Keyboarding

For the last six years I have been teaching keyboarding to third graders. It takes more than half their year with me that year. Before they get to third grade we do a lot of fun games. After third grade we still do keyboarding, but we do a lot of fun games (all educational games of course). But third grade is just hard. And about February the kids really start to get tired of it. They do real well at it though and it seems like each year does better than the last. But if they think they are tired of it by February, they should try doing it every year, for six years, with four classes (this year five), each year. That is a LOT of keyboarding lessons, and I start getting sick of it by about mid-September now.

Today though, I taught my last keyboarding lesson. I was really surprised that while I was walking around the room, dictating the new keys and helping the kids get it right, I started to choke up about it, and had to choke it back. It’s really hard to dictate when you are choking up.

That was it. That was the end. I more than likely will never do that again.

I was silently amazed at myself while I was doing it as well. I do it without thought almost. I’ve done it so many times that it comes completely natural now. I remember when I started that job and went home exhausted every day because I felt like I was in the middle of a hurricane all day and everything was just swirling around me. And now I waltz in each day, do my thing, and then go home.

It has been a real good job for me. And there are many things that I will definitely miss about it. But I think that moment this morning will probably be the only time I will miss teaching keyboarding.