Distance learning information

How to help students improve typing after the supervised training:

Regular daily practice is vital to embed muscle memory;

While some students are self-motivated and aware of what is required, many need ongoing prompts from Achieve Now and parental encouragement.

Achieve Now Support

Here’s what we’ve found helps:

1. Direct communications with older students

• Students with their own mobile phones will be included in a WhatsApp group.
  The student mobile number provided at the time of registration is the number included in the group;

• This will be used to send regular reminders to practise typing;

• We do NOT include parents in this group as it totally changes the dynamic;

• Individual students will receive prompts if they go a few days without practising;

• If I notice a student is NOT progressing as I would expect, I will contact their parents and perhaps organise a one:one session with the student;

• If you think your child is not progressing please do email me with any concerns.
  As a parent, you might spot something before me.

2. Provide Weekly Progress Reports

These are provided every Tuesday after the weekly lesson

3. Supply weekly videos to teach students about learning technologies

• We have number of learning technology teaching topics.

• A few short videos will be assigned to each topic for students to watch when convenient.

Why use videos to teach about technology for learning?

The course helps students across a wide age range. Videos are a great way of transferring knowledge to a mixed-ability group as they can be sped up and repeated as required.

For Younger children parent engagement with the videos is important

Parents explaining the videos to their child/children helps all parties to understand the content better.

Parental Support

How can parents ensure this section of the course is successful? This list is composed to help rather than burden parents. We know lives are busy and parents have competing time commitments. We are simply making this information easy to access.

1. Check students’ finger positioning

We take great care to ensure all our students use the correct fingers when we supervise their typing.

It would be wise for you to do the same when they type independently. If you don’t touch type yourself this can be tricky to do. This information will help.

Always

• Rest the two pointer fingers on the bobbly black stickers (F & J keys)

• Return to the ‘CLAW’ finger position in both hands.

• Use the blind keyboard when practising typing - Lessons & Games!!
  
  This video shows you what to do. You can skip the first 30 seconds that explains the ‘blind’ keyboard.

2. Help students complete the Progress Worksheet

This worksheet is designed to help parents and students understand what needs to be done each day and to keep track of what has and has not been completed.

It is for your benefit only - we will never inspect them.

Students cannot get it wrong!
It is simply an aide memoir for them to check off each day

3. Encourage students to do their daily practise

The longer students practise the better.

The amount of daily practise suggested depends on the length of the school holiday.

Suggested time breakdowns

40 minutes (shorter school holidays) could be:

• 25 mins lessons

• 15 minutes games

• 5 minutes on problem keys

• 5 minutes timed tests (each test takes 1 minute)

All of this should be done on Typing.com.

If students want to, they can other solutions to practise typing - Login details are provided below.

If children type for longer than suggested
it won’t do them any harm.

Sometimes students forget how long they have been typing and work longer which is great, as long as they don’t get fixated on one particular game.

Are the Fastrack sheets appropriate for your child?

Fastracks were compiled because some students were getting bored and losing motivation. They were finding progress through programs too slow.

Some students benefit from completing EVERY lesson rather than using Fastracks. This is advised for younger students or those who have difficulty remembering where the keys are.

Students do NOT have to follow the Fast track provided
they can choose to do each lesson

4. Watch the teaching videos

While all ages benefit greatly from being aware of this technology, younger students might not need to use them immediately.

The biggest benefit to younger students is when their parents understand this knowledge. Having watched the teaching videos, parents are then able to prompt students to use the technology when appropriate.

This is also helpful for older students who, when under pressure to complete work or revise, often forget to use learning tools.

To help students make the most of the videos:

• Ask how they might use these learning tools now or in the future;

• Ask them to show you how they use the tools on their own devices.

5. Where possible ensure students attend the weekly webinars

Encourage attendance of all check-in webinars. While these are not compulsory, students progress better if they attend.

• Check-in webinars are designed to help parents.

Please do not feel burdened by them. Students will NOT be given a hard time if they fail to practise or miss webinars.

6. Ensure students have the worksheets required

For copies of all the worksheets used throughout the course click below

Student Worksheets

What if my child does not like Typing.com?

While supervision and instruction are important, the most vital part of learning is how much the student practises using correct finger placement.

Therefore, if students are resistant to practise on Typing.com, it is better to use other solutions than not practise at all.

For best instruction and supervision we recommend students use Typing.com

Think creatively! Students could type out their favourite website, comic, book, homework (or a shopping/to-do list) … ANYTHING to persuade them to type.

Encourage students to do as much typing in the school holiday as possible.

Students still have user ids in:

• Typing Club

  Lessons 17 & 18 in Typing Club are a helpful, straightforward way to start each session as they ensure students use the correct hand when typing. Some students benefit from this daily exercise.
  This is a suggestion, not compulsory extra lessons. 
  USER ID: student’s email address
  PASSWORD: password
  Students can choose to complete every lesson rather than following Fastrack;
  

• Nessy Fingers

  If students prefer Nessy Fingers, they can practise daily using this solution.
  Nessy allows students to input their own spelling lists - learning them by typing, which some students enjoy.
  Secret Word PROFUSEPANDA
  USER ID: Students Name

7. Ensure typing tests are taken at the end of every practise

Some children like to start each typing practise with a typing test and then complete lessons and games. They then finish with more typing tests to see how they have improved. This is a good way to work.

Although otthers would rather take typing test than do lessons, I do not recommend this. Lessons help them progress faster than just repeating typing tests.

Some students avoid typing tests.

It is vital that students complete at least one typing test ideally at the end of each days practise.

We recommend doing the 1 minute Typing.com test.

PLEASE ONLY allow the student to do timed tests on their account

At times, a sibling or parent ‘has a go’.
It is a great idea to have healthy competition between family members.

Please create a separate free account to do this

Otherwise, it impossible for me to measure progress and give informed instruction.

Can students practise by just playing games?

The only rule I would stipulate is:

More time should be spent on lessons than games

Games improve speed but this can be at the expense of accuracy.  It is more important to be accurate when learning to type.

I am slow to introduce competitive games like Nitro Type, because students are often so keen to win races they stop using the blind keyboard which is counterproductive.