-tictech message:
It is fairly amazing how fast some students can type with just a few fingers
but there are two issues:
1. They can't get over a certain speed - usually it is about 40-45 words a
minute that way and most importantly
2. They are hurting themselves from repetitive stress injuries. Many of our
students parents and some of the students themselves have already had
surgeries for carpal tunnel syndrome or other repetitive stress problems. If
the proper technique is used - (we liken it to throwing a basketball by
bending down and throwing it through your legs- yes, many times it will go
through the hoop but it doesn't further your expertise in the game) they
won't be injured and therefore will be more productive to themselves and
everyone around them.
So both from a speed standpoint and an injury standpoint it just makes sense
to really push proper technique. It doesn't seem fair to the student or to
any further instruction they may have in computer applications to let them
get by rather than actually teaching them to do their best and not get
injured in the works.
Mary Davison, Ballard High School
mkdavison@seattleschools.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Meyer, Karl
Sent: Thu 6/5/2003 2:53 PM
To: tic-tech
Cc:
Subject: tictech: Autodidactic Typists
-tictech message:
It seems like I encounter more and more 6th graders who can type accurately
at astonishing speeds.
This is a small percentage of the whole but still there seems to be one in
every crowd.
The thing is that they all seem to have "whack" self-taught techniques.
Part
of me squirms when I see a kid typing 40 words per minute using only index
and middle fingers. Part of me wants to celebrate the achievement. I know
that they could eventually type faster using 10 fingers instead of just 4
but
it is hard to argue that point to a student who is rightfully proud of
themselves for walking into my class able to type right over the top of the
grading chart.
An informal survey shows that most of these autodidacts learned their chops
by instant messaging.
So, should I take the point of view that the ends (accurate and speedy
keyboarding) justify the means (inefficient and possibly un-ergonomic
technique)?
Or, should I follow the belief that while discipline is not an end in
itself - it is the means to a perfect (or at least high quality) end and
ask
students to discipline
themselves and type the standard QWERTY way?
Any thoughts?
Jim Meyer
kjmeyer@seattleschools.org
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