Reminders/suggestions; Home row practice

As we begin to learn the keyboard I like to continually remind you of little things that are easy to forget, and that really do make a difference in improving your keying.

1. When keying your forearms should not be resting on your thighs (I did not mention this yesterday so this is not really a reminder).  Remember that your fingers are the only "things" touching anything - everything else on your lower arm should not be touching the keyboard, countertop, or anything else.
2. If you keep your keyboard at the edge of the countertop you will avoid having issues with #1 above.  This will also be a benefit when it comes to the technique sheet and grading.
3. The speed skins will move slightly as you are typing - I understand your frustration in this regard, but do the best that you can.
4. In order to be able to key at a proficient level you need to fight through the urge to constantly look at your keyboard (that's part of why we have the speed skins).  This will probably be a "weird sensation" - you are used to using your visual senses to help you accomplish what you do on a daily basis.  However, we want to get to a point where looking at your keyboard is not necessary.

Today we are going to spend quite a bit of time learning the home row.  We will start with page 4 in the book, and we will be keying in Microsoft Word (as we will normally do).

I would also like you to log into your Google account today.  We are going to learn how to save a document into your Google docs towards the end of the hour.