Grade 3

My Goals are "Key"

Empowered Learner
Girl typing on a laptop

Setting Keyboard Goals
Overview

The goal of these activities are for students to build their keyboarding skills and to learn about setting keyboarding goals through goal setting and progress monitoring to develop realistic goals for the year.

Students will:

  • be able to set a realistic keyboarding goal and will track their keyboarding successes throughout the year
  • be able to learn proper typing technique, basic typing position, posture, practice key stroking, spacing, return, and other typing skills

Vocabulary Words:

  1. Keyboarding: the activity of typing information into a computer or word processor.

  2. WPM: (words per minute) The number of words you can type in one minute.

  3. Accuracy: Accuracy is the freedom from error. 

To prepare for this lesson

  • Teachers will need to view various keyboarding tools available and select one.
  1. Typing Club  

    NOTE: If you decide to use this FREE resource, you will need to add your students in beforehand.  

  2. Typing Club Tutorial 
    The site contains specific lessons and won’t allow the student to move on until lesson is complete. Awards badges and has leaderboards.

  3. AbcYa Typing games
     
  4. Nitro Type    Students create a login and can compete with others online, including classmates.

  5. Dance Mat Type

    • The Teacher will need to help students identify a realistic typing WPM goal and ACCURACY Goal for students.

Note: If you plan to have students enter scores in this SOCRATIVE quiz https://b.socrative.com/teacher/#import-quiz/31958540  you will need to create your own account and then add the quiz into your Socrative account. You can also make your own score form using a Google form that can be as basic as their name, words per min score, accuracy score, their typing goal and how it will be achieved. 

  • TIER 2 : A student may be guided to look at accuracy before speed.  Possibly ignore speed and set specific letters of focus, a few at a time. The Typing Club is free, however, if you get the paid version, you could set specific lessons for struggling students.

  • TIER 3: Possibly using lower el sites such as Abcya KEYBOARDING ZOO to help with remembering keys.  

  • See Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4students.net site in the Teacher Resources 

Directions for this activity:

Depending on time, you may want to break this lesson up into three parts: Depending on speed and ability, you may only get through one or two parts.

PART 1 Intro to Keyboarding:

  1. Show keyboarding video. This video is 10 minutes so depending on time, you may want to skip this and have a conversation with students instead.

  2. Talk about why typing is important.  

    1. Have students brainstorm reasons why they would want to improve typing.

    2. What are some uses for typing?

    3. Discuss why speed and accuracy are important.

    4. Look at various websites you can use to practice keyboarding.

PART 2 Goal Setting:

  1. Have students understand that they will be completing the typing test to establish a keyboarding goal for themselves.

  2. Students will begin by learning what WPM and accuracy with typing are.

  3. Students will take a one-minute keyboarding test using TypingTest.com.  

  4. Have students record the WPM and ACCURACY scores on their goal sheet sample:   

  5. Have students write their WPM on a post-it note and put it on the board.

  6. Class average: Help students figure the class average.

  7. Decide as a class what a realistic typing goal may look like for the class.

OPTIONAL PART:

  1. Copy and use this graph sheet throughout the year to have students measure their progress and have them set goals for their next test. This will help track data to set attainable goals, instead of coming up with a random number. Guide them on learning to plan, monitor progress, and practice with a purpose, so that students learn to set a realistic typing goal for the year.

  2. Set a process for students to regularly share their goal and progress with their teacher on either their LM or through a Socrative Exit Ticket.

  3. Guide students in selecting appropriate typing games to help them learn to type.

PART 3 Skill Building:

  1. Discuss with students the need to practice, provide some opportunity for keyboarding skills and discuss practice outside of the classroom.

  2. Encourage students to progress monitor themselves throughout the year, by retaking a Typing Test in the Winter and Spring.

Different options for assessing the students:

  • Observations
  • Check for understanding
  • Typing Test.com
  • Goal setting sheet
  • Socrative
  • Typing Club for Schools- This gives students live data, allows for healthy competition and will award badges for working at home, weekends, etc.  


 

MITECS: Michigan adopted the "ISTE Standards for Students" called MITECS (Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students) in 2018.

Empowered Learner 
1d.Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.

Device: PC, Chromebook, Mac, iPad 

Browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, ALL

App, Extension, or Add-on:
Tap Typing iPad

Websites:
Abcya!
ABCYA Typing Game
ABCYA Keyboarding Practice
Dance Mat Type
Keyboarding Intro Video
Nitro Type
Typing Club for Schools
Typing Test

 

CONTENT AREA RESOURCES
  • Type sentences, a paragraph or a report.
  • Students write about their keyboarding goal, and a reflection on their progress periodically,

Students create an award to post when they reach their goal.

  • Have students type out story problems they have created.
  • Take it a step further to add pictures into a word processing document.
  • Students could practice numbers or symbols or calculator keys.

Type a constructed response.

  • Type unit content vocabulary.
  • Type out a current event.

Credits
This task card was created by Courtney Conley, Utica Community Schools, January 2018.