. For example, call out "J space J" or "J U J" as the students key. For a change of pace, have students be the "callers" as they key. For the purposes of key location, allow your students to look down at their hands during the keying of one or two introductory lines accompanying each new key. Once the new key has been located, extensive drill work is required with "eyes on copy" to promote key security.

• Identify and use appropriately a variety of resources including textbooks, examples of other copy material (such as handwritten drafts, overhead, chalkboard) guest speakers and demonstrators, video/film and software. The resources should be evaluated for their appropriateness and to ensure they are free of sexism, racism, etc. Check the school library for print and audiovisual resources which support keyboarding.

• The overhead or the board can be used effectively to ensure students are keeping their eyes on their copy while keyboarding. Putting the alphabet on the board or on flash cards, writing a list of "backwards" words (keyed from right to left, such as "deer" and "reed"), and keying the names of class members keep students interested and challenged.

• Use simple "art typing" designs to add interest and to assist the student with manipulation of the keyboard. Art typing is the creation of a diagram or graphic on the screen using a variety of keys such as x, /, *, etc.

• Have students work in pairs if the number of keyboards is limited. One student could complete a simple checklist of each partner's technique, then roles could be reversed.

• In the early grades, it may be helpful to physically divide the keyboard in "half" for the students to help them discern which half of the keyboard to use with their left hand and which half to use with their right hand. Insert a narrow piece of tin foil or a piece of brightly coloured yarn between the keys separating the left side of the keyboard from the right. Explain that the index or the "pointer" finger of the left hand should be used for keys on the left side of the keyboard while the index or "pointer" finger of the right hand is for keys on the right side of the keyboard. The thumb of the right hand is the preferred choice for the space bar. Mastering the use of the correct hand to key the alphabetic and numeric keys will go a long way to enhance the development of the skill of touch keyboarding.

• During the readiness phase of keyboarding (before touch keyboarding is introduced), encourage students to use the index finger of the left hand for keys on the left side of the keyboard. Alpha-numeric keys to be keyed with the left hand include the following: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, q, w, e, r, t, a, s, d, f, g, z, x, c, v, and b. Alpha-numeric keys to be keyed with the index finger of the right hand include: 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, y, u, i, o, p, h, j, k, l, semi-colon (;), colon (:), apostrophe ('), quotation marks ("), n, and m. The right hand will also be used for the period, comma, question mark, and diagonal (/) keys.

• Time the students for one minute while they copy a passage in longhand. At the end of the keyboarding program, their keyboarding speed should be at least equal to their handwriting speed. This will emphasize the usefulness of keyboarding to the young learner.

• Use a colouring activity to help your students with key location. Use the keyboarding chart showing both the left and the right hand at the bottom of the keyboard. Each finger has the name of a colour on it. Have your students colour the finger nail of each of the fingers with the appropriately coloured crayon. For example, the finger nail of the baby finger will be red, the ring finger will be blue, and so on.

• Now ask your students to outline the home row keys (a, s, d, f, j, k, l, and ;) in black. The next step is to colour the home row key the same colour as the finger that is used to strike the key. For example, the "a" key will be red; the "s" key will be blue, and so on. The space bar is struck with the thumb; the suggested colour is black. As more keys are added to the list of learned keys, they can be coloured the appropriate colour as well. The growing number of coloured keys will give your students a sense of accomplishment in addition to helping with key security.

• This can be taken a step further by the purchase of coloured sticky dots from a stationery store. Allow the students to put a red sticky dot on their baby fingers, a blue one on each ring finger, etc.

• Sample keyboards have been included for your use, and are found on the following pages.

• Activities originally developed by Manitoba Education are included, with their permission, following the keyboard charts. These charts and others serve as templates/masters for classroom activities.

Masters/Templates for Activities

Keyboard Chart
Used with permission Roberts, P. & Hollens, J.
Clever Cat Keyboarding for Beginners (1986)

Apple II
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Apple IIe
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Keyboard (84 Key)
Duplication permission granted by IBM Canada

IBM Enhanced Keyboard (101 Key)
Duplication permission granted by IBM Canada

TRS-80 Model III
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Commodore 64 and VIC 20
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Commodore Models 4016 & 4032
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Disk - template for a transparency

Diskette Care Posters - Level K
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Diskette Care Posters - Level K (pg2)
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Diskette Care Posters - Level K (pg 3)
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Diskette Care Posters - Level K (pg 4)
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Diskette Care Posters - Level K (pg 5)
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Starting Steps
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Starting Steps (pg2)
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Starting Steps
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)

Timetable for Microcomputing
Used with permission Manitoba Education,
K-3 Computer Awareness Interim Guide (1985)