MyAccess

1
MyAccess

• rlsms.com/myaccess

2
Kenneth Agcaoili

• Curriculum Coordinator
• Technology Coordinator
• Stevenson Middle School
• Taught with MyAccess for one year
• Used supplied prompts
• Made up my own prompts
• rlsms.com/myaccess
• kenagcaoili_at_yahoo.com

3
When I came back to Hawaii

• What is the biggest discrepancy between the
  mainland and Punahou, when compared to HIDOE?
• Clear difference Writing expectations.
• Mainland and Punahou 3rd Grade Thesis
  introduced.
• 4th grade Essay with thesis practiced
• 5th grade Thesis essay with works cited
• 6th grade Assignment expected to be written in
  thesis essay format.

4
Kids View of the Writing Process
Publishing Using Fun Fonts on the computers!
5
MyAccess improves writing
6
Skeptical?

• Can a computer score essays?
• At its worst
• MyAccess is an essay file server
• Easy to import users, teachers and classes
• Worth the time saved creating a file server which
  is secure and online.

7
Importance of an online portfolio

• What do you do when a child just doesn't finish
  his work--time after time?
• Finishes work, but doesnt turn it in.

8
At its best

• Instant feedback for the students
• Few essays were scored incorrectly

9
First change you will see First essay teacher
sees is worth reading All students

• Kids who turn in 1 sentence or 1 paragraph essays
  are instantly told that they need to lengthen
  their essays.
• Normally, these kids receive an F or are told to
  lengthen their essays, but after a couple of
  days.
• After a couple of days, revision for a child
  needs to be highly structured and monitored for
  success.

10
Complete essays

• Scored on a 6 point rubric.
• Scores of 4-6 are more likely to be inaccurate.
• However, scores between 1-3 reduce significantly.
• 4 is a decent essay. (meets proficiency)
• Holistic, Focus, Development, Organization,
  Language, and Mechanics and Conventions

11
My favorite feature Teachers comments

• Teacher reads essay.
• Teacher writes down comments associated with
  certain parts or words within an essay.
• Student opens essay to revise, and teacher
  comments are shown.
• Very powerful.
• Computer does the initial feedback, but teacher
  can give feedback that will really help the
  student improve an essay.

12
From a data analyst point of view
13
Software currently on campus

• Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Math, STAR
  Reading, STAR Math, TeenBiz3000 (Achieve3000),
  Imagine, Destination Math, and MyAccess

14
MyAccess is the easiest by far
15
What are the results

• Previously, the one paragraph essay was prevalent
  among the student body. Essays containing at
  least five coherent paragraphs are now the norm.

16
Case Study Shaiann C.

• HSA Reading Well Below Proficiency
• Highly Motivated Child
• With paper and pencil drafting and revising, she
  produced a persuasive essay April 2007.

17
End of the year, 1 month, 3 revisions Paper and
Pencil

• Highly structured and monitored revision process.
• Teacher stopped at the third revision and had the
  student hand in the paper.
• Typed the essay into MyAccess

18

• Score3/ 3/ 3/ 2/ 3/ 3 Completed Date and
  Time04/12/2007 0957
• Essay 1 Text
• School Uniforms
• Stevenson Middle School requires students to wear
  uniforms and there are some advantages. You
  dont need to decide what to wear in the morning.
  You are not going let poor kids feel bad. The
  school uniforms are cheaper and more affordable.
• Although there are advantages in wearing school
  uniforms, there are also disadvantages. You
  dont know what to wear in the morning. The
  shirts can have bad wordings. The store clothes
  is more expensive.
• Many parents support having school uniforms.
  Its a lot easier to purchase our uniforms. The
  students wont have a choice of what to wear
  except shorts. This is a good thing to me
  because I dont need to worry about what Im
  going to wear.

19
Case Study Shaiann C

• First Acceptable Draft (scores a 3 Not
  Proficient, but scorable)
• August 9, 2007
• About 2 weeks Computer only.
• Revision 1 Computer doesnt count a revision
  until it is scoreable.

20

• School NameSTEVENSON MIDDLE SCHOOLStudent
  NameSHAIANN C. Prompt NameHaving a Superpower
  for a DayGroup NameDigital Academy (6pt)
  Teacher NameCHARLES SOUZA Revision Number4
  Score3/ 3/ 3/ 3/ 3/ 3 Completed Date and
  Time08/09/2007 1708
•  Super Power
• My super power for a day will be
  invisible. If you choose to be invisible you
  could do alot of things. Also you could be like a
  ghost because you will do things that people can
  only see the object. You could scare people right
  out of their house and they will never come back.
  The last thing is you could be like Invisible
  Women from Fantastic Four the movie.
•  
• With my super power for a day I would
  sneak up on people and go inside of them and make
  them do things. Also I would sneak into their car
  and ride home with them to their house and go
  inside. When I am inside I would see what their
  life is like and see how the parents treat them.I
  would also go back home and grab my ripstick and
  ride it and people will think why is there a
  ripstick moving around but noone on it.
•  
• I would also eat dinner with them but
  they don't see anyone. After I would wash my dish
  and take a shower and they would hear the water
  running but it's just water. Then I would open
  the closet door and grab clothes. After that I
  would go sleep and pull the blanket over me and
  it would be floating.Then when I wake up in the
  morning I would brush my teeth and brush my hair
  but the toothbrush and hair brush would be
  floating.
•  
• Then I would change into my uniform and
  get my school bag. Later I would get in the car
  and go to school and walk around. I would scare
  my teacher by bringing my notebook out and
  opening it. Also I would go give my homework to
  my teacher and leave and go to my next class.
  Then I would pull my chair out and sit down. I
  would go up to him and show him my paper then go
  back aand sit down.

21
Case Study Shaiann C.

• August 21, 2007
• Proficient
• Revision 5

22

• School NameSTEVENSON MIDDLE SCHOOLStudent
  NameSHAIANN C. Prompt NameHaving a Superpower
  for a DayGroup NameDigital Academy (6pt)
  Teacher NameCHARLES SOUZA Revision
  Number5Score4/ 4/ 4/ 4/ 4/ 4 Completed Date and
  Time08/21/2007 1618
•  
• Essay 8 Text
• My Super Power
•  
• My super power for a day will be invisible. If
  you choose to be invisible you could do a lot of
  things. Also you could be like a ghost because
  you could do things that people can only see the
  object. You could scare people right out of their
  house and they will never return. The other thing
  is you could be like Invisible Women from
  Fantastic Four the movie.
•  
• With my super power for a day I would sneak up on
  people and go inside of them and make them do
  things. Also I would sneak into their car and
  ride home with them to their house and go inside.
  When I am inside I would see what their life is
  like and see how the parents treat them.I would
  also go back home and grab my ripstick and ride
  it and people will think why is there a ripstick
  moving around but no one on it.
•  
• I would also eat dinner with them but they don't
  see anyone. After, I would wash my dish and take
  a shower and they would hear the water running
  but it's just water. Then I would open the closet
  door and grab clothes. After, that I would go
  sleep and pull the blanket over me and it would
  be floating. Then when I wake up in the morning I
  would brush my teeth and brush my hair but the
  toothbrush and hair brush would be floating. Then
  I would eat breakfast and the bowl will be
  floating, the water will be running and the rag
  will be wiping. That's when I will start getting
  ready for school.
• Then I would change into my uniform and get my
  school bag. Later I would get in the car and go
  to school and walk around. I would scare my
  teacher by bringing my notebook out and opening
  it. Also I would go give my homework to my
  teacher and leave and go to my next class. Then I
  would pull my chair out and sit down. I would go
  up to him and show him my papers then go back and
  sit down. When the bell rings I will leave and
  eat wiki and they will think why is the plate
  floating. Also after that I will walk around the
  school and knock on the doors but they won't know
  who it is.
•  
• The very cool thing I would do last is go to a
  beach. When I go in the water I would make a big
  splash. Then people will think who made that big
  splash. After, I will be swimming around and grab
  people's leg. They will look under the water and
  see nobody but water. Also I would grab a surfing
  board and go surfing. But they will only see a
  board that is going over the wave and on to the
  shore. Then I will put it back and take a shower
  in the bathroom.
•  
• Now that the sun has went down and it is night my
  superpower is gone. It was pretty cool when I had
  invisibility to freak people out. Hopefully I
  could get this superpower again to do the same
  thing over and over again. When I had the
  superpower I was so happy that I would of done
  more things. Also when I had the superpower I had
  so much fun making things look like they float
  but I'm actually just carrying it. Man,I really
  miss my superpower that I had it was so fun and
  cool at the same time.

23
Case Study Shaiann C.

• Without MyAccess
• Shaianns Paper and Pencil revisions would have
  most likely stayed at below proficient.
• Revision process is very difficult without
  MyAccess

24
  MyAccess

• Online writing portfolio second to none
• Teacher can write comments to students
• Students can write comments to teachers
• Easy access
• Teachers
• Home
• Parents
• Follows them K-12 IF school has the software
  (Huge Drawback)

25
MyAccess Controversial Side 

• Automated Essay Scoring (AES)
• Biggest plus
• Target for criticism

26
MyAccess is not perfect

• 2005 study Automated Essay Scoring (AES)
• Teachers expressed enthusiasm for AES, most did
  not use it frequently in their classes.
• AES is promoted as a means of saving teachers
  time in grading, most teachers read and graded
  their students essays anyway.
• Teachers and students were skeptical of the
  scores, the scores were an important target for
  both groups.
• Teachers valued the automated feedback as an aid
  for revision, they scheduled little time for
  revision.
• Students said the feedback was helpful, most of
  them made little use of it.

27
These imperfections

• were a result of poor instruction by teachers.
• You will still rely on having good teachers.
• MyAccess is a powerful aid for improving writing
  achievement.

28
Different ways to fool the program

• Copy and paste same paragraph over and over again
• System failed to recognize nuances such as
  sarcasm, idioms and clichés used in students
  essays.

29
Importance of purchasing the training

• I fought with John for a month before buying
  MyAccess.
• Felt the training was too expensive.
• Once we did the training, thought the world of it.

30
Results from the training

• Common essays between grade level English
  teachers. (exception 7th grade)
• Stopped the emphasis on fiction writing. (Took me
  6 years)
• Teachers are well prepared to implement MyAccess.
• Understanding of the resources (actual essay
  examples)

31
Danger With any Software Two Fallacies

• Omnipotence Fallacy
• Assume that computers can do everything and
  should replace current learning and teaching
  technologies or even the teacher
• Sole Agent Fallacy
• The key or only factor in successful
  implementation of the technology is the
  technology itself.
• (Bax 2003)

32
Hardware Concerns

• Must have one computer per child. (no 2 per
  computer)
• Must have internet access.

33
Rotation at Stevenson

• 2 laptop carts and 1 standing lab
• 2 6th grade teachers share a cart
• 2 7th grade teachers share a cart
• 2 8th grade teachers share the lab.
• Teachers see the kids 4 times a week _at_ 46 minutes
  a period
• MyAccess 2 out of the 4 days

34
6th Grade Reading Teachers Piloted Achieve3000
also

• Have separate Reading and English classes, but
  same teachers.
• We built in twice a week for each.
• Reality Achieve3000 got once a week, and
  MyAccess got twice a week.
• 2 different products. Cant be compared.

35
What do the teachers say?

• Is it worth the money? YES
• Who does it benefit most? The reluctant writers
  who normally would not turn in anything. 95 of
  the students who normally dont turn essays in,
  now are able to write essays at a 4 level.
• Who does it benefit least? High level students
  who are already writing at 5 or 6 level range.

36
What do teachers want improved?

• Amount of prompts. Higher level teachers start
  to make their own prompts.
• Glitches in the internet. (DOE problem)

37
Whats new for Stevenson?

• Trying out Asus EEEpc mini laptops. 255 each.
• Running LINUX. All tests are good!
• Dont be fooled by the 400-500 laptop. (Slow
  running Vista)
• Science Focused school Commitment from English
  teachers to use Science Topics for prompts.
  Force teachers to make their own prompts.

38
Results of MyAccess?
39

• Score3/ 3/ 3/ 2/ 3/ 3 Completed Date and
  Time04/12/2007 0957
• Essay 1 Text
• School Uniforms
• Stevenson Middle School requires students to wear
  uniforms and there are some advantages. You
  dont need to decide what to wear in the morning.
  You are not going let poor kids feel bad. The
  school uniforms are cheaper and more affordable.
• Although there are advantages in wearing school
  uniforms, there are also disadvantages. You
  dont know what to wear in the morning. The
  shirts can have bad wordings. The store clothes
  is more expensive.
• Many parents support having school uniforms.
  Its a lot easier to purchase our uniforms. The
  students wont have a choice of what to wear
  except shorts. This is a good thing to me
  because I dont need to worry about what Im
  going to wear.

40
Results of MyAccess?
41
Results of MyAccess?
42
How is Shaiann doing?
43
Revision 10 Essay Score 6

• Scientific Method
•         The scientific method is a process used
  by scientists to develop, constructs, and test
  reliable theories to explain natural phenomena.
  There are some ways we use this in our daily
  lives. The scientific method is not just for
  science it can be used in your daily lives. I use
  the scientific method in my daily life. So my
  three way is when were reading a book, in science
  class and when I'm deciding what to wear. It's
  actually true that you use the scientific method
  in your daily lives. Even if you think you're not
  using the scientific method you are no matter
  what your doing. As I said before I tried it and
  it worked for me so you go ahead and try it. Here
  maybe if you read the following passage well not
  really but it might convince you that it will
  work for you since it worked for me.
•         We use the scientific method daily in our
  lives when we are reading a book. When we read we
  make observations or connections. Also we can ask
  questions like what's happening too him/ her? Why
  is she running from him? What did he do to her
  friend Jessica? We can form a hypothesis saying
  if she goes home through the woods then there is
  a better opportunity of him killing her because
  no one will hear her screaming for help. I read
  another book called The Road To Paris. In the
  Road to Paris, a black girl named Paris and her
  brother Eric left their foster home and stole
  money from the foster caretaker. They ran away to
  their grandma's house and while they were
  sleeping, the grandma called the officials and
  they took away Eric because he stole the money.
  After that, Paris was put into a home. It was not
  a foster home but a place she had to stay and be
  loved.  During her stays at the house, Paris was
  scared but they made her feel at ease. She soon
  started feeling like she really had found a home.
  Although there, was always something missing and
  that was Eric. She always wondered when she would
  see him again. In the end of the story, Paris
  would be able to see her brother and actually
  live together as a family. There was a catch and
  it was very mind boggling for Paris. Her mother
  had gotten married and she wanted to start a new
  life with Paris and Eric. Paris loved the fact
  that she would be able to live with her brother
  but she also loved the new family she had and
  didn't want to leave them. Paris made the
  decision to go with her mother because her new
  mom had told her to accept change and take things
  as they  come. Paris would always remember her
  new family but now she had something else to
  start. During this story I'm asking myself Why
  did they leave their foster home? Also Why did
  they steal money from the caretaker? Also I made
  a hypothesis like if they steal the money then
  they will get busted because the caretaker might
  of known it was them. At the end I make a
  conclusion stating what happened in the story
  like he got busted and she got moved to a home
  where she is loved but she doesn't really like it
  without her brother. Also she got to see him
  after he was free from jail because she was
  worried about him and scared.
•         Another way we use the scientific method
  in our daily life is in science class. When we do
  experiments we have to use the 6 steps. First,
  before we start the experiment we have to make
  predictions or ask questions like how far is it
  going to fly? We could also make a hypothesis
  like if we take away fins from the rocket then it
  should fly farther because it has less weight.
  After we finish we have to write what we learned
  and write the procedures we did from start to
  finish. During the experiment we make
  observations like okay it went this far and look
  how high it went. We analyze our data by checking
  it with our peers to see what they have. Then
  after all that is done we write our conclusion
  about all of this. Of course in science class we
  would do all six steps because it's part of our
  labs. At first, I had trouble doing the six steps
  but later on I got a hang of it. I had trouble
  with everything besides observations or
  questions. I didn't know how to analyze data and
  analyze it and things like that. Like we did a
  rocket experiment and we had to do a lab report
  after we were done with the experiment. We had to
  make a hypothesis before we started so I wrote if
  I lessen the number of fins then it should fly
  farther because it has less weight to fly. During
  the experiment I was making observations like it
  went 5.9cm so it went farther then my last try.
  Then of course I make a conclusion like my
  hypothesis was true because I tried my hypothesis
  and it worked it was correct. Also I would write
  what I learned like I learned how to make a paper
  building rocket.
•         There is one other way we use the
  scientific method daily in our lives. This way is
  when we are hungry we have these steps to do to
  pick what we want to eat. Our pretty little
  tummy's growls when we get hungry so we try to
  find something to snack on. You have to choose
  like I want a sand which but there is nothing to
  put in the sand which or I want cereal but
  there's no milk. So then you observe and or
  predict which is better and you also ask
  questions like which snack is going to fill my
  tummy? I once made a hypothesis that sated if
  there's no milk then I can't eat cereal because
  there's no milk. Another one is if I make a sand
  which then there might be a mess because the
  crumbs from the bread. So everyday when I'm
  hungry I always use the scientific method to help
  me figure out what I want to eat. Oh Boy! here
  comes the conclusion, I say I decided to eat the
  sand which because it will fill my tummy but even
  though it leaves a mess I can clean it up. Then
  so yeah this is what I use to help me pick my
  food that will fill my tummy, so you should test
  it out and see if it works. I like using the
  scientific method because look it really helps me
  out just like that I figured out what I wanted to
  eat. I wasn't asking questions making
  observations or predictions till I heard about
  this awesome thing. At first when they told me
  about this I thought it was boring and
  complicated but when I found out I was using it
  daily, it didn't even seem like I was using it at
  all.
•         The last thing of how we use the
  scientific method daily in our lives is choosing
  what to wear today. Every morning I wake up to
  get ready for school. I can't decide what to
  wear, it's either shorts, Capri's or long pants.
  If it's cold I'll wear long pants but then what
  if it gets hot later on in the day? Then I should
  wear shorts but then what if it's hot then it
  turns cold? I should wear long pants. Also even
  if it's hot but cold I should wear Capri's so it
  won't be too hot or too cold. Also I have decide
  if I'm going to wear shoes or socks with
  slippers. I wear shoe's if it gets really hot
  then if I wear socks with slippers but it feels
  like the same thing but a little cooler. So I am
  always making observations or predictions and I
  always ask myself questions about the weather. I
  can also make a hypothesis by saying if I wear
  long pants then it might get hot later because
  the weather always changes. Every single day I
  try to predict the weather because I want to wear
  something that will keep me warm. You know I
  don't want to be hot or cold, I just want to be
  just right. You never no when the weather would
  change or will it stay. So you actually don't
  know what to wear but the best thing would be to
  wear capri's to keep you warm. My friends and I
  plan what to wear because we don't know the
  weather we just pick to wear what ever we wanted
  and if we get cold we get cold or if we get hot
  we get hot oh well.
•         The scientific method is used in our
  daily lives no matter what. Some people don't
  know that they use it but they actually do. Like
  scientist they use the scientific method to find
  out theories and why is this particular thing
  happening in our environment. This really helps
  the scientists and me so I think it would really
  help you. So like I use the scientific method in
  my daily lives when I read a book or when I'm in
  science class and when I wake up to get dressed
  for school. All of this has a problem and it will
  go down the steps of the scientific method. I
  didn't know I was using the scientific method
  daily in my life. When I, found out that I was it
  made it better for me to choose what to wear what
  to read and what to do after we finish our
  experiments. You should just try it out and see
  if it works to prove you wrong. There are so many
  ways you can use the scientific method daily in
  your lives but I don't want to list it because it
  will be like "OMG" so long. There are more ways I
  use the scientific method in my daily life but as
  I said it will be pretty long, you know what I'm
  saying. This is very, very, very I can go on and
  on but the point is it is very useful.

44
What about other kids?

• student_history\christie.htm
• student_history\daniel.htm
• student_history\isaiah.htm
• student_history\sakae.htm
• student_history\shaiann.htm
• student_history\brandi.html

45

• Students dont become exemplary writers
  overnight or because of the efforts of one
  teacher. One teacher at a school can make a
  difference. Five or eleven teachers at one school
  can move mountains.
• Nancie Atwell, In the Middle-Writing, Reading,
  and Learning with Adolescents.