Life & Computer Skills
Introduction to Keyboarding — Lesson Plans & Practice Worksheets
A complete six-lesson, beginner touch-typing course: proper hand position, the home row, and one new set of keys per lesson — each with practice drills and a printable worksheet. No prior typing experience needed.
Home row: A S D F · J K L ;
For Business & CTE Teachers
Keyboarding is usually one of four preps. One page maps every high school business course to the material on this site.
What Students Learn
Learning objectives
- Sit with correct typing posture — eyes on the copy, wrists low, back straight, feet flat
- Find and hold the home row by touch: left hand on A S D F, right hand on J K L ;
- Reach to a new letter and return to the home row without looking down at the keys
- Use the shift key for capital letters without breaking typing rhythm
- Type every letter introduced across the six lessons, plus the period and space bar, by touch
- Build speed gradually while keeping accuracy as the primary goal
For Teachers
How to teach this keyboarding course
Touch-typing is a skill that only sets in through repetition, so this course introduces new keys a few at a time and drills them immediately — never more than two or three new letters per lesson. Every lesson after the first reviews the home row and every key learned so far before adding anything new, so nothing gets forgotten while students move forward.
Start with position, not speed
Lesson 1 teaches nothing but posture and the home row: curved fingers, low wrists, eyes on the copy instead of the keyboard. Skipping this step is the single biggest cause of bad typing habits that are hard to unlearn later, so resist the urge to rush a class ahead to “real” letters before this is solid.
One reach at a time
Each new key is taught as a reach from a home row finger — for example, reaching up with the left second finger to type e. Say the reach out loud as a class before typing it, then drill short nonsense-then-real-word sequences (“e ed ed led led el”) so the finger motion becomes automatic before it appears in a real sentence.
Keep hands honest
The original version of this course has students tape a sheet of paper over their hands during drills so they cannot see the keys — a low-tech way to force typing by feel. It still works well in a computer lab and needs no equipment beyond paper and tape.
Accuracy first, speed later
Every lesson repeats the same instruction: accuracy is the goal for beginners, not speed. Have students type each drill line slowly and correctly once before trying it faster. Speed that arrives before accuracy just means students are now making mistakes quickly.
The six-lesson sequence
Lesson 1 sets up posture and the home row. Lessons 2–6 each add two or three new keys — e, h, o · t, i, shift · n, w, period · r, c, right shift · u, x, p — while reviewing everything already learned, so by the end of Lesson 6 students are typing every letter but a handful, plus the shift key, the space bar, and the period, entirely by touch.
The 6-Lesson Course
Keyboarding lessons and worksheets
Teach in order — each lesson reviews the keys before it and assumes the introduction lesson has already been taught. Every lesson includes a printable practice worksheet with an answer key for members.
Introduction to Keyboarding
Typing posture and the home row — A S D F and J K L ; — plus the space bar and the return key.
Grades 5–12 · Lesson + Worksheet 2Lesson 2 — Type Reach: E, H, O
The first reaches off the home row, and the technique for reaching up or down without losing your place.
Grades 5–12 · Lesson + Worksheet 3Lesson 3 — Shift Key: T, I
Two new letters plus the shift key, so students can finally type a capitalized word correctly.
Grades 5–12 · Lesson + Worksheet 4Lesson 4 — Period Key: N, W
Two more letters and the period, with the first real push on typing conditioning and pace.
Grades 5–12 · Lesson + Worksheet 5Lesson 5 — R and C Keys
Two more reaches and the right shift key, continuing to build speed on the letters already learned.
Grades 5–12 · Lesson + Worksheet 6Lesson 6 — U, X, P Keys
The final three letters of the course, with a focus on stroking technique and typing with continuity.
Grades 5–12 · Lesson + WorksheetKeep Going
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Unlock every keyboarding worksheet and answer key
A full membership unlocks the printable practice worksheet and answer key for all six keyboarding lessons.