Skills for CBTs

Skills for CBT

Students who will be taking a NYS 3-8 ELA and/or math assessment on computer should have regular interaction with technology as part of their standard instruction.  (NYSED) 

 NYS Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards include expectations for keyboarding instruction.  You'll find these in the Production and Range of Writing section for all grades P-12.  Here is an the year-by-year approach to developing effective keyboarding skills.  

Keyboarding 

Suggested: Provide practice at least 3 times a week for 10 minutes each time.  Monitor student posture and placement of fingers on the home row keys during keyboarding practice and reinforce in all instructional areas.  Be sure to be a role model for appropriate keyboarding techniques:)

The goal is to move them away from "hunting and pecking" toward muscle memory.

Learning Targets:

• I can demonstrate correct posture while typing on a keyboard.

• I can tap the spacebar gently with only my thumbs while typing on a keyboard. 

• I can keep my hands positioned correctly on the left and right sides of the keyboard.

• I can keep my fingers on the home row while typing on a keyboard. 

The list below contains online assessment tools that can be used to assist students in practicing their technology skills, assessing subject-matter knowledge, while receiving instant feedback. These resources can be used to create pretests, exit tickets, as well as formative assessments, tests, and quizzes.  

G Suite

Google Classroom: Ask a Question; Private comments to teacher

Google Docs: Create; Respond in tables; Insert images; Explain math thinking

Master the "Home Row" Foundation

Before they start typing sentences, they need to understand where their hands live. You can create a simple visual guide at the top of a shared document or print it out.

• The "F" and "J" Bumps: Teach students to feel for the physical ridges on these keys using their index fingers.

• The Anchor Challenge: Have students type asdf (space) jkl; (space) for three rows without looking at their hands.

Find and Replace Formatting

Give students a Doc full of lowercase "i"s or sentences missing capital letters.

• Task: Have them navigate through the document using only the arrow keys (no mouse!) to fix the capitalization using the Shift key.

Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for Grades 3-5  Teaching shortcuts early prevents "mouse fatigue" and makes students feel like "pro" users. 

A Pro-Tip for Teachers: > Encourage students to use "Invisible Hands." If you have old dish towels or large pieces of construction paper, tape them to the top of the keyboard so they drape over the students' hands. This forces them to rely on muscle memory rather than sight!

Google Slides: Create; Respond in text boxes; Explain math thinking

• • • • Spelling Sprint Use a slide dedicated to this week's sight words. Challenge students to type each word 3 times. 

      • Sentence Builder: Focus on using the Shift key for capital letters and simple punctuation marks.

Google Forms Create online assessments, forms, and surveys. Question types include text, paragraph, multiple choice, check boxes, choose from list, and scale. 

• • • • Example: Grade 3 Math Module 2 Application

Typing Club  While Google Docs and Slides are great "blank canvases" for practice, TypingClub is the structured curriculum for grades 2-5 that actually teaches the mechanics of where fingers go.

Key Features for Grades 2-5

For this age group, TypingClub primarily uses a course called "Typing Jungle." It includes over 600 lessons that progress from single letters to full paragraphs.

• Interactive Hand Guides: A virtual set of hands on the screen shows students exactly which finger to use for every key. This prevents the "hunt and peck" habit.

• Gamified Levels: Students earn stars, points, and badges. If they don't meet a certain accuracy or speed requirement, they can't move on to the next level.

• Engaging Content: It isn't just random letters; as they progress, they type actual stories, interesting facts, and even classic literature.

• Immediate Feedback: If a student hits the wrong key, it turns red instantly. It tracks WPM (Words Per Minute) and Accuracy in real-time.

Summary

If Google Docs is the "test" where students show they can write a (report), 

TypingClub is the "practice field" where they build the speed and accuracy to make that (report) writing easy.