Dear Teacher,

     Spelling and the facts of geography are among the most difficult things to teach. All of us who have taught these subjects know that. We also know that some students seem to have a knack for learning correct spelling and for remembering names and locations of states and their capitols. However, if we are honest with ourselves, we also know that there are many more students for whom such learning does not come naturally.

     I used to believe that the ability to spell words correctly was a genetic gift, perhaps an ability to visualize words. I felt the same about being able to remember the precise location of things on a map. Some of my students seemed to know their spelling words without study. Others would write them endless times and still miss them on the test. Still others got the words right on tests but had trouble spelling when they wrote stories and articles. No matter what I did, the same students seemed to spell well, the same spelled poorly, and the same were average. One of my fellow teachers said it was a good example of the bell curve in operation.

     A number of years in public school classrooms, many years teaching and doing research at a major university (the University of Colorado at Boulder), and thousands of hours spent visiting classrooms at every level from primary through 12th grade did little to change my mind.

     Then, nine years ago, I was asked to help a school district deal with its ``spelling problem." Students in the district scored very high on everything but spelling. The district's mean score on their standardized tests was well below the national average.

     In the course of my investigation, I discovered many things. The most important is this: Only a small number of students do well when detailed, specific subjects such as spelling are taught in whole-class settings. Those few who flourish in these environments are, for the most part, pretty good spellers to start with. They would probably do well under almost any circumstance. The rest need something else.

     After witnessing tutors in action, I believe that something else may be tutorial programs. I have seen tutors help students make amazing progress with poor spellers. It appears that if one can begin with simple enough words so that students have success early, and if one adds complexity slowly, but steadily, all the time making sure the student is challenged, but succeeds, students of all capabilities seem to make considerably more progress than they did under whole-class instruction.

     After seeing several tutors at work with students I had earlier written off as spelling failures, I abandoned my notion of genetic determinism. I saw, with my own eyes, that it was possible for students who had real trouble spelling to learn to spell. Some, I must admit, weren't going to win the National Spelling Bee. But they all surprised me with the quality and extent of their learning.

     Of course, we do not have the resources to provide several hours of tutoring each week to help each student learn to spell. And I know we can't spare the time to work individually with our students in our already over-full classes. So what do we do?

     That was the question I asked myself about five years ago. That was also about the time I began to see some interesting developments in interactive learning using computers.

     I began looking at computer software we could experiment with to see if anything could provide that extra edge teachers needed to help their students learn these sorts of things. I looked for something that incorporated a progressive sequence of activities.

     There wasn't much out there. In fact, what I found was primarily ``edutainment." Most of the programs I found were games, masquerading as academic learning activities. Students learned how to play the games, sometimes very well. But they seldom learned the content (spelling, geography, etc.) which provided the reason parents and teachers bought the games in the first place.

     A computer program that would provide near-tutorial help for students seemed a pipedream. Then, I discussed the problem with Terry Wubbena, a Bell Laboratories computer software engineer. His concern matched mine, his observations of the need matched mine, and his knowledge of programming was up to nearly any job. We agreed to give it a try, and the results of our efforts are the programs you have seen advertised on this website.

     I took early retirement from the University of Colorado, and Terry left his position with Bell Labs in order to develop these programs. The result of our joint efforts is finally available to others.

     A fairly complete spelling program (more than 5,000 words) and a geography program which helps students learn the names and locations of US states and capitols appeared in 1997. Other programs are in the planning stage.

     We hope the programs offered here will be of help to you. The four spelling programs may not make up your complete spelling program, and ``Learning the States" will surely not be your complete social studies program. But we hope that they will help you by providing your students with individual, self-paced learning experiences in these two difficult areas.

     Accept this challenge: Try these programs in your classroom for thirty days. Download the teacher's guide (it's free, whether you buy the programs or not), and examine it. Have your students use the programs.

     I believe you will see your students' skill and knowledge grow as they use these programs. Of course, if you are dissatisfied with them, simply return them within thirty days and your purchase price will be refunded.

     I hope we are able to help you as you help young people learn. You are doing very important work, and it is our privilege to support you in this small way.

 Sincerely,

Dr. Miles C. Olson, President
 Schoolhouse Learning Solutions, Inc.
 Professor Emeritus
 University of Colorado at Boulder