Typing.com: Typing Advice for my 4th Grader (7 WPM)

[TheAttachedMama]

Hi Everyone,

 

My 4th grader has been diligently working on typing for some time.   He works on typing for 15 minutes per day 4 days per week.   He did this ALL last year and has been doing the same thing this year.  (We started school in July.)     He is using typing.com to learn to type.

 

He has made it all the way through to the "Advanced" section of typing.    He is VERY accurate.  (According to the website, he is 97% accurate.)   However, his typing speed is VERY slow.   (7WPM according to the website).    I know we are supposed to emphasise accuracy over speed at this age.   But I guess I am feeling like he isn't making any progress for as much time and energy as we have put into the subject.   

 

Any advice?    Could it be his keyboard?  His computer set up?   Do we need a new program?   (We have tried dance mat typing and he didn't like it.)   

 

[Elizabeth 2]

Is his keyboard up too high?  His elbows should make a 90 degree angle when he types, plus the wrists should not be resting on the keyboard or desk.  If he's struggling with body placement, it could be hindering his speed.  

 

I'm not sure about that program since we found what has worked for us first time out.  My children and I have all used Mavis Beacon.  My mom has been a medical transcriptionist for over 25 years, and that is what she used.  I loved the Mario Teaches Typing as a kid (1st-3rd), and it's available as a play online free DOS game if you google it.  

[SebastianCat]

I don't require any actual school work to be typed until 7th grade, and this might not be a solution you want to implement with a 4th grader......

 

However, allowing my DD to begin texting her friends had the magical effect of increasing her typing speed.   She hated learning to type and was fairly similar - pretty good accuracy but very slow, coupled with the fact that she thought typing was torture.   When she got to 6th grade and started texting friends, the complaining stopped, her texting speed increased, and her full-keyboard typing speed increased.

 

Would he be more motivated by a typing program that was more game-based?

[OneStepAtATime]

Does he have any motor planning issues?

 

Honestly, he may just need a lot more time for his typing to become automatic.  Accuracy is definitely what you want the focus to be but over time the speed should increase as the automaticity increases.  Right now he may still be needing to think about finger placement and pressure on the keys.   Unless there is a strong need for him to type up long papers right now I would just let him keep practicing.  He might like switching programs, though.  

 

FWIW, my kids have been doing targeted typing lessons for 3 years.  They have needed that time for speed to increase.  The kids found it more interesting to switch programs after a bit, though.  We moved from Type to Learn 4 (which is more for elementary and has games and a colorful layout and also had some games that required additional speed to complete) to Touch Type Read and Spell.  They liked that TTRS eventually includes dictation, it reinforces the spelling/reading lessons we do and it doesn't have any games.  They outgrew the games.  They still both type fairly slowly (20 wpm average) but speed is slowly increasing as automaticity increases. They never complain about typing anymore and are very accurate.  Speed is coming along.  A LOT goes into typing.  It can take quite a while for the speed to move up.

 

Also, having an area of interest where typing is needed (but speed requirements don't make him nervous and lock up) may help.  DD types for her on-line class communication and her speed has definitely increased.

 

I took typing in High School (before kids were using computers in school, way back in the dark ages) and then did a LOT of typing in college.  My speed was still pretty slow even in college.  Now I can type very quickly but it didn't happen overnight. 

[SanDiegoMom]

My fifth graders are at 12 wpm on typing.com. I think it will take them quite awhile to get faster! They use it three times per week.

[Calm37]

Well, I have two that never learned to type despite my best efforts at requiring hours following the rules. 

 

I tried. I worried. 

 

They figured it out. 

 

One is a writer and has done Nano, and the other regularly has papers and discussion boards in college. Neither of them types in the traditional touch-typing manner.

 

[Edited to fix my typo even though I have been touch typing for 45 years, lol.]

Edited September 30, 2016 by cam1706

[domestic_engineer]

Someone here suggested nitrotype.com.

It gives you an incentive to type faster (i.e., win the race).  My kid is enjoying it this year.

[freelylearned]

I think it takes awhile for typing to be automatic. When I taught high school, kids were really, really slow (unless they were one of the ones with rich, liberal parents who had internet and let them IM at night) and they all had typing instruction in Jr High. You could probably start over with another typing program or add in a typing game like others mentioned above.

 

You could give him a break from the program and give him some projects that require typing and that he's interested in. My son did Mavis Beacon last year and averaged about 7-9 wpm throughout the series. Then I took him off the program for the second half of the year he started typing his writing assignments on Google Slides (he loved adding pictures) and he began Duolingo on the computer only.

 

This year he's doing typing.com on alternate days with typing assignments and is averaging 10-12 wpm. It's not a big jump, and I think it has as much to do with being a year older as anything else. He still isn't confident where letters are so he resorts looking at the keyboard. Having real projects where typing skills matter makes him realize that typing accurately and quickly is an important skill so he is working on his speed. Have you tried to find a family member or trusted friend to be an email pen pal? Another ideas is that he could type original stories and leave lots of white space to add illustrations later.

[StartingOver]

I made a cover to hide the keyboard so mine couldn't see the keys. I don't emphasize accuracy at all. I am looking for decent speed. Mine don't move on to the next lesson till they hit 30 WPM. This is the way I was taught. After time, your fingers memorize where the letters are and accuracy issues work themselves out.

Edited October 1, 2016 by StartingOver

[OneStepAtATime]

I made a cover to hide the keyboard so mine couldn't see the keys. I don't emphasize accuracy at all. I am looking for decent speed. Mine don't move on to the next lesson till they hit 30 WPM. This is the way I was taught. After time, your fingers memorize where the letters are and accuracy issues work themselves out.

Interesting!  This is actually the complete opposite of what I was taught.  My teacher showed us that if we were frequently hitting the wrong key and having to go back to correct then the speed would be irrelevant since we were not typing the right letters.  Making the corrections would be time consuming.  If we took the extra time to get the finger placement and pressure correct and worked really hard on accuracy then speed would eventually come as we got more and more exposure to typing.  And we wouldn't be having to spend extra time correcting our typos.  We also wouldn't be developing inaccurate muscle and procedural memory.

 

I wonder if there has ever been a study done of these two approaches.  Maybe one approach works better for some than others.  OP, perhaps trying this other approach might work better since you have already tried working hard on accuracy?

 

Honestly, though, what helped me and then my kids with typing speed was just time and exposure.  

[...................]

Hm. That is pretty slow. But then again maybe he's just not ready. I personally would put it off till 6th grade and find another hill to

Die on

Uh I mean to climb :)