MicroType 4 & MicroType Mac
Periods 6 and 8 classes started their Keyboarding Lessons "officially" on Friday, September 25th. The 9th Period class started on Wednesday, September 23rd. When you complete each Lesson you will print the Lesson Report and place it in your binder. Please try to keep these binders is numerical order. I encourage you to repeat the exercises in each lesson, and even repeat entire lessons if needed; it is up to you to know how you're doing; if you have any difficulties finding the letters with the mask on, that means you must repeat the exercises several times. You will concentrate on the following: ACCURACY, CONSISTENCY and CORRECT FINGERING.
Each of you will work at your own pace, first concentrating on proper technique and accuracy. Review the Fingering Chart and follow the program's instructions carefully. By following the program correctly you will learn "Touch Typing." I also cannot stress enough the importance of the first 20 lessons in the Alphabetic Keyboarding section of your program. If you don't progress at your own (and right) pace, follow the instructions and repeat the exercises as many times as needed, you will not have good timing grades in the future; and you will have a harder time doing the Skill Builder Lessons and Timed Writings.
"Touch typing" is typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys. Specifically, a touch typist will know their location through muscle memory. Touch typing involves placing the eight fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard (the Home Row) and having the students reach for other keys. Most computer keyboards have a raised dot or bar on the F/J keys (on QWERTY keyboards) so that touch-typists can feel them when their fingertips are correctly over the home row.
Touch typing can efficiently bring an average speed typist to 60 words per minute (WPM) -or GWAM in the MicroType Program- fairly quickly and at the same time increase accuracy. Upon learning to touch type, comfortable typing speed is expected to be achieved within a month. The typing speed can be increased gradually with regular practice and speeds around 60 wpm could be achieved within a year or so. Consistency is essential!
Speed and accuracy are all built around good technique; so please be aware of your posture and technique, and follow the ergonomic rules mentioned in the program. Read the instructions carefully and copy the techniques mentioned. The whole idea is to understand what you are reading, so please pay attention and focus. Remember to always return your fingers back to the Home Row after you have reached for a key.
A good rule about speed and accuracy: "The more accurate you are now, the faster you'll be later!" There really is no "magic" or secret about good typing ability. It just takes time and lots and lots of PRACTICE. However there are some important things that will help you in the process. NOTE: It is also important to strike the keys with a short quick stroke. Some general rules are: Do not look at your hands while typing; use the correct finger to strike each key; sit up straight with feet flat on the floor; keep Home Row fingers touching the Home Row keys even in a difficult reach.
Typically your biggest challenge is learning where all the keys are located and learning which fingers hit which keys. However some people find that keeping fingers on the Home Row is the hardest thing to learn. Also, keep in mind that your goal at first should be to learn the keys and the Home Row before you begin to build speed. ACCURACY is much more important to a beginning typist.
On Monday, September 28th we reviewed your homework on Copyrights: What are Copyrights? Why are Copyrights important? (Sources used should have been mentioned). Try to really understand what Copyrights are. Mrs. Feld already showed you a presentation on Monday, September 28th and you typed some notes, review these notes and your homework for your next test. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Test: October 13, 2009 - study your notes on copyrights and your homework, the Computer Concepts 2 handout Mrs. Feld will give you on Monday, October 5, 2009 and the information above on "What is Touch Typing?" If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask Mrs. Feld. You can also do a little research online, especially if you don't understand some of the following computer concepts in the handout: computer memory - RAM & ROM, digital (what is digital?), binary, bits, bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, networks, server, network software, the internet, telecommunications, world wide web, web site, web page, web browser, URL and domain. Understand what these terms mean.
Since the link to the movie "What is Digital" is not available at the present moment (link on the right side), I want to summarize what digital is by saying that ALL INFORMATION, numbers, text, sound, pictures and videos, can be translated into a string of 1's and 0's (binary numbers) - a lot of ones and zeros!
Almost everything we touch today has little digital computer chips in them. These chips are integrated circuits with digital code (the language of the computer). Digital code consists of ones and zeros. To "digitize" means to break things down into ones and zeros. We digitize documents, pictures, books, sound, video, etc. so that we can store them in CD's, DVD's or other digital storage devices.
Each of you will work at your own pace, first concentrating on proper technique and accuracy. Review the Fingering Chart and follow the program's instructions carefully. By following the program correctly you will learn "Touch Typing." I also cannot stress enough the importance of the first 20 lessons in the Alphabetic Keyboarding section of your program. If you don't progress at your own (and right) pace, follow the instructions and repeat the exercises as many times as needed, you will not have good timing grades in the future; and you will have a harder time doing the Skill Builder Lessons and Timed Writings.
"Touch typing" is typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys. Specifically, a touch typist will know their location through muscle memory. Touch typing involves placing the eight fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard (the Home Row) and having the students reach for other keys. Most computer keyboards have a raised dot or bar on the F/J keys (on QWERTY keyboards) so that touch-typists can feel them when their fingertips are correctly over the home row.
Touch typing can efficiently bring an average speed typist to 60 words per minute (WPM) -or GWAM in the MicroType Program- fairly quickly and at the same time increase accuracy. Upon learning to touch type, comfortable typing speed is expected to be achieved within a month. The typing speed can be increased gradually with regular practice and speeds around 60 wpm could be achieved within a year or so. Consistency is essential!
Speed and accuracy are all built around good technique; so please be aware of your posture and technique, and follow the ergonomic rules mentioned in the program. Read the instructions carefully and copy the techniques mentioned. The whole idea is to understand what you are reading, so please pay attention and focus. Remember to always return your fingers back to the Home Row after you have reached for a key.
A good rule about speed and accuracy: "The more accurate you are now, the faster you'll be later!" There really is no "magic" or secret about good typing ability. It just takes time and lots and lots of PRACTICE. However there are some important things that will help you in the process. NOTE: It is also important to strike the keys with a short quick stroke. Some general rules are: Do not look at your hands while typing; use the correct finger to strike each key; sit up straight with feet flat on the floor; keep Home Row fingers touching the Home Row keys even in a difficult reach.
Typically your biggest challenge is learning where all the keys are located and learning which fingers hit which keys. However some people find that keeping fingers on the Home Row is the hardest thing to learn. Also, keep in mind that your goal at first should be to learn the keys and the Home Row before you begin to build speed. ACCURACY is much more important to a beginning typist.
On Monday, September 28th we reviewed your homework on Copyrights: What are Copyrights? Why are Copyrights important? (Sources used should have been mentioned). Try to really understand what Copyrights are. Mrs. Feld already showed you a presentation on Monday, September 28th and you typed some notes, review these notes and your homework for your next test. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Test: October 13, 2009 - study your notes on copyrights and your homework, the Computer Concepts 2 handout Mrs. Feld will give you on Monday, October 5, 2009 and the information above on "What is Touch Typing?" If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask Mrs. Feld. You can also do a little research online, especially if you don't understand some of the following computer concepts in the handout: computer memory - RAM & ROM, digital (what is digital?), binary, bits, bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, networks, server, network software, the internet, telecommunications, world wide web, web site, web page, web browser, URL and domain. Understand what these terms mean.
Since the link to the movie "What is Digital" is not available at the present moment (link on the right side), I want to summarize what digital is by saying that ALL INFORMATION, numbers, text, sound, pictures and videos, can be translated into a string of 1's and 0's (binary numbers) - a lot of ones and zeros!
Almost everything we touch today has little digital computer chips in them. These chips are integrated circuits with digital code (the language of the computer). Digital code consists of ones and zeros. To "digitize" means to break things down into ones and zeros. We digitize documents, pictures, books, sound, video, etc. so that we can store them in CD's, DVD's or other digital storage devices.
posted by Karol B. Feld at
3:23 PM
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