TypeTastic Blog

By Toni Wimmer

With all the many subjects and skills today’s students need to learn and the limited resources schools have to teach them, it’s not uncommon for subjects that once had their own class to get folded into other courses. As an elementary librarian, I’ve seen this firsthand at my own schools, where we’ve recently incorporated typing instruction into the larger library curriculum. It’s a natural fit in many ways—typing is an integral part of the research and digital citizenship instruction we mostly focus on.

Continue reading 5 Tips for Adding Typing to Your Library Curriculum

By Jessica Butcher

As a computer science teacher for students in grades 2-4 at Cartmell Elementary School, it’s clear to me that typing is a foundational skill for a range of disciplines. In a 1:1 computing school like ours, however, it’s a foundational academic skill, as well.

Continue reading Motivating Kids to Practice Keyboarding When No One’s Looking

Schools around the world have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, and educators have been asked to make the transition from in-person to online learning in a matter of days.

Continue reading TypeTastic School Edition is FREE Until June 30!

It likely comes as no surprise that children’s first exposure to keyboards comes well before they enter elementary school. In 2017, children up to age eight spent an average of 2 hours and 19 minutes every day on screen media. Virtually every household has a smartphone or tablet in the home, with 45% of all children having their own mobile device!

Continue reading Why Typing is Key to Success on Standardized Tests

Every student has unique needs, and it can be a challenge to meet those for any school. In virtual schools, however, the unique needs of individual students combine in a dizzying array of diversity. In a recent article for District Administration , VirtualSC Curriculum Coordinator Deirdre Edwards explained how they met those needs for nearly 30,000 students in the 2018-2019 academic year alone.

Continue reading How a Virtual School Meets the Needs of Diverse Learners

What could be better than classrooms full of students playing their way to typing mastery? How about entire schools and districts playing their way to typing mastery! Two million users play TypeTastic games each month, and now we’ll bring students, teachers, and administrators together with powerful new tools that turn TypeTastic into a truly district-wide solution.

Continue reading The New TypeTastic Combines Fun and Games with District-Level Management

By Dr. Wendy Thompson

Keyboarding is an essential office skill but, as I wrote in a previous blog, for my students with special needs, it also opens doors to communication with other people. I’ve found that for my students, developing typing skills through engaging keyboarding practice can be a conduit to expanded use of technology, along with greater academic opportunities and achievement.

Continue reading How Engagement in Typing Instruction Opens Doors to Tech

By Alan Gielen

Like most people, I enjoy some variety in life. A large reason I switched from teaching biology to being a technology teacher is because the latter allows me to teach a range of subjects, topics, and grades. My students like variety, too, so I make sure we cover disparate topics and skills within the confines of standards and curricular requirements.

Continue reading Variety is the Key to Teaching 21st-Century Skills

By Demetra Adams

As the computer science and technology teacher, it’s my responsibility to ensure each of our students is prepared to use the devices that will be available to them throughout their academic careers at Collins-Rhoades Elementary School. Our students have access to desktops, laptops, and iPads. In grades K–5, they use each nearly every day, so there’s a lot to learn from day one.

Continue reading Why Typing and Mousing Are Essential for a Tech-Rich Education

How common are keyboarding classes in American schools?

That’s a difficult question to answer, as there don’t seem to be any surveys or other research looking into the question—and many schools fold typing instruction into other classes such as computer science, digital literacy, or business. And yet, more and more children are expected to know how to type. The Common Core State Standards, for example, require that students in 4th grade be able “to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting.” By 6th grade, that requirement increases to three pages in a sitting.

Continue reading 4 Tips for Incorporating Keyboarding into Any Classroom