Kids, Innovation and Keyboarding

Keyboarding should be taken off the elementary school curriculum. I am a stalwart champion of teaching young children the keyboard as soon as they start using the computer and everyone would be amazed to hear me say that but, if learning the letters on the keyboard and correct finger use takes only two 35-minute lessons and students practice this newly-learned skill in Microsoft Word in “real” life, is there any need for the traditional sporadic keyboarding instruction spread throughout Grades 1-6. No. And, very exciting, what would schools do with all this extra precious curriculum time?

Keyboarding, like … Continue Reading

Finding it hard to get back into it this week, real-life things keep getting in the way. Monday, I did work, hard . . . but the rest of the week, sigh. Slightly in my defence, I had commitments every day and I find it much easier to throw myself into working if I have a clear day, Tuesday accompanying a friend to test for a hernia, Wednesday accompanying the same friend for a tiny varicose-vein op, you could hardly see them but, apparently, healthwise, better to get rid of them than not, Thursday cleaners and hairdressing appointment, Friday seeing … Continue Reading

A wonderful gutsy friend died this week. She was the most gutsy lady I have ever known. That is a sweeping statement and, normally, I hate sweeping statements, they are often hastily said, ill-considered and dramatic but, in the case of Merilyn Florence Vanoli, I mean every word.

I first met Merilyn aboard the TSS “Fairstar” on a voyage to England, the same voyage she met her darling husband, Sammy, a handsome Italian steward. We were young and the world was our oyster. I was travelling with Ros, we had both just resigned from the shipping company, Sitmar Line, to travel … Continue Reading

Monday, April 16, the start of my journey, up at 7 am, cup of tea and back to bed to write until 9.30 am, I’m not in the mood, the cold calls I have to make today preying on my mind. I am just going to pick up the phone and cold call a Melbourne school, do it now while the mood is on me AND I am damn well going to be honest and say up front “I am selling a keyboarding method that teaches young children to type the same way as they would learn to ride a bicycle”

The very … Continue Reading

I am about to embark on the journey of an idea that could revolutionize the teaching of keyboarding in elementary schools. My bags are packed, tucked safely inside are my Twitter account, my blog posts that can be turned into articles at the drop of a hat, my lovely new HP computer and my determination and resolution to do whatever it takes, even cold calling (shudder), all my marketing tools.

I am excited and keen, it’s taken me a long time to get to this point and I am so looking forward to … Continue Reading

Relief is a wonderful feeling, it washes over you in waves from head to toe. I am over the moon, I am walking on air, I don’t think I have ever felt so relieved in all my life. I had been holding my breath, figuratively speaking, for 2 weeks since a CT scan of the heart and stomach aorta, Yes, the aorta blood vessel extends down into the stomach. When I first heard this, I said “what’s my heart doing in my stomach”, I am not as ignorant nowadays.

To cut a long story short, last June, I had … Continue Reading

That’s it, I’ve had it, I am going to buy a new computer, mine is so slow, I am forever going off to do other things while waiting for something to happen. My Hewlett-Packard desktop PC has served me well for 9 years. How do I know it’s 9? Tommy, my darling Australian Terrier, turned 9 on March 24, he sleeps in the box the computer came in. I put him in the box the day I brought him home at 11 weeks and he has turned his nose up at all other beds offered since.

In the excitement of buying a new computer, … Continue Reading

I am ready to start blogging properly. My darling brother, John, read my first few blog posts and pointed out to me via email, he lives in Queensland, I live in Melbourne, that I’m not really blogging: “Thought your blogs were charming and nostalgic; well they were to me, maybe more of a memoir than a blog.” He was absolutely right. Up till now, my blog posts have been stories I wanted to tell, get off my chest, before I start on the journey of an idea that could revolutionize keyboarding in elementary schools.

Wikipedia defines a blog (a portmanteau of the term web … Continue Reading

The new Common Core Standards require Grade 4 students to demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting. This would be a nightmare for students today, they still “hunt and peck”.

Why do they still “hunt and peck” in Grade 4. Most educators seem to accept that learning to keyboard is a long, drawn-out business. As proof of this, check out the curriculum of students in Grades 1-6. Keyboarding instruction is scattered sporadically throughout these grades. Why, why, why are they still learning and practising keyboarding in Grades 4-6?

School districts will have to … Continue Reading

A week of firsts, I tweeted my first tweet, got my first Twitter follower and cleaned Tommy’s teeth for the first time ever, Tommy is my darling Australian Terrier.

You should always strike while the iron is hot, just do it, nail it now! For goodness sake, Nail It Now is my business name and, if I had opened a Twitter account when I first thought of it, I may have gotten @nailitnow as my Twitter handle, instead, I am nailitnow1, och well, this will serve to remind me to do things promptly. It took me just as long to open the … Continue Reading

It’s February 29, an extra day in a leap year and I’m going to take a tiny detour from the keyboarding marketing road. I am so thrilled about the solution to a problem I found online today, I just have to put it in writing. Then, I’m going to contact the creator of my happiness to let him know. He is from Manchester, England like my darling mother and I will tell him how his plugin made my day.

I am a doer and impatient. When I get something new, I don’t want to spend hours working out all the ins and outs, I … Continue Reading

If I’m going to start cold calling School Districts (my worst nightmare come true), I’d better work out what I want to say. Why am I saying “if”, there’s no question about it, I’ve gotta do it, it’s time, I have to get the word out about my innovative, unique keyboarding method, 5 years doing marketing just using emails to communicate isn’t working, I need to try everything.

Does anyone like receiving sales calls? Not me, they intrude into your life, they interrupt what you are doing and they invade your privacy. So why am I contemplating cold calling people who … Continue Reading

The Nail It Now keyboarding method would be great for homeschool families. This non-software method is fun and meaningful, and the whole family can join in learning to type. Children are not isolated in software programs typing repetitive random letters.

First, the keyboard is split in two, we mentally do this every time we type left-hand and right-hand letters, the children learn one side at a time, 15 keys instead of 30, much easier. Then, one simple home row sentence and five up and down association words for each side and the children have learned the keyboard and correct finger use … Continue Reading

Giving schools the option of dropping cursive has been controversial, not nearly as controversial as the pros and cons of keyboarding and when it should be taught in elementary schools, but that is another matter. Why is cursive in the firing line? I don’t have the experience or expertise to answer that but, if it’s a matter of time, there’s an easy solution. Next, keyboarding, the homeschooling “edge”.

The word “practice” strikes dread in one’s heart, keyboarding practice, piano practice, any kind of practice is perceived as boring, repetitive and mindless. It doesn’t have to be. Let me ask you a question, did you find practising riding a bike boring? No way, you were actually riding, albeit with someone holding onto your bicycle seat to steady you, BUT you were riding in the “real” world.

Keyboarding is a muscle-memory skill like riding a bicycle and should be taught the same way. Learn HOW fast and, then, PRACTICE in the “real” world. PRACTICE the Nail It Now way means opening Microsoft Word … Continue Reading

When I say that learning the keyboard is the easy part of learning to touch keyboard, people look at me in astonishment. Everything about keyboarding is perceived to be complex, it’s this great mystery, everyone has tried to learn at some stage in their lives, it was hard work and, now, they can’t be bothered, they would rather use two fingers.

Two-finger keyboarding is all very well for people who type short snappy messages, but what about professional people, solicitors, doctors, dentists and older students who need to type long reports? They must experience a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs at … Continue Reading

I was taught to ride a bicyle by my Dad, first I learned HOW to do it fast, sit in the saddle, place your hands on the handlebars, feet on the pedals, brake to stop and bell to tell people you are coming. While this new learning was fresh in my mind, out I went into the “real” world to PRACTICE what I had learned, albeit in a safe place and with Dad hanging onto my saddle to make sure I didn’t topple over.

After quite a few attempts riding around the local supermarket car park, it was a Sunday and … Continue Reading

I use Google Alerts to keep up to date on what’s happening in the “keyboarding” and “touch typing” world and I am continually surprised at just how many jobs, apart from the expected ones,  require keyboarding skills, especially when there are still so many people who disparage the importance of children learning “proper” keyboarding skills in elementary schools.

I would go so far as to say, if you have good keyboarding skills, you should never be out-of-work.

Check out my Jobs page, I will continue to update it. Next, keyboarding is like riding a bicycle.

It’s January 4, the start of a fresh new year, 2012, what a wonderful feeling, the whole year ahead as I start on my journey to market an idea that could revolutionize the teaching of keyboarding in elementary schools. Up till now, I have been writing about stuff I wanted to say and, before I start to blog in earnest, I want to talk about a few more things, like the keyboarding LMIs I have come across online over the past 5 years. 

LMIs (like-minded individuals) is an expression I picked up from my ex-boss, at the time a Director of McKinsey & … Continue Reading

A fresh start, a clean slate, I can’t wait!!! Happy New Year to everyone

Next, keyboarding LMIs.

2011 was meant to be my year for making a million dollars from my innovative keyboarding method for schools, but the best-laid plans can go astray and they did. As a brand new year approaches, I am taking stock and looking at what I could do better. I really don’t have to do a lot of soul searching to come up with the answer to that one. I have been a chicken, scaredy cat and wimp.

For 5 years, my chosen way of communicating with prospective purchasers has been email. I like writing stuff down, I like To Do lists … Continue Reading

“Ten skills every student should learn, 1 Read, 2 Type . . .” I could hardly believe my eyes, the readers of eSchool News had chosen keyboarding as the second most important skill for students. Wowee! Does this mean School Districts might now spend time looking at keyboarding outcomes using traditional keyboarding software programs in their schools today?

They should. Keyboarding is a “use it or lose it” skill and sporadic keyboarding lessons spread over several years is all wrong AND it’s wasting hours of curriculum time and money. Like most computer learning, students need to learn the keyboard fast and, then, use this … Continue Reading

In the UK, parents are not relying on schools to teach their children keyboarding, they are paying tutors. “Exams are over, pens are down and it’s time for private tutors to take a break, unless they teach touch typing” according to an article in the Independent newspaper in July, 2009. It goes on: “Parents seeking to give their children a head start at school or university are bombarding typing schools with requests for summer courses.”

My child types so slowly it takes her hours to complete homework and other assignments. What can I do? This was … Continue Reading

“Many middle school students are already doing all their writing assessments online and there is talk of fourth graders doing this too, but this would be a nightmare! They still hunt and peck at this age!”

“I wish our schools would teach serious keyboarding down in the lower elementary; the sight of someone hunting and pecking with one finger makes me want to scream. My students are lovely people with many wonderful stories to tell, but they do not have the skills to make that possible. Watching them struggle to ‘get it out’ is heart-wrenching”.

“I am the technology coordinator at my … Continue Reading

The question of when keyboarding should be taught in the early grades in elementary schools has been widely debated since the early 1990s and, amazingly, many a thesis has been written on the subject, the hands of young people are too small, they do not have the eye-hand motor coordination to learn keyboarding skills earlier than around Grade 4 and they need to learn their own way the major objections. Others disagree:

The hands of young children are too small
“The issue with kids is not the typing activity specifically. It’s really no different from them learning the Suzuki method of violin or … Continue Reading

“The best thing you can do with an innovative idea is try it;
the worst thing you can do is just talk about it”
Georgie Farmer, creator of the Nail It Now keyboarding method

Next, keyboarding in schools debated ad nauseum.

“If we never try new things, we’ll never find new things that work”
Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education , 2009

How excited was I to read Arne Duncan’s words about trying new things, you know, that tingly, shivery feeling of excitement and hope when you read something you relate to big-time, something that inspires you, maybe this will open a door into the bureaucratic “brick wall“.

“Innovation” is the big buzzword in education at the moment. I too am a huge fan. When I heard of Arne Duncan’s Open Innovation Portal, I was inspired and loved that anyone … Continue Reading

I always try to give the ideas of others a “go”, even when I don’t think the end result will be that fantastic. One time, I was on board the P and O liner, “Orcades” on the morning of Fancy Dress Night. My three cabin mates and I were  “scrabbling” for ideas. Someone suggested “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”. I definitely wasn’t that keen, we wouldn’t look very glamorous, but I wasn’t going to not give it a “go”.

We draped the beige ship’s blankets over our heads (held together in appropriate places with safety pins), painted our noses black and created black … Continue Reading

The higher up the education ladder I went, the more rewarding the responses. The further down the ladder, the more likely I was to hit a bureaucratic ”brick wall”. Saskatchewan, Canada was typical.

To my inital email on August 10, 2006, I received a lovely letter from the Minister of Learning’s Assistant “. . . We are glad to know about the game you have developed .  . . . I have referred your message to the Instructional Resources Unit of Saskatchewan Learning. Staff there will arrange to have your resource evaluated, and will contact you to let you know the results.”

On September 19, over a … Continue Reading

I’m back on deck, raring to get on the marketing road again, a road that at times seemed endless and full of obstacles and I have to admit disheartening, but I always remember my English Grandfather’s favorite saying “It’s a long road that has no turning”, I square my shoulders, hold my head up high and take another step.

I started on this road 5 years ago to market an idea that could revolutionize the teaching of keyboarding in elementary schools. The idea is totally new to schools, it solves a huge problem and it would save many hours of precious curriculum time and money, … Continue Reading

2011, the year I was going to make my million. I had been threatening this for several years, my friends’ eyes glazed over whenever I said it. After 5 years of “doing” marketing my way, sending emails, I was going to do whatever it takes to make my million, I had the product, schools need it, only marketing is standing in the way, but the greatest of plans can change in a heartbeat, mine did.

I had major surgery, everyone kept saying to me “it’s a big operation”, Yes, open heart surgery is big, I was there, but I wasn’t there and all … Continue Reading

I will never forget Monday, May 30, 2011; it started out as a fairly normal day and ended with me sleeping on a trolley in a hospital emergency department. I didn’t touch a keyboard for 3 months. I felt giddy when I bent down to put the leash on my darling Australian Terrier, Tommy, and I was lethargic and a bit breathless. I asked my excellent GP for a full checkup, which included an ECG. All fine. He, then, said “I might send you for an echo, it will show the valves of your heart”. He just might have saved my life.

On May 30, I blithely set … Continue Reading

To take advantage of the vast, free keyboarding resource at their fingertips, all School Districts need to do is take a simple, down-to-earth approach to teaching keyboarding. In return, they’d get back the hours of precious curriculum time currently spent on software keyboarding instruction.

The Nail It Now keyboarding method is simple and down-to-earth. We mentally split the keyboard into two sides every time we type left-hand and right-hand letters, so why not learn one side at a time, much easier for children. Then, what’s simpler than one home row sentence and 5 up and down association words for each side to learn the … Continue Reading

“Even AFTER several weeks of an introduction to proper fingering technique, when they play the games that are supposed to reinforce those lessons, most children will drop everything they’ve learned about proper fingering and just revert to two-finger “pecking” to GET POINTS (or whatever quick rewards the game offers)”

Bad habits die hard. Young children spend a couple of years in the early grades keyboarding with two fingers playing software “familiarization” games. Then, all of a sudden, in Grade 4,  they are expected to drop this bad habit like a hot potato and learn to keyboard correctly. Easier said than done. By this … Continue Reading

I want to stop children typing with two fingers, I want them to be so proud of learning “proper” keyboarding, they won’t even want to.

The Nail It Now floor keyboard game teaches Grades 1-2 children the keyboard and correct finger use in four short lessons. That’s all very well and good, but it’s what School Districts do with this learning that counts. They can let it fizzle out like a damp fire cracker or they can treat it as serious learning, which it is, and make every effort to ensure students don’t forget what they’ve learned.

Kids of this age soak up information like a … Continue Reading

Grades 1-3 children are actually learning to keyboard with two fingers, a dramatic statement, but true. For 3 years, these students play keyboarding software “familiarity” games the only way they know how, with two fingers. There has to be a better way. How hard would it be to adapt the Nail It Now keyboarding method for grownups to suit the needs and interests of young children? At least, it isn’t software.

First and foremost, I must bear in mind children learn best when they are having fun, when they are involved in meaningful activities and when their individual differences are taken into consideration.

OK, the keyboard, teachers … Continue Reading

After my “doggie friend” keyboarding survey and the poor outcome of traditional keyboarding software, I got to thinking about children. Many elementary schools have keyboarding classes as early as Grade 1. Are they using these keyboarding software programs? If so, how are children coping with the repetitive random letter typing and are schools achieving desired outcomes?

First, I googled “how young children learn best” and up came ”when they are having fun, when they are involved in meaningful activities and when their individual differences are taken into consideration”. Mm, well, repetitive random letter typing is not fun, it could never be described as meaningful and one size … Continue Reading

If you want to make your friends squirm, ask them one simple and straightforward question “can you keyboard using all your fingers?”

I was curious about the success rate of traditional software keyboarding methods that use repetitive random letter typing, I couldn’t find anything online, I decided to conduct my own survey among my doggie friends. I took Tommy, my darling Australian Terrier, for a walk and asked the first ten “doggie friends” I met: “Can you keyboard using all your fingers? I was amazed that the only person who gave me a straight answer was the one who could actually touch type; she simply … Continue Reading

How many keyboarding software users, bored and frustrated with repetitively typing random letters isolated in one program on one computer for months trying to learn, give up? When learning anything to do with computers, we are inclined to blame ourselves when things don’t work out, but the keyboarding reality is that too many people give up for this to be the case; check out my testimonials page:

“Tried other tutors in the past, but with no success”
“Having toyed around with touch typing for more years than I care to confess to . . .”
“I’ve tried Mavis Teaches Typing, but found … Continue Reading

People are passionate about cooking and dancing. They happily put in long hours and overcome many difficulties, even pain. No-one I know is passionate about keyboarding. It doesn’t excite taste buds or tug at heart strings. It’s an increasingly important skill to have, but people just want to get the learning of it over and done with and get on with their busy lives.

It’s surprising then that fast and easy are not the priorities of keyboarding software companies; “bells and whistles” and adding more and more lessons gets way more attention. Repetitively typing random letters, learning only 2-4 keys per lesson, 100 lessons: it’s not fast and it’s not … Continue Reading

The click, clack of typewriters in my typewriter class has been replaced by noisy rock and roll characters with Irish voices, the colorful adventures of a koala, the animated story of a time machine, bells and whistles galore when you learn to keyboard using software these days. And there’s more, instead of the ping and clang of carriage returns, the end of a line now activates windshield wipers, a chameleon’s tongue, a large man lifting weights above his head.

How do I know all this? I trialed 9 competitor keyboarding methods, all software, to work out the unique selling points (USP) of my keyboarding method compared … Continue Reading

I felt my keyboarding method was pretty unique. My students were saying things like “Wow, this is so fast and easy”. Why don’t you sell it? But how? I am a hopeless salesperson. I buy whole books of raffle tickets at a time, rather than sell even one ticket.

Then, I had an idea. Why not create a web site? The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of popping my products (by this time, I had also created a Microsoft Word tutorial) on a web site and then, sitting back while they sold themselves. Easy. Ha. … Continue Reading

“Use it or lose it” my feisty old aunt used to say as she marched around the park every day on her ancient legs. She was exercising her leg muscles, keyboarding exercises muscle-memory, which has nothing to do with leg muscles or any other kind of muscle. Keyboarding over and over literally hard-wires the brain with a simple, efficient circuitry that enables the activity and, eventually, you do it automatically, without thinking about it. Whey hey!

I learned keyboarding at school and got a job as a junior stenographer in a bank, I ran errands, I took shorthand and I used the keyboard, … Continue Reading

When I was learning to swim, pretty soon, I could dog paddle. My feet were off the ground and I was moving through the water. “Wow, I can do this”. I felt excited, confident and eager to learn more. I swaggered all the way home. My neighbor, Alice, badly needed a “Wow, I can do this” moment right now. She had been trying to learn keyboarding for 5 weeks and hadn’t even typed G.

I learned to type in typewriter class at school, typing random letters over and over, so that was no help. I thought hard. Every time we use the keyboard, … Continue Reading

“Temp” work was fun, but I still wanted to work for myself. I gave the matter a great deal of thought. Life today is full of change. There are no guarantees. I decided that, if I was going to work for myself, more than one stream of income was essential. Then, if one stream was slow, it didn’t matter. No stress.

I own a large double-story house. Why not take in lodgers? Just for fun, I picked up the phone and placed an ad in a Melbourne newspaper and, then, thought no more about it. A couple of days later, the phone … Continue Reading

I had to learn W4W. Group computer classes didn’t work for me. At one, I got left behind – simply because I didn’t grasp one little point and wasn’t brave enough to admit that I, apparently, was the only one who hadn’t “got it”. At another, I actually knew more than others and felt frustrated listening to stuff I already knew. One-on-one training would be better, but too expensive.

My computer-whiz niece offered to help. She sat in my computer chair, took control of my mouse and went zap, zap, zap. All kinds of things appeared and disappeared on the screen … Continue Reading

“I don’t want to work for this mediocre company any longer”, my parting words when I walked out on a well-paid job after 11 years. It was Friday, Secretaries’ Day and the most dramatic thing I have ever done in my life.

The next morning, listening to the birds in the park opposite, I thought I too am as free as a bird; well, as free as you can be when you have a huge mortgage. Who cares? I felt excited. I truly believed I could do anything I wanted if I gave ideas a “go”; doing this led to some amazing … Continue Reading

The last winter of our travels, we sailed from Southampton to Florida on the “Chusan”, another huge white P and O ship, to escape winter in the UK. We disembarked in Miami, but didn’t really like it. I suspect it was how we originally felt about London repeating itself.

This was when we had our most foolhardy idea yet, to re-embark on the “Chusan” and disembark at the next port of call, wherever that was, we didn’t care. It turned out to be Acapulco in Mexico. We loved travelling on big ocean liners, the people we met, the life on board and, … Continue Reading

I have always wanted to go to the Middle East. I still have the brochures I collected years ago for Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, pretty tattered now. I didn’t know then that one idea and one phone call would be all it would take to go on a trip most young travellers could only dream about.

After our traditional trip to Europe, we decided, at last, to give London a “go”; we found a flat in Lancaster Gate, next to Marble Arch on the Central Line, and started work at Victoria House in the Strand; we live in the state of … Continue Reading

Throughout our 3 years of travelling, Helen and I kept giving our ideas a “go. After our summer working in Cornwall, why not work in a winter resort? A new ski center was opening in the Cairngorm mountains in Scotland and we wrote straightaway. They asked us to arrive at the Aviemore Ski Center in a month’s time.

One month to fill in. No way were we going back to London and the strict Helena Club. We found an old newspaper clipping advertising an apple-picking job at Tullens Toat Apple Orchard in Pulborough in West Sussex. The ad was a month old, but we rang anyway. … Continue Reading

I first discovered the delights of giving ideas a “go” while overseas on a working holiday with my twin sister, Helen. In our early twenties, we set sail for England aboard the P and O liner ”Orcades”. Standing on the deck of this huge white ship on a grey, drizzly day, we watched the colorful umbrella of our parents on the pier grow smaller and smaller. We would not return for 3 years.

After a wonderous voyage, sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and visiting fascinating places like Durban, Capetown and the Canary Islands, we arrived in London. We stayed at the Helena Club in Lancaster Gate, … Continue Reading