A pretty quiet day yesterday. I pulled about 100 books for the middle school, and today we're supposed to have some middle school classes coming in, so that will liven things up. The librarian is going to talk to them about "read-alikes," or finding books that are similar to books they're either eager to read or they've already read and enjoyed.
It always intrigues me how much time we spend teaching kids how to find reading that will interest them. I don't ever remember having that problem as a kid. I just went to the library and picked something. And if I didn't like it, I turned it in and picked something else. How hard can it be? Still, this is a major focus of our instruction, and I'm not criticizing the librarians in any way. I do think many modern kids find the choices overwhelming, and granted, there are a lot more teen and young adult books being published these days.
I walked to and from work and then spent a quiet evening at home, reading blogs and catching up on some errands. I'm trying to round up all my tax forms for my tax preparer, a task that has proven rather challenging. But I think I've got most of them now and can submit them within the next few days.
I've noticed that my typing is getting less and less dexterous as I age. When I was young I could type really fast and pretty much error-free. Remember when schools actually taught typing? "Home row" and all that stuff? Does that still happen? (Not at the school where I work.)
I took a typing class in high school but I am mostly self-taught and I do not keep my fingers on "home row." Mrs. Barnard, my no doubt long-dead typing teacher, would disapprove -- but do any of us do that anymore? Most young people who routinely use computers seem to simply develop their own skills and methods.
Anyway, yesterday I tried to type the word "creative" in a blog comment and it came out "ceratob." I fixed it before I hit publish, but not before laughing at my own "covfefe" moment.
I've noticed that my typing is getting less and less dexterous as I age. When I was young I could type really fast and pretty much error-free. Remember when schools actually taught typing? "Home row" and all that stuff? Does that still happen? (Not at the school where I work.)
I took a typing class in high school but I am mostly self-taught and I do not keep my fingers on "home row." Mrs. Barnard, my no doubt long-dead typing teacher, would disapprove -- but do any of us do that anymore? Most young people who routinely use computers seem to simply develop their own skills and methods.
Anyway, yesterday I tried to type the word "creative" in a blog comment and it came out "ceratob." I fixed it before I hit publish, but not before laughing at my own "covfefe" moment.
Someone has plastered these stickers on posts along my walk to work. I wasn't sure what they meant -- it looks like someone making the "rock on" hand sign, with bandages? Well, I Google image-searched the image, and it turns out it's based on former Israeli hostage Emily Damari, who lost two fingers in the October 7 attacks and waved with her bandaged hand when recently freed. Her gesture of resilience has become a meme in Israel and has even been turned into a tattoo on at least one person.
Also, someone lost the head of their cookie. 😞
Last night at about 11:30 p.m. I was reading in bed when I checked the weather and saw "snow showers" predicted before morning. It wasn't expected to hit freezing, but I suppose temperatures at higher altitudes could still produce snow. So I leapt into action, brought in several plants and managed to cover the avocado -- because although it has proven pretty resilient when it comes to cold, I think snow would do it in. Of course, we had no snow.
I may leave the tree covered for a few more days, though, because we're supposed to hit freezing on Saturday. Winter -- ENOUGH ALREADY!
I need to start on the home keys, so I think I look to check that, although I soon know if I have it wrong. There are now some very unorthodox ways of typing, but they seem to quick enough. While typing classes were helpful, it was with mechanical keyed typewriters when I learnt, quite different to what we type on now.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone learns their own method nowadays, and for some people, as you said, unorthodox typing can be quite fast.
DeleteI learned to touch type over 55 years ago. I go to the home keys every time. I type much faster than young people who think they type fast with 2 fingers. They don't.
ReplyDeleteTwo-finger typing can almost never be fast. I use all fingers but I don't stick to home row.
DeleteSome children aren't reading books because their parents don't.....so the habit is lost.... you're doing good work restoring that.
ReplyDeleteWe had -6⁰C in the early hours of this morning..
Yeah, I think for kids who aren't really excited about reading, recommendations can help. I have to continually remind myself that their experience of the library is quite different from mine!
DeleteI learned to type in the early 1970s on one of those heavy old black sit up and beg typewriters. The sort with ribbons that needed turning and keys that jammed if you went too fast.
ReplyDeleteNow, my fingers are stiff and clumsy and I always seem to make mistakes on the more sensitive keypads of my phone and laptop.
Progress.
I learned on a manual Underwood typewriter, so I know what you mean! It made my hands very strong!
DeleteI spent the first half of your post wondering where/what/who Ceratob was, lol. That's a lovely white building in the top photo.
ReplyDeleteI'm old enough to have learned typing at our school's night classes (on mechanical typewriters, like Andrew) and I'm so glad I did. It was a good skill for every job I've had, and for typing/journaling (because carpal tunnel), and for blogging. I *do* use home position on the keyboard, but I understand why most people don't. I'm surprised by how fast the hunt and peck youngsters can type, to be honest. They're good!
I have walked past that building for years but only when I took the photo did I notice the wall in front, half-white and half-black. It kind of makes the picture, I think.
DeleteKids nowadays type from such an early age that they are less in need of the kind of formal instruction we received.
I seem to type on the computer keyboard quite quickly......I also learnt touch typing many years ago, but don't keep my fingers on the middle row! On the iphone I use the " swooping" round the keyboard style of typing and that seems to work very well most of the time. Apparently it is called " swipe typing"...just looked it up!
ReplyDeleteLove those white houses.
I don't use that swipe typing. In fact I don't even know if my iPhone is set up for that. Maybe I should try it?!
DeleteWe normally get two fools spring before summer arrives.
ReplyDeleteAnd I, being the fool, am always suckered in!
DeleteI wouldn’t have eaten the head of that cookie either
ReplyDeleteWell, not after it hit the ground, certainly.
DeleteLike you, I never had any library guidance when I was a schoolboy. The books were helpfully laid out in subject sections and the fiction and poetry sections were arranged helpfully in alphabetical order by surname. Why would I need anybody to guide or enthuse me? The librarians I encountered were quiet people who said "Shhhh!" from time to time and stamped the books I had chosen.
ReplyDeleteThat's the job I thought I would have, but libraries aren't like that anymore!
DeleteI took a typing class in high school and to this day I position my fingers on the home row before I begin to type. I'm sure I'm one of the few who still do.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like many people here do, surprisingly. I suppose even if I'm not officially positioned on home row, my hands are hovering roughly in that same place. I can type without looking at the keyboard, so they must physically have a sense of where they are.
DeleteAnd downunder, SUMMER-Enough already!! I never learned typing in highschool, classes were separated into "general" education and "commercial" education, with the commercial people learning shorthand and typing plus other business type subjects, and I chose the General stream because I knew I never wanted to work in an office.
ReplyDeleteYeah, our school had a "business" track for people who wanted to learn office skills. I took the college prep track but as a sophomore we were required to take two "vocational" classes, so I chose typing and wood shop. (Which I HATED.)
DeleteI had to take a full year of typing in high school because of a scheduling issue. It was the best thing ever as I can type pretty quickly. It's odd that they no longer teach it as it is needed now more than ever with computers. And I think it should be taught at a younger age so that children don't use the "hunt and peck" method. When I taught, it amazed me how they typed using just a couple of fingers.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of places assume kids pick up "keyboarding" on their own. Most of them type significantly faster than hunting and pecking these days. Maybe that will change, though, as they spend more time on phones and less time on computers with keyboards.
DeleteI'm glad to see that there are those who don't ignore what happened to Emily Damari (she has British citizenship) and to all of us here on October 7th.
ReplyDeleteEmily Damari was a big deal here. I saw a lot of posters urging her release and she was in the news often.
DeleteI wondered if the session re helping children find books was really an encouraging reading exercise based on the fact so many live on their electronic gadgets and rarely read books. I was in a small library that is attached to a school today, and a teacher had her class of 8 year olds there and they were to choose a book each. Some got a lecture as they were ready to leave as they had used the time to play hide and seek and tag in the library and had no book. I love libraries and browsing. Jean in Winnipeg
ReplyDeleteYeah, undoubtedly this is part of trying to get kids to pay more attention to books and reading. Many times our teachers say the same thing -- that the kid HAS to find a book and check it out.
DeleteI remember reading voraciously as a kid, from one book to the next, and I'm still that way today.
ReplyDeleteI have also typed the word "ceratob" but don't know if I was going for creative or not!
Maybe we should coin that word? What should it mean?
DeleteI didn't have a problem either. I read every book in the library by the time I was around 14 or 15 and got special permission to obtain a library card for the county seat library in the neighboring county that had a lot more books than our small town library.
ReplyDeleteMy fingers are always parked on the home row and the little identification numbs on the 'F' and 'J' keys have rubbed clean off my keyboard. Thus I have occasionally got off a key, especially on my right hand where the key for my pinky finger (one off) is still the same size as a normal key, and type a couple words of gibberish before catching myself. I still consider learning to type properly the most important class in high school in terms of the utility of the knowledge used throughout my life.
You must be looking at source material as you type, as opposed to the screen? In any case that's pretty impressive, to be touch-typing.
DeleteYeah, mostly transcribing old newspaper articles and such. When I'm commenting on blog posts, like I am now, my eyes never leave the screen.
DeleteThat's March for you -- I never trust the weather till mid-April and even then we've had ice storms. I'm a home-row typist and a fast one, too. But it's always fun to be off a letter and see what happens!
ReplyDeleteBy the end of March, we're usually pretty definitely into spring, but according to our favorite gardening shows there can be frost until the first of June! (I think that must be up in Scotland and northern England.)
DeleteMy otherwise perfectly lovely typing teacher has turned MAGA and it makes me so sad. Fortunately she has some other intrepid souls on her friend list who fact check most of her posts.
ReplyDeleteIt's so strange to see this dark shift occur in people we formerly knew and respected!
DeleteI wonder if the challenge is to get kids off screens and into physical books. Before screens you just picked and borrowed what you liked, except our public library (no school library) had a limit of three. Way too few for me. And they wouldn't let you borrow before you turned eight, so my sister would bring me books on her library card for years.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely -- that's the challenge. Some kids say they like paper books but it can be hard to wean others off screens. Our book limit is three as well.
DeleteAs a child I spent many afternoons in the local public library where I was allowed into the adult section. I would wander about, find a book that looked interesting and then sit on the floor to read. If I liked it I took it home. Maybe this is why I became a librarian.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I did the same thing, at least as an older child!
DeleteHere's how to find books similar to other books you may have enjoyed:
ReplyDeleteLet's say you've read and enjoyed Carl Hiaasen. You google "Authors similar to Carl Hiaasen."
Done.
I feel certain the students would figure this out on their own. I'm with you- if I was lucky enough to have access to a library, I'd just find a book that looked interesting (they all did, for the most part) and check it out.
I'm a home row typist too.
Love that house.
Ha! Yes, Google is a good first stop! We also have a program called "Novelist Plus" that helps to find read-alikes, though it can be hit or miss (and we inevitably don't have them all in our collection).
DeleteYo Brother Man , Was Olga Girl Able To Sleep With All Of These Miss Typing Sounds Filling Up The Living Room - Classic - Please Slip A Just Because Treat Under Her Furry Blanket AND Pink Blanket
ReplyDeleteStay Groovy ,
Cheers
Olga can sleep through anything!
DeleteI'm a fast typist and I always start at the home row. I learned in high school. I'm terrible at typing on my phone, tho, and just peck with one finger.
ReplyDeleteKids have lots of distractions these day so I'm glad your librarians are working to help them find books that they want to read.
Phone typing pretty much HAS to be with one finger, doesn't it? I can go pretty fast on a phone but only because auto-correct fixes all my mistypes. (Gotta keep an eye on that, though!)
DeleteReading has competition from TV and computers . I like the comments on typing. I taught myself typing, sort of, but forgot most of the skills.
ReplyDeleteBut you're typing now! You must still have SOME skills!
DeleteI took typing classes for three years because they were so easy and you got full credits for them, turns out it was a good choice for me because I'm a tough typist now. Who knew we would be using keyboards so much in the future. A happy accident. I've noticed as I've gotten older that I misspell words more often, or they look wrong when spelled correctly. Of course I assume it's dementia:)
ReplyDeleteA snowstorm just started here. We're supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow. Oh joy. At least at this time of year, it won't last long.
It IS funny how keyboards became such a focus of our lives. I never imagined that happening, either, even though people were already predicting the home-computer revolution by the time I was in high school. I have that same issue with spelling more and more. Even correct words look weird to me.
DeleteI learned to type prior to getting into high school, then took typing classes in school, and I earned my living on the keyboard. I typed at 100 wpm, but cannot do that now on a laptop, tablet or the phone!
ReplyDeleteThat's impressive! I'm pretty fast but I'm sure I'm not THAT fast.
DeleteMy dad had a typewriter when I was little, which I played with a lot, making forms for people to fill in and that kind of thing. "Fill in this form to join my gang". When computers arrived I was easily the fastest. Sadly, not any more.
ReplyDeleteHa! How many gang leaders make their followers fill in a form?! LOL
DeleteTyping class was an option at high school. I'm still a home row typist today. Funny how these things stick.
ReplyDeleteYour library is making a good effort to encourage students to read books. I wonder if students are reading for pleasure, it would be interesting to know.
Some definitely are. I suppose it's a lot like it always has been -- some kids pick up reading and some do not. There's just more competition for their eyes now.
DeleteMarch can be a very mixed weather month! I agree that there weren't as many choices for youth back then, mainly classics. YA lit didn't really exist--or not in a big way. I took typing and it has served me well although I still make too many mistakes. (especially if it's not a real keyboard)
ReplyDeleteThere were some famous kids' books, like "Island of the Blue Dolphins" or "A Wrinkle in Time." But yeah, nothing like the ridiculous avalanche of kids' books today.
DeleteTyping class equaled trauma for both the teacher and for me as my motor skills defeated me and frustrated her. I've never been fast and today have problems in aging hands and fingers.
ReplyDeleteAt least the trauma didn't keep you away from a career that required lots of typing! (Two careers, really -- journalism and library work!)
DeleteI take a much longer time to type and that kept me out of Mass Com and did keep me out of some jobs I did some freelancing and typing on a computer is slightly different than a manual.
DeleteI learned to type in the 80s in Europe on a on mechanical typewriter with an AZERTY layout. Never quite got the hang of QWERTY here in the US and use a sort of complicated mix of both.
ReplyDeleteOh, European keyboards mess me up completely!
DeleteAs I'm writing this, the wind is blowing so hard the windows area rattling. We are supposed to get more rain which is good I guess.
ReplyDeleteI took typing in hight school and I still keep my fingers positioned on the home row. At least when I start typing. After that, they are all over the keyboard.
Our dryer vent is flapping in the wind. It was really windy today, but very little rain.
DeleteYeah, that's how mine are. I may start in the middle but after that I move around.
DeleteI took typing in school (I still have a manual typewriter) and my kids took what they called "keyboarding". I have no idea what they do here now.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for that cookie head.
I still use home row on my laptop, but I'm pretty good with a qwerty layout on my phone with my thumbs.
DeleteI'm betting that there are no "keyboarding" classes now. I may be wrong, but I think most schools assume kids pick it up on their own or while doing other assignments.
DeleteI didn't take typing in high school, & regret it to this day. Dumb kid!
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to know, when you're young, what will ultimately be useful! As Pixie said, who knew that keyboards would become so integral to our daily lives?
DeleteMy Mother typed really fast, she could out type an IBM Selectric, the type writer with the revolving head. I took typing in high school at her insistence, and am really glad I did. Made programming so much easier knowing how to type. Not as fast as I used to be, but still using the home row religiously.
ReplyDeleteI always considered it a luxurious thrill when I got to use a Selectric! In fact I think that's what I learned on in school, though I can't quite remember. My own typewriter as a kid was a manual -- an Underwood.
Delete