Type to Learn Junior: My Content Outline

Tony Mitchell – May 2006

 

Prior

  • Check multiple log in ability
  • Set up a class for myself
  • On diskette, with numbered generic names, so I can import to each school network

 

General description

  • Software purchase with LA textbook adoption (actually a year later)
  • Keyboarding software for k-2
  • Network version
  • Has database like AR
    • It keeps a record of their progress on server
    • Student logs in and continues where he left off
  • Interactive with sound and animation
  • 4 components
    • Learning Center: keyboarding lessons – very rudimentary
    • Cassies: easiest drill and practice
    • Hopkins: intermediate drill and practice
    • Tiny: advanced drill and practice (includes some rhyming words work)
  • One aggravation: you cannot minimize it in Windows and toggle between programs

 

Overview

  • Benefits of keyboarding
  • View student lessons and activities
  • Go over Teacher options
  • Allow time to set up class

 

Benefits of learning keyboarding skills

  • Word processors become the writing tool of future
  • Better writers because editing is easier
  • Opens up all kinds of possibilities for upper grades, if students can type
    • Keypals
    • Superhero stories
    • Geometry Challenge activity
  • Look at the age we live in
  • BUT:::  PLEASE DON’T MAKE KEYBOARDING YOUR ONLY ACTIVITY IN LAB! (perhaps every other session)

 

Student Lessons

  • Watch for a few minutes, then I’ll let you play with it some
  • Log in
  • Interface:
    • Interactive
    • Directions are spoken
    • Very primary
    • Top link goes to lessons
    • Demo hovering over other, bottom three, activity links
  • In lessons, (top link) students move along a linear continuum without options until a lesson is completed; he may then revisit that lesson by clicking on the darkened letter or number along the top of the window
    • Arrows will appear after he completes the letters that will let him move on to numbers; he may then use arrows to move back to letter to review
    • The Help link in the bottom right-hand corner of the window will explain what the student is to do. The explanation is presented in text and read aloud by program
  • Proper hand-on-keys direction does not come until later in the program ---  ??

 

Student Activities

  • 3 options: easy – Cassie, medium – Hopkins, advanced – Tiny
  • Basically drill and practice
  • There does not seem to be any correlation between student lesson and the activities (I will continue to study this)
  • Activities each have 3 levels – top right-hand corner of window
  • Tiny also includes some practice with rhyming words
  • Have teachers log in as students in MY CLASS
  • Let teacher experiment with the activities
  • Get feedback concerning activities: usefulness, features I may have missed
  • Might you use teacher options to allow access to only one activity per week?

 

Teacher Options

  • Access
    • Only from splash, log in screen
    • We discussed this secret combination in class (See Tony if you have forgotten)
    • “Wide Open” so very important NOT to give students pass-key
    • Students could delete a student AND HIS RECORDS
  • Class List
    • Classes and students are added
    • Students can add themselves as they use program the first time, or you can add them
    • If students add themselves, they must be sure (and able) to choose your name from the list of classes as they are adding themselves so that their name will appear in your class list
    • Demo adding a class and some students
    • If we have time at the end of this training session, we can go ahead and let you set up your class
    • If you can’t find a student, look in the default class ( students can easily be moved from one class to another)
  • Options
    • Teacher can determine whether a student has access to do the following:  Hear background music, print certificate, can use the activities, sees keyboard in lower or uppercase letters
    • Each teacher can set this separately
    • Can also be set separately for each student
    • Default setup is to allow all, and see letters in lowercase
    • Demo restricting one students access
  • Progress Reports & Certificates
    • Progress Reports
      • Very simplistic:
      • Just shows where the student is along the continuum
      • Can print for class or for students; THIS MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR TEACHER OR LAB MANAGER
      • SHOW ONE
      • The screen prior to printing is the preview screen
    • Certificates
      • SHOW ONE I HAVE PRINTED
      • If you choose a class and print certificates, it still prints one certificate for each student; lots of ink
      • Recommendation: print one certificate so you will have a picture of the linear “Continuum”
      • Lowercase letters, numbers, uppercase letters, punctuation, sentences
      • I would not print for students: ink is costly
  • Change Data Files Path
    • Like AR – must have access to data file for records
    • Not C
    • Let’s look and record somewhere
    • Why is a networked path an advantage ?  (lab and classroom combo)

 

Resources

  • Teachers Guide: manual
    • Paper only (I called company to check)
    • One per school ($ 25 for each additional copy)
    • You can make copies of pages you need, but not whole book (according to the book itself, page 1)
    • Worth a look – PASS AROUND
      • Lists letter-word coordination: A – ant, B – butterfly, etc
      • Lists rhyming words and sentences used in program
      • Gives some extension activities and coloring activities to coordinate with lessons
      • Sheets to copy activities and letter-cards
      • Pass around for perusal
      • I suspect primary teachers will see more usefulness than I did, but I did not look too deeply since teachers don’t have a copy
      • Media specialist will have the original for checkout
  • Tech support from company

 

Guidelines & Suggestions 

  • Remember this program can be accessed from lab and classroom and the records will be continuous
  • Start with whole group instruction, either in lab or in room, followed by lab time where all student use program
    • Introduce such terms as “Keyboard” and “Monitor”
  • Headphones in lab and classroom ( $ 1  at Dollar Store) (lice issue)
  • Perhaps introduce keyboard using paper copy of keyboard – page 63, show from teacher’s guide
  • Perhaps coordinate the letter-words used by TTLj with the words you use to introduce sounds in classroom; A – ant rather than A - apple
  • Do not use as soul activity in lab
  • Somewhere along the line, really as soon as possible, cover hands
    • J and F keyboard touch-help
  • Offer incentives once you have determined how reliable the records are
    • Give Britt David example and tell about my daughters
    • Perhaps printed Certificates of students who make great progress

 

Instructional / Curricular Issues

Decisions must be made: Are we going to simply let students “Play” this program and hope they learn something, or are we going to make it part of our scope and sequence and determine realistic expectations and strive to help our students meet these expectations

  • Who will make this decision?
  • Will TTL work be graded? As part of LA grade or separate computer grade?
  • If graded, how will we measure for grading?
  • Related research indications concerning expectations
    • Realistic speed expectations for beginner range from 15-25 wpm
    • 15-18 hours instruction – speed expectations 15-18 wpm
    • 30-35 hours instruction – speed expectations 25-30 wpm
    • 40-60 hours instruction – speed expectations 30-40 wpm
    • Expectations will be directly related to inst. time
  • Britt David example using another program
    • View DVD’s webpage
    • Level completions requirements combined with wpm minute minimal requirements

 

Back up (for Tech Coordinator at each school)

  • Locate and drag copy of data file to diskette/floppy
  • Probably best if tech coordinator does this once per week
  • Dangers of having two separate data files