June 9, 2008<= o:p>

STAFF DEVELOPMENT FOR TEXAS TEACHERS

NEW ELAR-TEKS STANDARDS

Here is the&n= bsp;good news: Our website, MyStudyHall.com, is ready and able to help any Texas school district to get prepared for the new English / Langua= ge Arts / Reading (ELAR) standards (TEKS) that were passed by the State Board = of Education on May 23, 2008.

The Texas Edu= cation Agency stated on May 27, 2008, (http://www.tea.state.tx.us/press/08elarteks_2.pdf) that staff development for the new ELAR/TEKS standa= rds is to start during the upcoming school year (2008-09). =

Because MyStudyHall.com is an online tutorial wi= th 24/7 access for students (ages 10 - 100), our site is equipped to make this transition easy for a school district no matter whether it is located in an urban or in a rural setting.

The new ELAR/= TEKS have a separate strand for grammar/usage, and those skills will need to be taught explicitly in order to get the students ready for the new TA= KS and end-of-course tests that are coming in the near future.

College-readi= ness standards also require that students master grammar/usage before they take = the ACT (40 grammar/usage questions) and SAT (49 grammar/usage questions). &nbs= p;

We suggest that school districts allow their English teachers to gain comp credit by working through the three grammar modules a= nd/or the three ELAR levels on MyStudyHall.com. Computerized Progress Reports for documentation purposes can readily verify completion of the units.

Teachers will enjoy polishing their own grammar/usage= and ELAR skills by utilizing our site online 24/7 in the privacy of t= heir homes, at school, or wherever they may be traveling; and after working through the units, teachers will be much better prepared to implement consistent terminology from grade level to grade level for their students. =

The four writing modes (expository, persuasive, narra= tive, descriptive) are stressed along with the structure of paragraphs, outlining, paraphrasing/summarizing nonfiction, types of formal and informal writing, = and many other units that are found in the new ELAR/TEKS.

To help meet the requirements of the new ELAR/TEKS in= the area of research writing, we have posted under "Articles and Newsletters" on the homepage of MyStudyHall.com an entire step-by-step unit that teaches expository research writing. This unit is available for f= ree to anyone who wishes to utilize it.

Besides being excellent for staff development, MyStudyHall.com has been vetted for student use for the Rural Technology Grant Pilot Program (#701-08-023) and for the Intensive Technology-Based Academic Intervention Pilot Program (#701-08-110). <= /span>

Because of the college-readiness emphasis on our= site, we also fulfill the specifications for the High-School Allotment Program.

At-risk students can also benefit from MyStudyHall.com because of the hands-on, self-paced, research-based units that utilize mult= iple at-risk strategies including frequent audioclips and stimulating, interacti= ve graphics.

One of the best features of our site is the ease with= which students can learn to use it. Please call me at 254-666-2798 or at 254-723-4949 (cell) if you would like for me to do a 30-minute demo of the site by phone and computer. "Each one can teach one."= ; After I show you how the site oper= ates, you will be able to teach others how the site works.

Pricing for MyStudyHall.com is $35 per student/per year 24/7 for complete access to the entire site (all Modules and all Levels.) This pricing includes maintenance, updates, initial set= -up, and staff development (when done by phone and computer). <= /o:p>

You can see from this pricing information that we are definitely affordable, and we believe you will find the deep content on our site is like unto none.