Word Processing

Word Processing is an imperative tool for students to learn at a young age. It is a tool they will use for the rest of the academic career as well as in almost any field they go into as an adult. 

As a teacher I use some form of word processing almost every day.  Creating schedules, documents to share with parents or other teachers, charts, homework and reading logs are just a few examples of ways I use word processing. It is so easy to attach a word file to an e-mail or insert in a website for sharing with other. It is easy to edit and manipulate documents in word and change them from year to year.  Word truly saves my life!

Using word processing with young children can really try your patience at times, but it is so important for them to become comfortable with and proficient in. Students are able to enhance their typing skills and show their creativity. It also provides helpful tools such as spelling and grammar check which can provide confidence when students are writing a story.  It is also a wonderful motivator for student learning. Students love to be able to create a story and make their changes by the click of a mouse, instead of rewriting or erasing. 

Like I said teaching word processing can be really trying when teaching young students. In my second grade classroom I really work on typing skills using a specific typing program before I begin teaching word processing. It is so important that students have these typing skills so that the work does not become frustrational. We work on typing skills throughout the whole year with the goal of typing while looking at the screen.