Learning to type is more important than ever in today's computer-oriented society. Children use e-mail, browse the Internet for classroom research and play computer games, which makes it vital to learn proper hand placement on the keyboard.

Yet despite the importance, not many elementary schools offer classes devoted to learning keyboarding skills. While Arizona's state standards cover what students are supposed to learn regarding keyboarding, the skill is not tested as part of any standardized test.

So it's often left to schools to decide how to teach typing. Some, such as Arrowhead Elementary School in northeast Phoenix, have keyboarding classes. Others expect classroom teachers to do the job.

Judy French, a computer specialist at Arrowhead Elementary in the Paradise Valley Unified School District, recommends that parents discourage children from using the "hunt and peck" method of typing for two reasons: They won't be able to type without looking at their hands, and their speed won't increase.

In the early grades, French said, proper finger placement is more important than speed. She doesn't time students for speed until the fifth and sixth grades.

Parents can buy color charts that show a keyboard so their children can memorize the keys. French also recommends coming up with clever ways to memorize keys. For instance, the first four keys on the middle or "home" row are A, S, D and F or "Always Stay Drug Free." The first five keys on the top row make up a funny word called "Qwerty."

Typing is a skill that every child will need to master, she said.

She tells her students that if they get really good at typing, they can charge their friends to type their papers in college.

Source: azcentral.com