My Access

My Access is a great tool to enhance writing skills for students in grades 4 through 12. The program allows students to use computers effectively in the classroom to complete writing exercises. Teachers are given a large pool of different writing options and situations from which they could assign to the students. It allows students to work on different types of writing such as narrative, persuasive, etc. I find My Access to be a great tool for students, especially those who really need help improving writing skills. Grades are not given a week from submission they are given within a few minutes of completing the assignment. The program also explains how to improve in areas where a student may be lacking. Instant feedback is essential for students to truly understand there mistakes. When students get a paper back a week or two weeks after submitting it, they are no longer thinking about it. Douglas Reeves believes in the Nintendo Effect in which students respond to electronical responses when immediate and accurate. The feedback will provide a positive effect on the quality of writing.
The program is very useful for a variety of reasons, one that stands out to me, is that it gets students writing more and writing creatively. J. Chircop states "Studies have shown that the amount of writing that students complete is positively related to tests of writing ability," as stated in his work Student Achievement Soars with Use of Quality Strategies. My Access offers easy to understand rubrics which are effective in providing feedback to students. Reports also show that more activity in writing programs like My Access, has lead to an increase in grades in Math, Science and Social Studies classes. In most cases students are expected to perform well on writing assessments. Giving students more opportunity to develop there writing skills will only lead to better end results.