Modern classrooms have gone from being full of textbooks and paper to having tablets and laptops. This new learning environment is getting students ready for the modern world in many ways. BY teaching students how to interact with technology and learn how to type with software, teachers can have a direct impact on the future of their students.
However, the typing experience is not just about fingers on a keyboard. With the Typesy software, students are exposed to informative and engaging lessons that get them familiar with a keyboard across all their school subjects. While teaching them to type is great, it is also important to teach typing wellness. A great way to get students ready for typing is with finger exercises. Students can try stretching their fingers, loosen up their hands, and even pretend to play the piano to get ready for typing lessons.
By teaching students the best ways to prepare for typing, you can help them learn healthy habits now that they will keep forever. While you’re at it, show them the proper way to sit when typing so they can have better posture in the future. Software like Typesy and good typing exercises get kids ready to learn and excited to type.
Yes! It is so important to make sure your students develop good habits - doing so now could help them avoid long term issues from bad posture.
While students should never be typing long enough to cause issues, there are ways to ensure they maintain proper posture when typing. Students should be instructed to sit with their feet flat on the floor and their backs straight. Shoulders should be relaxed and elbows bent no tighter than 90°. Always check that your students are holding their wrists in a neutral position, with the thumb running parallel to the forearm, the wrist bending only slightly upwards. Warn students that if they feel their wrists hitting the keyboard or desk, they should reposition.
Many detached keyboards have extendable legs, but it actually makes more ergonomic sense to keep keyboards flat against the surface of the desk. Wrist pads may come in handy when it’s time to rest, but their presence may entice students to develop bad posture when typing. Having the keyboard tipped up or having a wrist pad may cause your students to angle their wrists too harshly.
While it may seem obvious to give your eyes a break, or to stretch your fingers while typing, we need to explicitly teach these lessons to students. Between texting and posting, young people today are more familiar with keyboarding than any generation prior. With the ubiquity of personal devices, many students are more than proficient when it comes to typing with their thumbs. This is why it is perhaps more important than ever to ensure our students are developing the correct typing skills.
