I am participating in The Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Story Challenge, writing every day during the month of March. My theme this year is "Outdoors".
My outdoor time today consisted of the following walks: to/from the car at work; to/from the fifth grade portable across the parking lot where I covered a class during the teachers' PLC; between my front door and the driveway; and to/from the front door of a restaurant.
Oh, and my fifteen minutes sitting outside on the porch at 6:45p this evening, because it was still light out, because, you know, daylight savings time (yawnnnn).
About that walk to the portable: I've been ending my PLC coverage time for the upper grades with some keyboarding practice on typing.com. After they have logged in and are practicing on their own, I like to casually sit down with the keyboard in front of the flat panel, go the site myself, and take a one-minute typing test. I keep the volume on; the site uses the old clackety-clack of manual typewriters for effect.
This morning, it didn't take long for the students to stop and take notice.
"Dudes, she isn't even looking at her keyboard!"
"How is she doing that?"
"She's going so fast!"
"She's still not looking at her keyboard!"
To be fair, I am nowhere near the speed I possessed fresh from my high school typing class. Those skills came in handy in college, where I charged a dollar a page to correct spelling and grammatical errors and type out students' papers on my Smith-Corona electric typewriter. But it does make for powerful testimony to the purpose of practicing--and using all ten fingers.
It was worth the walk to the portable this morning.
 |
| I was tickled that it matched my husband's age, on his birthday! |
Your post brought back memories of typing class! It's funny how many kids will have grown up on keyboards, but not learn the typing skills we had to back in the day.
ReplyDeleteFun! It made me smile to hear about how impressed those fifth graders were by your typing skills. I used to cover students' hands with a box lid so they were forced to practice typing without looking at the keys, but it's been a long time since I've worked with kids on that skill. Another lost art? I love how you meandered into the story you focused on in the slice.
ReplyDelete