DigiTechTeach

  • Berkeley Unified School District

Keyboarding Development, Grades 3-8

September 26, 2018

As more and more communication moves into the digital realm, keyboarding has become an essential skill. In order to write fluently using a keyboard, students need practice typing. In the Berkeley Unified School District, students are introduced to typing practice beginning in 3rd grade. In the last school year, over 2000 students completed a combined 267,000 lessons. That is a lot of practice!

Student's hands on keyboard

Willard 6th grader practicing proper hand placement

Typing Club Icon

The primary tool we use is Typing Club, a system which incorporates both instructional lessons and games to help students improve their accuracy and skill. Some class time is carved out for typing practice, and kids also have access to the program from home and can practice on their own time. Students are practicing at every elementary and middle school with over 1300 students already signed on and typing in this first month of the school year. The tool is made more effective with the support of the teachers and staff who ensure that students are using all of their fingers and positioned correctly.

Emerson Principal Susan Hodge assisting a 4th grade student with hand placement

At the start of the school year, 3rd graders type an average of 10 words per minute. By 6th grade, kids are typing about 25 words per minute. Fluency on the keyboard allows for an easier flow of thoughts to written words. I can’t wait to see the writing that these young scholars produce!

– Jessica Lee, Teacher Librarian on Special Assignment

Willard 6th grader

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Subscribe to DigiTechTeach via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,468 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • New Databases for Students
  • Students Create Videos in Spanish Using Adobe Spark
  • Berkeley Students Log Hours of Coding During Hour of Code
  • How Audiobooks Can Help Engage Young Readers
  • The Week in Tech: Fun with Technology from This Past Week

Mia Gittlen is a BUSD K-8 Instructional Technology Teacher on Special Assignment. She has taught English and history/social studies for eleven years. She also actively participates in East Bay CUE and the Krause Center of Innovation--two organizations focused on inspiring innovative learning.

Jessica Lee is a BUSD Teacher Librarian on Special Assignment, supporting libraries and instructional technology. Prior to this year, she was the Teacher Librarian at Willard Middle School for 13 years and taught in other districts before that.

Eric Silverberg is a BUSD Teacher Librarian on Special Assignment, supporting libraries and instructional technology and Digital Citizenship. He has over 17 years experience working in public schools, as a classroom teacher, an arts coordinator, a drama/music specialist and a digital media teacher.

Allison Krasnow is the K-8 Instructional Technology Coordinator for BUSD and has been involved in this work for the past four years. She has taught grades 4-8, most recently as a math teacher at Willard.

©2019 Berkeley Unified School District - Instructional Tech · All Rights Reserved