Assessment in Keyboarding

In my 7th grade keyboarding classes, the chief object for students is to enhance their keyboarding accuracy and speed. We assess their progress by giving each student a one minute timed typing test every 8-12 days. Students are graded on a 10 point scale (based on results of previous timed test) as follows:
10 points for an improvement of 4 words or better
9 points for improvement of 3 words
8 points for improvement of 2 words
7 points for improvement of 1 word
6 points for no improvement
As you can see, the lowest score a student can earn on the test is 6 out of 10 points.

Next quarter I am going to challenge my students to try to achieve a keyboarding speed of 35 words per mintue. Keyboarding class can get tedious and boring at times, which makes concentrating on proper skills challenging at times. To keep their attention and focus I am going to tie an incentive based on improvement over the term...any suggestions?

Probability Game Assessment

In 8th grade math classes with one of my cooperating teachers, at the end of a probability unit, a final project was assigned that required students and their partner to create a board game based on probability. The students were given approximately 3 class periods to work on the project, as well as strong suggestion to work on it evenings and/or over the weekend (it had to be done by the end of the third class because parent-teacher conferences were the next day and the games were going to be hung around the room). In my opinion, the teacher loosely explained her instructions and expectations, and it wasn't until AFTER the projects were graded that they saw the grading rubric. Coincidently, there were at least 1/4 - 1/3 of students from each class that had missing or incomplete grades shown for this assignment. The most common reason cited for the missing/incomplete work was lack of student understanding of project expectations.

From this lesson, I learned it is crucial to clearly explain project expectations. I also realized it isn't fair to students to give grades without detailing how grades are given. I think the project would have been more successful with improved student outcomes if the teacher would have provided an outline of her grading rubric prior to the lesson.

Cursing in School

Right or wrong, I have found I am selective when it comes to addressing this issue. Generally if I hear a student curse in class, I will call them out. I tell them that type of language is unacceptable and they should find better, more intelligent means to express themselves. If I hear curse words in passing, whether I address it or not depends on what I've got going that moment. In one specific instance, however, a student was telling me about why he did not like staying at his mom's house - as he described, he froze his @ss off. The fact he cursed in this conversation was far from my mind.

I am curious, what do you do when you hear students curse in class? Or walking down the hall while talking with friends? How often do you acknowlegde it - every time you hear it or only somtimes?

Oh, the honesty

I'd just like to comment on the openness and honesty of middle schoolers, particularly when compared to high schoolers. In my experience, high school students showed up to class, did what they were supposed to do (most of the time), and left class as soon as they could. Most made little attempt to engage with teachers. Middle school students, on the other hand, are incredibly honest and open and I find I am still often surprised by this. These students love to reveal their drama - whether its the boyfriend/girlfriend of the day, gossip, details about their crush, why they're mad at the their parents, or whatever is on their mind, these kids will share with practically anyone who will listen.

GO ZAGS

Just wanted to make you aware Gonzaga won the WCC championship

Open Office vs Microsoft Word

I am incredibly frustrated with my school's decision to make keyboarding students use Open Office, a free word processing program, rather than provide our small lab with Microsoft's Word program. How many companies, schools, and other institutions use Open Office? I'm willing to be more schools and companies use Word. Sure, Open Office is free, but it is also unreliable and rarely used in the "real world." When students leave our middle school for the high school, they will be ill-prepared for the business department's computer classes because they will not have had necessary exposure to the Microsoft programs used by the department. To top it off, THREE other computer labs around the school that are primarily used for testing - not keyboarding class - have Microsoft Office programs. Makes sense, right?

Keyboarding Skills

Every week I get at least one student who asks "WHY do I have to take this class?! Its soooo boring!" While I agree, the class can get a bit tedious at times, I firmly believe in the importance of developing keyboarding skills among students. Not only will aid students in academics, it will provide them a valuable skill required by most employers.

Keyboarding is currently offered only during 7th grade for our middle school students and lasts one quarter of the year. Unfortunately, this is the first computer class for many of my students, so our curriculum is somewhat limited. It is a skills-based that requires repetition in order to enhance the skill.