Today in class we had a very interesting discussion on the importance of keyboarding in the classroom. After discussing several pros and cons with keyboarding, the discussion seemed to develop into a debate of whether or not handwriting was an important skill to be taught. I personally feel like there is a constant tug-of-war between these two. While student teaching, I noticed in one of my placements the amount of class time that was given for handwriting practice. It was about 20 minutes each day when the students were required to complete one or two pages in their handwriting packet. This packet was simply worksheets stapled together in a book allowing the students to practice both regular handwriting and cursive. This was done independently and the teacher never had them turn it in. Personally I thought this was a complete waste of time. The teacher didn't make the students accountable for their practice, and in turn the students didn't take this time seriously. They were often off task or completing other work.
For me I thought that this time could have better been used with more meaningful activities such as including keyboarding time like we discussed today. However, I do see the significance in making sure our students are taught to write well so it's back to the big question; What is more important Keyboarding or Handwriting? Thinking about this, I realized that everything we plan and teach within the classroom is done so with a specific purpose. Taking this into account, I don't think I agree with having exclusive time for keyboarding or handwriting. Both are skills that students will need for the rest of their lives in everything they do so in teaching I want to emphasize that. Integrating these skills in assignments will teach them that both are important. I like how someone suggested today having each a part of an assignment. If you're having them write a story; make them write the story out with good handwriting and then move on to typing it out for the editing process. I thought it was an excellent way to take away the debate and replace it with a collaborative learning process.
Nice thinking about this topic. I agree, we need both but we need balance and students, especially elementary students, need to gain experience using both skills. It is not a typical debate we have in schools, but it is important and usually placed in the teacher's lap without any background knowledge at all.
ReplyDelete