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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thank you for posting!  I completely agree - these kids need to learn to type!  When I was a kid and computers were new my dad bought me Mavis Beacon software and I sat in my basement and practiced.  Given where technology is now, how is this not a thing? [/quote]

They don’t have time and money in MCPS to implement this.  Parents just have to do it at home, IMO.[/quote]

It's not a question of time and money.  They have the money for all kinds of technology and the kids spend a lot of time on computers.

It's a question of will.  MCPS doesn't prioritize skills.  It's the same thing with handwriting, spelling, grammar, etc. [/quote]

True.  I do agree that MCPS doesn’t Prioritize skills.

But I do think there is just no time in the day to add in a typing class for the second or third graders.

They start with the Chromebooks in K now so the kids are already starting with the Hint and Peck method and developing bad habits by the time they get to 2nd grade.
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I don't think it needs to be a traditional daily typing class.  They could do 5 minutes a day for years, or maybe once a week do 1/2 hour.

I also don't know that it needs to be second or third grade.  Maybe it would make more sense to start when the kids were younger and had fewer academic demands.  Or maybe it would make sense to do it when they're older and have larger hands.

I don't really care when they teach typing as long as they teach the skill before it's needed.  In my experience, MCPS expects kids to do things ignoring required skills.  It used to drive me crazy that my Kindergartener and 1st grader were supposed to write things for homework without instruction on how to form letters or even hold a pencil.  If a kid is expected to write lengthy papers, they need to know either handwriting or typing.  Before teachers expect typed papers kids need to have been explicitly, systematically, taught how to touch type at school.

Yes, parents can, and in many cases will, do so at home, but relying on parents to teach basic skills is, in my opinion, one of the biggest contributors to the achievement gap.

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