Please allow me to speak from my heart

May 6, 2007<= span style=3D'font-size:14.0pt'>

"Acquiring English Skills Inexpensively"

by Donna Garner

January 8, 2007

People use communication skills every single day; those skills hold great significance for a person's future.&= nbsp; By working hard to gain English / Language Arts / Reading (ELAR) ski= lls, people will experience the true dignity which comes along with their efforts. Doors of opportunity will open for those who can read, speak, and write English well. <= /p>

It is to that end that I taught ELAR for over 33 years and most recently have been the writer/consultant for an online tutorial called MyStudyHall.com. Our website teaches students, ages 10 through 100, those all-important ELAR ski= lls which will not only help students to be successful in school but also in li= fe.

GOVERNOR'S BUSINESS COUNCIL

Many well-meaning people sit around and wring th= eir hands over the poor academic condition of our high-school and college graduates. In the 1.4.07 edit= ion of the San Antonio Express-News, C= harles McMahen of the Governor's Business Council (GBC) laments, " 'Only <= span style=3D'color:red'>18 percent of our high school graduates are = ready for a good job or college'...The percentage used by the group is based on a study by the ACT college testing service from questions posed to students w= ho took the test in 2006. Nationally, about 21 percent of students are unprepared, ACT spokesm= an Ken Gullette said." Charles McMahen is absolutely correct and is rightly concerned.

A REASON FOR BUSINESSES TO BE WORRIED=

Here is the r= eason that organizations such as the Governor's Business Council are worried about our schools. The following statistics are taken from The College Board's National Commission on Writing in the Schools (September 2004). This report was formula= ted through input from the Business Roundtable who surveyed their mem= ber companies:

Annual Cost of training new salaried employees in writing: $104,= 860,000

Annual Cost of training new hourly employees in writing: $98,670,000
Annual Cost of training current salaried employees in writing: $1,362,104,758

Annual Cost of training current hourly employees in writing: $1,525,308,436

Grand Total:   $3,090,943,194 annually

That is 3 Billion + dollars each year in remedial writing instruction.

THE PLAN

The Governor's Business Council wants our state = to write all new ELAR standards, but this time the Council wants the standards= to be (1) measurable, (2) grade-level-specific, and (3) explicit. (Please see Recommendation #1 -- http://www.excellenceintheclassroom.com/files/Excellence-in-the= -Classroom.pdf).

Back in 1995-97, a small group of us classroom teachers understood = what the Governor's Business Council is now recommending; and we teachers wrote = the Texas Alternative Document (TAD) for ELAR which contained standards which w= ere (1) measurable, (2) grade-level-specific, and (3) explicit. Our document was defeated mostly b= ecause of the politics of the moment, and the ELAR/TEKS which were adopted have le= d to total chaos in the schools because no teachers have known exactly what to t= each at each grade level.

The TAKS tests built upon the TEKS have been the source of continued frustration -- not because teachers fear accountability but because they ha= ve been given an impossible task: (1) to make sense out of the unclearly stated standards, (2) to try to decide a= mong themselves which teacher is supposed to teach which elements, and (3) to te= ach students an impossible number of standards in a year's time.

PUTTING FOOTSTEPS TO OUR CONCERNS

Undaunted by the TAD defeat, I have continued to advocate for solid ELAR standards and content. M= ore importantly, I have put footsteps to my concerns. For well over two years, a small b= ut hard-working team has spent countless hours writing the deep content for MyStudyHall.com which is an online tutorial to teach students good English skills.

Part of the website contains supplementary ELAR units for use by students in upper-elementary through middle school, and the other part of the site contains in-depth, logically writ= ten grammar modules for teens and adults.

If you know of a site which has more depth and careful sequencing of grammar skills than we have on MyStudyHall.com, please let me know. I know of no other site like ours,= and I have looked at many.

DID WE MAKE A MISTAKE?=

Because we at MyStudyHall.com want our site to be used widely, we se= t the pricing very low. = Here is the irony: Because the pri= ce is so low, it is possible that people will not realize the true value of our site= . Perhaps we should have adopted the Starbuck's model: Set the pri= ce of coffee so high that people will think it is very valuable and will go to gr= eat extremes to buy it.

We could have adopted that same marketing strategy at MyStudyHall.com. We could have followed in the footsteps of other education vendors all over this country = who charge their customers huge sums of money; but instead, we wanted to make o= ur site available to families, employees, students, schools, and businesses who may have limited means. Did w= e make a mistake? =

IS THERE A MARKET FOR EXCELLENCE?

Is there not a market for people who want a jewel without having to pay a king's ransom? A= re there not schools who will buy a site license to access the entire site for $49.95 per student per year? = Should we have charged what other tutorial programs charge -- thousands of dollars? Are there not individual users who will pay $49.95 per year (per level/modu= le)? Should we have charged college stu= dents, who need extra tutoring to improve their speaking and writing skills, an exorbitant price to use MyStudyHall.com?&n= bsp; Would people "value" MyStudyHall.com more if we had sold subscriptions for $500 to $1,000 a pop?

"HEY, CONSIDER US."<= /u>

For every report, article, study, and news story which comes out by= the hand-wringers, I want to shout, "Hey, we at MyStudyHall.com have the answer. We aren't just worryi= ng and griping; we are providing an answer for those students and adults who lack = ELAR skills! We have the answer for employees who lack confidence in their speaking and writing skills. We can help students who are strug= gling on those 49 grammar questions on the new SAT and those 40 grammar questions= on the ACT. We can even help the= se students' classroom teachers to hone their own grammar skills so that they = can better instruct their students. We can also help to motivate those students who are bored at school and who ne= ed a new challenge. Please look ou= r way. And the best part is that people of average means can afford our product!"

AN ANSWER RIGHT NOW!

MyStudyHall.c= om has the ability to help deepen students', teachers', and employees' English ski= lls; our website is ready right now. Organizations such= as the Governor's Business Council need to get excited about MyStudyHall.com becau= se it has the capacity to help students right now.   Today! Nobody has to wait for two to three years while better state standards are being put into place. The skills on = MyStudyHall.com are exactly what the Council and other organizations are recommending becau= se our units are built upon measurable and explicit skills; our units build in depth and complexity as they progress from one concept to the next, exactly= the way the human brain learns best.

WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER<= /p>

·        Besides being inexpensive, MyStudyHall.com offers people an opportunity to learn ELAR skills while they are at work, at home,= or at school. =

·        The units are self-paced which offers flexibilit= y to learners who have busy schedules.

·        We at MyStudyHall.com have made the units appeal= ing and fun to learn by adding audio clips, flash technology, animation, photos, graphics, and charts.

·        Progress reports are generated regularly; and the answers to quizzes are either right or wrong -- nothing fuzzy, subjective, = or confusing. =

·        When you go to www.mystudyhall.com, you will find a Help dropdown box to be used if you encounter problems downloading the latest versions of flash technology and Internet Explorer.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

·        For those of you who are concerned about state standards, you will find various state alignment documents mounted on the homepage. <= /b>

·        Under "Articles and Newsletters" on th= e homepage, you will find much information about how MyStudyHall.com can be used effectively in various educational settings.

·        A free Interactive Tour will provide you with tw= enty sample lessons to view before you decide whether or not to become a subscri= ber.

·        You can easily submit a request form online to g= ain free 20-day access to see what is posted on the entire site.

·        Subscriptions can be placed online by following = the easy-to-use directions at the bottom of the homepage.

·        The terms for site licenses for schools and busi= nesses can be negotiated easily with Tim Thomasson, the president of MyStudyHall.c= om.

DOING YOUR PART TO HELP

Schools should not waste taxpayers' dollars by purchasing expensive programs which contain shallow academic content. Businesses should not spend great amounts of money to hire remediation experts to raise employees' writing and speaking skills. College stud= ents should not pay huge sums to attend tutorial sessions instead of utilizing MyStudyHall.com 24-hours a day by Internet. Individual consumers should not pu= rchase online subscriptions to sites which make great promises but which fizzle because of lack of academic substance.

At the end of 2006, we at MyStudyHall.com finished the posting of three complete levels of ELAR units and three separate grammar modules. T= hese units/modules are sure to engage and capture the interest of learners, ages= 10 through 100. We have produced= a site with the potential to help millions of people to strengthen their Engl= ish skills and increase their self-confidence.= Please be a part of a positive effort = to help those people around you by alerting them to our excellent website, MyStudyHall.com. <= /span>

Donna Garner

Writer/Consultant

254-666-2798

wgarner1@= hot.rr.com

Tim Thomasson

President, MyStudyHall.com=

10= 6 N. Denton Tap Rd.

Su= ite 21= 0, Box 159=

Co= ppell, <= st1:State w:st=3D"on">TX 75019

214-695-8347

tim.thomasson@mystudyhall.com

www.myst= udyhall.com

Dr. C. Grant Endicott

Vice President, MyStudyHall.com

606-780-1114

grant.endicott@mystudyhall.com

Allison Garner

Marketing Director

972-874-5599

ga.garn= er@verizon.net