Students will start with each finger positioned on the home row - the left index finger can feel for the bump on the F key, and the right index finger can feel for the J key. The remaining fingers rest on the adjacent keys - the left hand fingers resting on D, S, A, and the right hand fingers resting on K, L, and semicolon key. Both thumbs will rest on the space bar. When typing, each finger has an assigned zone of keys, each requiring a movement of one or two keys away from home. After a finger has moved to type a letter, it will return to its home position.
Each finger has assigned letters based on the positioning of the hand over the keyboard. The middle row on a QWERTY keyboard will serve as the home row, the starting position for each finger. Students should first learn to become comfortable with this starting position which is made easier on many keyboards with a raised ridge on the F and J keys. These markers indicate where the index fingers should be placed on the home row, so students can feel their way back to home row rather than needing to look at the keyboard directly.
A mastery of the finger positions works to commit the keyboard layout to muscle memory. Once obtained, improving in typing speed and accuracy becomes a whole lot easier!
Regards,
Alex (The Reimagined Classroom Teacher)