Ideas for Keyboarding Instruction, Projects, and Activities

Ideas for Keyboarding Instruction, Projects, and Activities Keyboarding - Appendices 6/16/2007 http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/midlkey/compapp.html

 Keyboarding skills may be used for many writing activities. Students may key their journal entries, key a passage from a favorite story, poem or book, and then illustrate it and present it to the class.

 Students may prepare a simple biography. The subject of the biography could be an Elementary Level student of the same school or a classmate. The document may be entitled "The Life Story of ...... " In preparing the biography, the Middle Level students can apply their touch keyboard and introductory formatting skills. In addition to information that students may gather about topics such as family background, hobbies, favorite things, and birth information, students could include pictures, photographs, and perhaps a section entitled "About the Author." The biographies can be printed.

 An autobiography may be composed, keyed, formatted, and printed by students.  Students may explore and research current issues or topics of concern from science, mathematics, social studies, or other areas of study. A summary of the research can be composed, keyed, and printed for a classroom presentation.

 Students may plan, process, and produce a classroom newsletter. Once "reporters" have completed their interview and research, they may compose individual newsletter articles at the keyboard. After the finished articles are processed, students may compile their classroom newsletter. The newsletter could include artistic touches such as cartoons that have been designed on the computer. (Note: Including graphics in the project incorporates learning objectives of Module 5: Introduction to Graphics Applications.)

 Students may complete "story starters" with a partner. One example of a story starter is "It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly...." Each student would alternate the roles of composing and keyboarding. The students may alternate roles after each sentence or paragraph. This activity could be adapted so that students could key and compose new story endings or new story beginnings for previously prepared stories.

 Students can combine touch keyboarding and word processing skills to compose and produce stories or legends. Cultural differences may be recognized by encouraging students to relate their family history or a cultural legend in story or poem format. The project can be extended to include graphics on the cover or title pages of the final work.

 Students could document the oral history of an Indian Band, their personal culture, or their community.

 Students may compose and produce stories, songs or poetry highlighting their own lives and their experiences growing up in a multicultural environment. These stories can provide insights for fellow students and teachers.  If available, crossword puzzle programs may be created using English terms that apply to various cultures. Teachers could create a crossword puzzle containing English clues but cultural language words. Students will work on language skills while solving the puzzle. Students could create their own crossword puzzles with words describing their cultures. If there are students from many cultures in the class, students could try to identify which culture is being described in the puzzle.

 Students could pinpoint a certain time period in history and create a newspaper that highlights the tribal or cultural history of that period. They could also "modernize" an older tribal newspaper recreating it with today's technology.

 Words that students learn in vocabulary and spelling may be used for keyboarding practice during keyboarding skill development drills. Students may keyboard rhyming words, synonyms, antonyms, or homonyms.

 Poetry and limericks students are studying in English Language Arts may be copied. Alternatively, when given a theme, students may compose their own poetry and limericks.  Students may key the days of the week, months of the year, their favorite colors, flavors of ice cream, or all the holidays they can think of within a certain time period.

 Advice Letters. Following an acceptable format, ask students to write a letter to "Dear Gabby." When letters are submitted, the most appropriate or the most outlandish letter can be copied and distributed to the students to respond as "Gabby". The response would be in the form of a personal letter. (Scaglione, 1989).

 Post Office. Students place their names and addresses on any piece of paper. These are collected and placed in a basket. Each member of the class retrieves one name, other than his/her own. Students then compose and key a personal letter, introducing themselves to the other student. Two or three paragraphs are suggested. Letters can be printed and delivered before the end of class. (Scaglione, 1989).

 Bingo. Choose a category, such as "Holidays." Ask students to key the category title and then any five items that would fit into that category. For example, "Teachers" may be chosen as the category, with the students keying the category title followed by the names of any five teachers. Select a second category and repeat the process. Four or five categories should be sufficient. Then place the list of categories on the board. Ask the first student to pick a category. Select another student to determine any answer appropriate to that category. Continue the process. The student that has a category completed would be the winner. The Saskatchewan Education document entitled A Handbook for Educators: Keyboarding (1987) provides a "Starter Kit" of activities beginning on page 16 of the publication. The following activities for teachers are offered in addition to the concepts presented 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.

 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 the aspects of good technique on a daily basis will be beneficial to learners.

 Videotape students so they can evaluate their own technique.

 Use brightly colored wall charts and/or overheads of the keyboard when teaching touch keyboarding.

 Introduce a new key to the students by having them find it on their keyboards. Encourage them to look down at their hands only during the introductory stage of learning 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 can be assigned with "eyes on copy" to promote confidence in key location.

 Use a variety of resources including textbooks, examples of other copy material (such as handwritten drafts, overheads, chalkboard), guest speakers, student demonstrators, videos, films, and computer software to supplement learning in the classroom. Ensure that all resources are evaluated to be appropriate and free of bias.

 Use the overhead, board, or flash cards to focus student eyes on copy while teaching key location in touch keyboarding. The alphabet written on the board or on flash cards, a list of words written "backwards" (letters of a word spelled in the opposite direction and requiring the students to key them in the correct order), and writing the names of class members on the overhead are some of the ways that keying activities that focus attention away from looking at the keyboard can be used to keep students interested and challenged.

 Use simple "art typing" designs to add interest and to assist the student with manipulation of the keyboard.

 Students may work in pairs if the number of keyboards is limited. One student could assess the partner's touch keyboarding technique using a checklist. Roles would be reversed.

 Time the students for one minute while they copy a passage in longhand. It is desirable for the keyboarding rate of students to be at least equal to their handwriting speed by the conclusion of Module 1 or Module 2. This will emphasize the usefulness of keyboarding to the student.  Thinking and composing at the keyboard can begin as soon as the keys have been introduced. Call out a word and have students key a one-word response. Ask one student to call out a word and have the class key as many rhyming responses as possible in a given time period. As abilities progress, students may enjoy composing and keying limericks or other short poems.

 Write all letters that students can key by touch on the board. Ask students to create words using only those letters. Test students' powers of concentration.

 Allow students to view a collage for two or three minutes, mentally identifying the objects it contains. Students may key a list of all the items that they can remember from the collage.

 Distribute a photograph to the students. Allow time for students to view and collect information about the photograph. Students may key sentences in response to a few questions about the photograph that are presented by the teacher.

 When students are learning the alphanumeric keys by touch, divide the class into two groups of equal numbers. Choose any line or lines from a resource, or use an overhead with the information provided. Allow a short time period (30 seconds or less) for students to key the selected copy. Students must continue to key for the entire time period. During the timing, students may be encouraged to correct keyboarding errors as they key. Corrections are not allowed once time has expired. Allow students to proofread their own work or each other's copy. Those students who have perfect copy will score two points for their team. Those students who have one error will score one point for their team. Keep a cumulative score for both teams on the board. After a predetermined number of timings, the team with the highest score is announced the winner.

 Ask each student to begin a composition with a common sentence, such as "Once, when I was little, ....." Allow two or three minutes for students to compose at the keyboard. Once time has elapsed, students move to the next computer station, read the story on the screen, and continue the story in the direction of the plot. This could continue for four or five sessions. At the conclusion of this exercise, students return to their original computer station and read the story. Compositions may be proofread, edited, spell checked, and printed for display on the bulletin board.

 Prepare a class list of students' first and last names in scrambled form. The students can decipher and key the student names from the scrambled class list in proper form, capitalizing as necessary. The activity can be adapted for names of sporting events, characters in a play they are studying, or science vocabulary.

 Students can be encouraged to apply their touch keyboarding, word processing, and composition skills to complete puzzle activities such as those offered in Appendix D. To reduce photocopying time, puzzles may be enlarged on the photocopier and transferred to an overhead transparency for classroom viewing. Adaptation of the puzzles may be required. Not all students need to complete the same puzzle either. The puzzles can be solved as a class, independently, or in groups. Appendix B - A Suggestion for Organizing Keyboarding Classes

Sufficient practice time must be allowed for students to improve their keyboarding techniques and skills. The teacher may choose to set aside a portion of time each keyboarding class that would be devoted to the practice of previously - learned material. For example, the first five or ten minutes of each class may be devoted to the keyboarding of "Warmup Lines." Material used for warmup lines would be prescribed carefully by the teacher, either on a group or an individual basis.

"Warmup lines" may take the form of straight-copy drill lines that will allow for the practice of material learned during previous lessons. However, warmup lines may be extended to include activities such as: composition at the keyboard; flash cards showing letters, numbers, reaches (juj); backward words and sentences; magazine or newspaper articles of interest to the students; printed material dealing with the topic of today's lesson; review questions requiring students to key the question and insert the correct answer; and, others.

Although accurate keyboarding should be encouraged, it is not generally recommended that students correct their errors during the keyboarding of warmup lines. It is suggested that students strive for good keyboarding technique and be aware of any keying errors.

The teacher could collect data for student evaluation during student practice of warmup lines. Observation checklists, anecdotal notes, or rating scales may be used to collect data on students' keyboarding techniques, work habits, and attitudes demonstrated during the keyboarding of warmup lines. Data collected on the number of warmup lines keyed during each session can be used by the students as self-assessment information to guide their achievement of a desirable personal-use goal. In addition, the teacher may monitor the number of lines that the student keys during specified time periods and use the information as formative evaluation to guide further student instruction and practice.

The following is one classroom scenario that may be adapted or used:

Students may begin working as soon as they arrive to the class. This encourages punctuality, motivation, and organization. At the end of the specified amount of time designated each class (ten minutes, for example), the teacher could request that students finish keying the line they are on to calculate and record information about the work completed in a log. Information that students could record may include the date and number of completed lines. The information could be recorded in a "warmup" record sheet. (See Page 29 for a sample of a log that may be used.) The warmup record sheet could be placed in the student's portfolio of work and updated as an ongoing record of achievement. As an alternative, students may print a hard copy of the work completed in the warmup-timed session, then place it in a portfolio.

To ensure that a student is recording an accurate figure for the warmup lines produced, the teacher may check and initial each students' warmup record sheet while the warmup lines are still on the screen. This would provide an opportunity for student and teacher feedback on progress. Alternatively, classmates may initial one another's record sheets, verifying the results. Students may store their warmup lines and submit their disk and warmup log to the teacher. This could be done at the end of each week. The teacher may assess the accuracy of recording by comparing student disks to the recorded information on a random basis.

Appendix C - Proofreaders' Marks Proofreaders' Marks

When submitting material to a typesetter, the correct proofreaders' marks should be used.

Symbol Meaning As Used Insert Insert here Delete Delete Lower case TYPE in LOWER CASE Capitals Capitalize letter, word Move right Move right Move left Move left Center Center Transpose Transpose letter word Close up Close up Space Leave a space Let it stand Do not delete New paragraph End sentence. Start paragraph. Insert period Insert period Insert comma Insert comma Insert colon Insert colon Insert semicolon Insert semicolon Insert quotation marks Insert quotation marks Insert hyphen Insert hyphen Insert parentheses Insert parentheses Spell out Spell word in full

Appendix D - Keyboarding Puzzles

This appendix contains four word puzzles that can be used in the Middle Level keyboarding classroom to maintain interest and motivation. Once the solution to the puzzles are determined, the solutions can be extended to using students' writing and keyboarding skills. The following are offered as starting points for including and adapting a variety of classroom activities in the keyboarding classroom. Teachers are encouraged to adapt and modify these and other activities, as needed.

 Creature Feature asks students to identify and key the names of fictional creatures. As a follow-up activity to determining the answers, students may compose and produce a short story about one of the creatures they have identified. Alternatively, students may choose to write about another mythical character.

 Sports Scramble requires students to unscramble the letters to identify and to spell correctly the sporting activities. As a follow-up activity, students can compose and produce a newspaper article or an editorial, commenting on a recent sporting event. Alternatively, students may prepare a letter requesting information on one of the sports that they would like to play.

 Homonyms are words that sound alike but never look alike. Homonym Puzzles provide a clue and require students to key the appropriate homonym answer. Students may create their own homonym puzzle, providing both the clue and the answer. Classmates can solve the puzzle and key the answers using them in context within sentences.

 Palindromes are words or phrases that are spelled the same way forward as they are backward. For example, the word m-o-m forms the same word whether you read the letters from left to right or right to left. Once students have identified the palindromes in the puzzle, they may create their own palindrome puzzler, providing both the clue and the palindrome answer. The students may share their palindrome puzzle with others in the class.

Creature Feature

Can you identify these fictional creatures? Use your touch keyboarding skills to key the sentence with the answers.

1. Dracula likes to travel only at _ _ _ _ _.

2. The good side of Mr. Hyde becomes Dr. ______.

3. This creature is famous for not being seen. He's the ______.

4. ______climbed to the top of the Empire State Building.

5. If placed in the window, ______will keep Dracula out!

6. Wolfman becomes evil on nights with a ______. 7. Cyclops have only one _ _ _.

8. Dracula is most comfortable sleeping in a ______.

9. A werewolf can only be killed by a ______.

10. Frankenstein is brought to life by ______.

Answers : 1. night; 2. Jekyll; 3. Invisible Man; 4. King Kong; 5. garlic; 6. full moon; 7. eye; 8. coffin; 9. silver bullet; 10. Electricity

Sports Scramble

The sports activities below are all mixed up! Identify the sport and use your touch keyboarding skill to key the letters of the sports activities in the correct order. How many of these sports have you tried?

1. LBOFTAOL 2. ASBEABLL 3. COSCER 4. YEOHCK 5. GIKSIN 6. LBEOVLLLALY 7. KARCT 8. LEABKSBTAL 9. ILOBWNG 10. IUCLRNG 11. FLGO 12. AMTBDIONN 13. LAACTRQLBEU 14. MSIIMGWN 15. YCICLGN

Answers 1. Football 2. Baseball 3. Soccer 4. Hockey 5. Skiing 6. Volleyball 7. Track 8.Basketball 9. Bowling 10. Curling 11. Golf 12. Badminton 13. Racquetball 14. Swimming 15. Cycling Homonym Puzzles

Homonyms are words that sound alike, but never look alike. Read the clues given below to see if you can solve the puzzle. The answers are all homonyms! When you have the solution, use your touch keyboarding skills to key the homonym answers in a sentence.

1. How does Bambi begin a letter to his cousin?

2. What do you shout to get rid of the tiny, jumping insects that live on your pet?

3. What do you call a mare with a sore throat?

4. What do you call a smelly chicken?

5. What do you call a sailor's belly button?

6. What do you call a light-coloured bucket?

7. What do you call a big, furry animal who is not wearing any clothes?

8. What do you call perfume that has been mailed?

9. What do you call rabbit fur?

10. What do you call a big rock that is more outgoing than other rocks?

11. What kind of hot drink did the golfer order?

12. What do you call four couples dining in a restaurant?

Answers 1. Dear Deer 2. Flee Flea 3. Hoarse Horse 4. Foul Fowl 5. Navel Naval 6. Pale Pail 7. Bare Bear 8. Sent Scent 9. Hare Hair 10. Bolder Boulder 11. Tee Tea 12. Eight Ate

Palindrome Puzzlers

Palindromes are words or phrases that are spelled the same way forward as they are backward. For example, the letters l-e-v-e-l form the same word, whether you read the letters from left to right or right to left. Try to the guess the solutions to the palindrome riddles below. Use your touch keyboarding skill to key the answers! Remember - the answers are all palindromes! What's a three-letter palindrome for:

1. mother?

2. father?

3. baby or very young child?

4. a little dog?

5. female relative?

6. an exclamation of great surprise?

7. a practical joke?

8. the night before?

9. what we see with?

What's a four-letter palindrome for:

10. midday?

11. an uncomplimentary name for an eccentric person?

12. a sharp noise made by a train or a boat?

13. a legal document you get when you own the land?

14. a sound a bird might make?

15. an abbreviation for Madam?

Answers 1. mom 2. pop 3. tot 4. pup 5. sis 6. wow 7. gag 8. eve 9. eye 10. noon 11. kook 12. toot 13. deed 14. peep 15.