Introduction:
In today’s digital age, typing proficiency is essential for success in school and beyond. Middle school students need to develop strong keyboarding skills to keep up with the demands of their education and future careers. Here are 20 engaging typing activities that middle school students can participate in to improve their keyboard skills.
1. Online Typing Games: Fun and interactive games like Typing.com, Nitro Type, and TypeRacer can make learning touch typing enjoyable for middle school students.
2. Timed Typing Drills: Students can challenge themselves by completing a series of timed typing drills to improve their speed and accuracy.
3. Keyboarding Challenge: Students can compete with one another in a friendly competition to see who has the fastest and most accurate typing skills.
4. Touch Typing Tutorials: Online tutorials like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing offer step-by-step lessons on proper touch typing techniques.
5. Typing Club: Register for a free account on TypingClub.com, where middle school students can learn at their own pace through interactive lessons and games.
6. Journal Writing: Encourage daily journal writing to improve both typing speed and language skills.
7. Collaborative Storytelling: In groups, students can take turns adding sentences to an ongoing story while focusing on improving their typing abilities.
8. Create a Book Report/Summary: Have students work on longer projects like book reports or summaries of articles using proper touch typing methods.
9. Typing Speed Races: Students can race against the clock or each other to complete specific texts within a given time frame.
10. Codecademy Programming Lessons: For those interested in coding, Codecademy offers lessons that require considerable typing practice.
11. Rewriting a Paragraph with Eyes Closed: Improve accuracy by having students rewrite paragraphs without looking at the screen or keyboard.
12. Caption Videos: Students can practice typing while captioning short videos or clips from movies.
13. Type Out Favorite Quotes: Use typing practice as an opportunity to explore famous quotes and famous literature.
14. Create Typing Goals: Set individual goals for typing speed and accuracy, which can be tracked over time.
15. Blogging/Website Creation: Encourage students to create their own blogs or websites, where they can regularly practice typing while also building digital literacy skills.
16. Typing Relay Races: Create teams of students and have each member type a section of text before passing the computer to the next person.
17. Write a Letter: Students can write digital letters to friends, family members, pen pals, or even celebrities as touch typing practice.
18. Group Chat/Forum Participation: Engage students in online group discussions through a moderated chat or forum while using proper keyboarding techniques.
19. Short Story Submissions: Encourage students to write short stories and submit them to online literary magazines or contests for young writers.
20. Typing Progress Celebrations: Regularly celebrate milestones in individual typing progress to keep students motivated and excited about improving their keyboarding skills.
Conclusion:
By incorporating these 20 engaging activities into middle school curriculums, educators can help students improve their typing proficiency while simultaneously developing essential computer skills needed for future academic success. As they participate in these diverse activities, middle schoolers will be well-prepared for the increasingly digital world.
