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Personal Best Spelling user feedback.

Spelling program feedback

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Spelling program user feedback

Lincoln gets ten out of ten every week

"Prior to Lincoln starting to use Personal Best Spelling, he was getting on average, only two out of ten words right in his weekly spelling test at school. Within one week of using Personal Best Spelling, Lincoln got ten out of ten in his weekly spelling test and he has continued to get ten out of ten, each and every week."

It's like the teacher I never had

"I left school at 15 not knowing how to spell simple words like 'any', 'there', 'their', 'dancing', 'colour', 'become', 'because', 'believe', 'open', 'once', 'days of the week or month'. Since I’ve been working with Personal Best Spelling improvement in my spelling has been unbelievable. At 47 years old I thought I was just thick as two planks. Not the case. I have a learning brain and I am enjoying it. It's like a teacher I never had."

Your program gave Marian confidence and method

"Your program gave Marian the confidence and the method of how to learn and remember her spelling words. This in turn greatly improved her reading ability. Marian's confidence in herself has helped her to believe in herself."

100% on his weekly tests

"After beginning to use the Personal Best Spelling program, my son has successfully gotten 100% results on his weekly tests. I have recommended your product to others and hope that they find the success that my son has."

The only tutor (including human) that has helped him

"I wanted to take a minute to let you know how much your program has helped our son. He is 11 and in the 5th grade. He has struggled with spelling since at least 3rd grade. Your program is the only tutor (including human) that has helped him."

Jonathan immediately experienced success

"Many tutors working in adult literacy programmes are often faced with learners who are showing limited progress despite everyone's best efforts .... This was the case of Jonathan, a mature learner in Galway, Ireland. Following a few brief Old Way New Way^® workshops with Jonathan he was immediately experiencing success and able to self-correct. Jonathan is now able to remember the spelling of words months after being learned, which previously would have been forgotten in hours."

So much less stressful for teachers

"The greatest thing about Old Way New Way^® is the self-correction children do. It's such an amazing thing to say to a kid, 'Can you see any Old Ways? ... Now, can you do the New Way for me?' and then they select their Old Way and do the New Way all by themselves without me doing a thing except ask those two questions. Old Way New Way^® is so much less stressful for teachers. I no longer get frustrated when some children have so many errors to correct. The notion of a 'dumb child' disappears and instead you know that they simply have more resistant Old Ways."

Recommend it (Department of Education)

In 1985 the Commonwealth Department of Education employed the services of Personal Best Academy on behalf of several Aboriginal students. In a letter of referral dated February 5, 1986, the Education Officer reported that,

"Most of the cases were with secondary level students where the intervention techniques with English and mathematics problems proved most beneficial to all the students. Further to this, the techniques proved remarkable in the case of a young adult who had previously been struggling to hold a position in the Public Service. This young person has now assumed increasingly more difficult and complicated tasks and aspires to permanent employment and promotion. I would recommend the programme highly on the results I have seen in only one year."

 

Spelling program independent reviews

Endorsed by EdNa Online

Old Way New Way^® Learning is a quality endorsed resource for adult education and higher education.

Five Star rating

Personal Best Spelling received the Five Star Rating at TUKIDS, the children's software section of the TUCOWS software library. The adult version was Editor's Choice in the ZDNET software library.

* * * * * TUKIDS 5 STAR RATING. The Kids Software Section of TUCOWS

The school teachers, parents, adult literacy teachers, learning support tutors, and their students in these spelling program case studies tried many different spelling programs, mnemonics, and other spelling aids, including catch-up classes or personal tutoring, before they tried Personal Best Spelling.

Using these conventional, and some not so conventional, methods of teaching spelling they found that children and adult learners still forgot the words they had learned from one day to the next.

Personal Best Spelling changed all this. Learners who used this program actually improved on spelling tests immediately after they started using the program; their vocabulary increased; they actually remembered the words they had learned the day , week or month before; their self confidence improved; their teacher's assessment of their learning ability changed and their outlook on learning became a lot more optimistic. This was empowering for both teachers and students.

These spelling program case notes should be read in conjunction with the spelling program's theoretical underpinning of this program and the long history of successful research, workplace trials and independent evaluations to which the underlying teaching and learning methodology has been subjected. The sum total of this evidence will stand up to the closest scrutiny.

Computer Corner review of Personal Best Spelling by Bill Gillespie

Education: Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation.
".... This program takes a no nonsense approach to the teaching of spelling... This is not a game dressed up as educational software.... One advantage of this approach is that it can correct persistent, learned and habitual spelling errors... It is worthwhile visiting the website just to read the information on the Old Way New Way^® approach to learning."

The Way Ahead: Old Way New Way^® and Mediational Learning

Classroom. Issue 7, 2000, pages 12 - 13. Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd.
This article describes how Old Way New Way^® is used to improve spelling.

ZDNet Software Library review, 17 December 1998 (version 1, old name for the program)

Personal Best Speller received a four star rating and was the Editor's Pick.

"Learn new words and correct problem spelling with Personal Best Speller. Using an innovative and progressive method, this program encourages you to say the word, asks you to type it several times and tracks your problem areas. Three modules include learning new words, testing and correcting problems or habitual errors. The error correction uses a psychological approach by having you analyze what it is that you do wrong and repeatedly spell it the wrong way and then the correct way. You're asked to state what you've been doing wrong, typing in this statement and then correcting the spelling several times. Two word lists are available to work with in the demo version and registered users will be able to input their own lists. Personal Best Speller requires dedication and time, but its effective methods are sure to improve your spelling."

Mediational Learning: Old Habits No Longer Die Hard

By Dr Paul Baxter. Write On: Queensland Council For Adult Literacy Newsletter. Volume 18, No. 1, September 2000, pages 10 - 15. Discusses the theoretical background to Mediational Learning (a derivative of Old Way New Way^®) and its application to literacy teaching. Contains 32 references to research journal articles and links to other Old Way New Way^® websites.

You can also read all the scientific publications on the Old Way New Way^® learning method in our annotated spelling method bibliography.

Spelling program versions, preview, free trial

Before you buy, please check out the many spelling program features. You can preview this spelling program, download and try the demo adult or child version for free, and then purchase either the download or the CD version using our secure spelling program order form.

(In-depth explanation)

A brief explanation:

Spelling teachers and students try to get it right the first time but invariably end up spending a lot of time trying to correct bad spelling habits that somehow develop.

Because these errors were not corrected early, and were repeated over and over (i.e., practiced), many spelling errors quickly develop into bad habits and are then much harder to eradicate. For example, some people always write "recieve" instead of "receive".

We all know that old habits die hard and many spelling errors therefore defy correction by conventional methods.

The usual advice to practice the correct spelling over and over is not very effective. The next day learners seem to have forgotten what they've learned and the same old spelling errors resurface. It seems we just keep falling back to old ways and, consequently, transfer of learning (memory for correct spelling) is poor.

Fortunately, a cognitive science discovery called Old Way New Way^® Learning, endorsed and gazetted by the South Australian Department of Education and built into Personal Best Spelling, offers all learners of all ages:

1. A new perspective on the transfer of learning problem in the learning of spelling

2. A fast and practical way to learn to spell new and unfamiliar words

3. A user-friendly method for quickly and permanently eradicating bad spelling habits.

This page presents feedback from school teachers, parents, adult literacy teachers, learning support tutors, and their students who unsuccessfully tried many different spelling programs, mnemonics, and other spelling aids, including catch-up classes or personal tutoring, before experiencing success with the Personal Best Spelling program.