Learn to type without taking a formal class: self taught typing works!
Knowing how to type by touch is almost an essential skill. There are some people who still use the 'hunt and peck' method, but you'll never attain the speed you need with this method. When I was in high school, I took the required typing class, but whether out of stubbornness or what, I found it absolutely impossible to type without looking. I marveled at the other kids who skillfully and quickly whizzed along that keyboard with nary a mistake. The end of the course found me accurately typing about 50 words per minute, and that was the end of my typing education. I still type about the same speed. Let me tell you, this isn't the way to go. If you don't know how to type by touch, take the time to learn the right way. Self taught typing works.
There are a couple of approaches you can take with a self taught typing program. There's plenty of software typing programs available, which guide you through your keyboard lessons and automatically monitors your progress. Do not try to proceed to the next lesson until you've mastered the previous lesson. These lessons are constructed in a way that builds your skills in a sequential manner.
If you choose not to use software, or just want an additional learning technique, there's that old standard, the Gregg Typing manual. Just take it page by page, mastering each before proceeding. Unlike the software typing programs, you'll need to correct your own work. The Gregg Typing manual is not quite so interesting in its lesson plans, and you may get quite tired of typing, “The quick brown fox ...”, over ad nauseum, but the Gregg method, used as a self taught typing program, turns out an excellent typist nonetheless.
Being such a typing failure myself, I urged my home schooled daughter to employ both methods. She did, and within a few months, attained an accurate typing speed of 80 words per minute! Amazing, but true.
Self taught typing programs give you have an advantage over formal class training, in that you can schedule your own practice time, you can take as long as you like to complete a lesson and a master typing teacher is not looking over your shoulder, one factor I found to be quite intimidating back in the day.
Along with the wonderful benefits of computer generated papers, it's important to recognize that you absolutely need to know touch typing. I'd say there's no better program than self taught typing to achieve that goal.
