Peterson Directed Handwriting
315 South Maple Ave.
Greensburg PA 15601
Our Fax number is: 724 - 836 - 4110
Our toll free voice number is: 800 -
541 - 6328
This page is provided to improve communications by taking advantage of the internet and your investment in technology. It is updated frequently. Please refresh to make sure you are viewing the latest version.
Our goal is to make it easier for you to manage the details that keep your Peterson Handwriting Program working efficiently. You will need Acrobat Reader to take advantage of most of the files. If you do not yet have Acrobat Reader it is available as a free download from www.adobe.com. If you have Microsoft Excel, a Budget Planner Worksheet is available for download.
How Can We Help You?
Questions? Use the link below to visit our web meeting room. It is often open during the day.
You can request a web meeting be opened by sending an email. Email Rand Nelson now:
Click Here to direct your browser to the meeting room.
Our Adobe Connect meeting room supports voice over internet if you have speakers and a michrophone or a headset. Keyboard chat is available for questions if you do not have a microphone. You will need speakers to hear the discussion.
The Peterson Method
If you are not familiar with our movement-based teaching process and would like to learn more about it, a method training presentation is available on line that provides in-depth explanations. The link below will direct your browser to the 20 minute program which will play in your browser window. You will need speakers or a headset for the sound.
If you are looking for a program for your school, please pull down the document provided below. It presents considerations that are often overlooked. Do you need a new alphabet or a new teaching strategy?
Click here to download, On Choosing A Program (PDF 84 KB)
Teachers - Please Do Not Use Trace & Copy
Peterson has always promoted a learning activity we call finger tracing. This technique makes our simple, inexpensive student text very powerful and non consumable as well. But, we constantly find that teachers are still having children trace with a pencil. A 12-minute, narrated web presentation uses motor-control software to show why students should NOT trace letter models with a pencil or crayon as a learning activity. Please access this important training presentation using the link below.
http://mrpencil.acrobat.com/fingertrace/
Track Your Program With Evidence-Based Instruction
September 2007 - The Peterson Method is, and always has been, designed for evidence based process instruction that includes movement as a goal. For almost 100 years, thousands of schools used the Peterson Evaluation Service to establish a schedule for instruction. Teachers collected samples of student handwriting at the end of each unit of instruction. The samples provided graphic evidence of progress, and enabled evaluation for selection of specific goals for improvement. Identification of specific process objectives allows a student to focus and improve control skills one step at a time. Correlation of a single goal into applied work becomes understandable and easy for the student to manage.
A Self-Evaluation Guide has been prepared for those who would like to implement an evaluation process in house. The guide provides an overview, a scheduling tool and also master pages for printing the special testing paper used by Peterson in grades 3 and beyond. A PDF version of the Self-Evaluation Guide can be downloaded by clicking on the link below. Two other tools are provided below as well. The Position Skill Evaluation Tool and the Cursive Rubric are specifically designed for use with the guide and referenced within. We also offer a self-inking stamp that makes it easy for teachers to provide specific handwriting skill feedback on any written work.
Please review the guide and evaluation tools to find out how easy it can be to put an evidence based solution in place.
Click here to download the Self-Evaluation Guide. (PDF 612 KB)
Click here to download the Position Skill Evaluation Tool. (PDF 476 KB)
Click here to download the Cursive Rubric. (PDF 452 KB)
Click here to download a guide to using The Letters Tops Evaluation process. (PDF 344 KB)
Tracking Fluency
The objective of movement based instruction is fluency. We teach the student how to move fluently from the beginning. It is actually quite easy to track fluency as an indicator of progress. A one-minute timed writing exercise produces a numeric indicator we call the fluency quotient. How many legible letters were written in the allowed time? The fluency score is expressed as letters-per-minute. The link below will download a guide for using the process. The result is hard data gathered over time that relates directly to handwriting skill development and its use in applied work. This data can be a teachers best friend and minimal time is needed to gather and record it. It is easy to find the student who needs help.Click here to download a guide to the process for tracking fluency.
This guide offers helpful suggestions and information for organizing and managing a successful program.
Click here to download the Administrators Guide 2008.
Distance Learning for Teacher Training
We have provided significant training presentations on our web site. They are free and available 24/7. All teachers could learn valuable information by working through these presentations. Together they amount to a mini methods course. Several use animation to create an interactive learning experience. We hope you will invest some time to review these offerings. College methods courses rarely mention techniques for handwriting instruction and the experiences offered here can save your new teachers a lot of frustration.
Learn about preschool language readiness.
Learn how to help your left-handed child.
Learn how handwriting skills relate to your language arts program.
Learn to use the Peterson Method teaching strategy in twenty minutes.
Learn why so many intermediate students want to print.
Learn why we discourage pencil tracing as a learning activity.
Links to these training presentations are located near the top of our Information Directory page.
Peterson Directed Handwriting also offers in depth training for teachers, aides, parent tutors and student teachers through a web site interface that is available 24/7. This training is supported by live interaction with a Peterson specialist via the internet or telephone. The interface guides specific learning and the use of special tools for teaching and evaluation. You can make this resource available for your staff by requesting the URL for our Teacher Training Interface. You can also purchase scheduled, private support sessions That will be arranged to meet your needs. Ongoing support for quick questions is always available free throughout the school year. Please use this link, teacher training to learn more about our support service.
It is clear that your technology and the internet offer a much better way to interact. As we celebrate our 100th anniversary, we are very proud to take the lead yet again. Over the last several years we have prepared for a Distance Learning approach in order to return to our roots. Distance learning affords direct, personal communication and will deliver in-depth training to each person who is interested in learning.
In the past we offered two levels of training - Special Training for lead teachers and Tutor Training for instructional aides. It was quickly apparent that two levels of training created complications that were not necessary. Or goal is simple. We want to provide as much information as possible to all who are interested. Therefore, one learning interface has been created that will guide any teacher through a learning process and allow that learning to progress as far as the individual wants to go.
Please consider making Peterson training available to your staff. All it takes is a quick email to open the door to information for you and your staff at any time they wish to access it, and to specialist support by telephone and/or the internet. We can meet live with individual teachers or groups up to ninety people. When questions arise, you can meet with us live. Click here for more information.
The Movement-Based Peterson Strategy Is Unique The strategy for teaching and learning developed by P. O. Peterson in 1908 has proven over nearly ten decades to be successful - even when learning problems present obstacles. Thanks to advances in technology, nearly 100 years of action research has recently been validated by several motor science studies. We now know why the Peterson strategy gets results when alternatives consistently fail a majority of students. The link below will bring you a pdf file providing an in-depth look at the strategy that has been the Peterson Method since 1908. Research references are included. If you want to improve student fluency with written language, please download and read this document. While our special materials make it much easier, it is the strategy for using them that makes a difference. What strategy for teaching is being used in your classrooms?
Click here to download the strategy paper. (PDF 548 KB)
Scope and Sequence - Are you looking for information to update your language arts curriculum or district standards?
This document offers an explanation of the relationship between handwriting and other language arts skills that will precisely explain the goal of handwriting instruction and the movement connection. It also provides a level by level statement of skills and behaviors.Click here to download the Scope and Sequence. (PDF 48 KB)
As always, your comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Please do not hesitate to use the email link below as suggestions, requests or questions arise. Please type District Service Request in the subject line.
Email Rand Nelson: mrpencil@peterson-handwriting.com
Budget Planning
Spread Sheet - Excel
This link will bring you an Excel spread sheet with pricing and formulas in place to quickly establish numbers for materials by grade level and totals for your school. Enter your quantities and the formulas will do the rest. You will need Microsoft Excel to open and use this spread sheet.Current Prices Click Here to download a current order form.
Our web store is a very efficient way to get current price information for a few items. Add the items to your cart and print before you log out. Incidentally, you can use a purchase order number in the web store checkout. Enter your PO number in the card field, and enter any date in the expiry field.
Last update - February 2011
Rand Nelson