LLED7110E:​ ​Integrating Digital Resources in Literacy Education 

Digital Literacy Resources Project

Ashley Hollins 
The University of Georgia 
Fall 2020 
 

Part I: ​Planning 

Description of Setting​: High School (9-12) 

 
Link to School Report Card: ​https://schoolgrades.georgia.gov/tri-cities-high-school   
 
Possible Barriers: ​Low-Income/Access to Resources, Under-Achieving (Skill/Reading) 
Gaps, Lack of Investment in Curriculum Because No Real-Life Application or Connection 

Standards: Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) 

https://www.georgiastandards.org/Georgia-Standards/Frameworks/ELA-11-12-American
-Literature-Standards.pdf  

Reading Resources 
I chose ​Achieve3000​ because, unlike 
some digital reading resources, 
Achieve3000 focuses strictly on nonfiction 
reading, which is a critical genre for 
highschoolers and ensuring college and 
https://www.achieve3000.com/   career readiness. Another benefit of 
Achieve 3000​ ​is an online literacy program  Achieve3000 is that since it is licensed for 
that provides nonfiction reading content to  school use, students can easily access the 
students in PreK–12. Achieve3000focuses  platform, and teachers can easily distribute 
on building phonemic awareness, phonics,  assignments and resources and monitor 
fluency, reading comprehension,  progress. Lastly, another benefit to 
vocabulary, and writing skills through a  Achieve3000 is that the readings’ 
wide range of activities that teachers are  questions are standard aligned, and the 
able to assign to students.  level of the text presented to students is 
  also aligned to their ability. Therefore, 
Link to Video About Achieve 3000  assigned articles are automatically 
differentiated based on student ability, and 
as students complete assignments, based 
on their performance, their future readings 
Lexile will adjust to ensure students are 
being consistently challenged with articles 
 meeting their Lexile. This is crucial because, 
as an English teacher, I often battle 
whether students do not understand the 
skill or not comprehend the text. By having 
a program that allows the elimination of the 
comprehension barrier, I can assess skill 
performance and make the necessary 
adjustments to obtain skill mastery.  

I chose​ Sora​ because one of the barriers for 

my students mentioned above is the lack of 
access to resources. In many of my 
student’s households, there are not 
available books or articles to read. Also, 
many of them don’t have the transportation 
or time needed to access the library. 
https://soraapp.com/home   Therefore, Sora alleviates some of those 
Sora​ is the new user-friendly app that lets  barriers by being a one-stop-shop for 
student access ebooks and audiobooks  ebooks and audiobooks. These resources 
through their laptops, phones, and tablets.  can be accessed on their school device or 
The Sora app was designed around the  cellular device. Lastly, Sora is useful for my 
modern student reading experience. It  students because it allows students to 
empowers students to discover, annotate,  search for books based on Lexile level and 
and enjoy books from their school for  genre. By giving students more filters, it will 
leisure and class-assigned reading.  expose students to books that they may be 
  interested in and match their Lexile band. 
Link to Video About Sora  This ensures students are reading texts 
that are within a comfortable Lexile band to 
ensure adequate reading growth. 

Writing Resources 
I chose ​Canva​ because the platform is easy 
to use and provides students with ways to 
embrace writing through more real-world 
avenues. From giving students templates 
to develop a resume to a presentation to a 
flyer or social media post, Canva offers 
students a wide range of capabilities, which 
may increase engagement. It’s important to 
emphasize the importance of writing for 
https://www.canva.com/  
practices beyond making essays. 
Canva​ is a graphic design platform that  Therefore, by showing students a digital 
allows users to create social media  platform that enhances one’s writing 
graphics, presentations, handouts, posters,  through other mediums, students will be 
and other visual content. Users can choose  able to better embrace English in their 
to create a design from scratch or get  everyday lives. 
inspiration by choosing from many 
professionally designed templates. Then, 
they can take the template, edit the 
designs, and upload their photos through an 
easy to use drag and drop interface. Users 
can then download and share their work 
through various online platforms. 
 
Link to Video About Canva 

I chose ​Padlet ​because my students 

struggle with getting and giving real-time 
feedback and participate in free-write 
activities. Padlet is an online resource that 
alleviates both of those issues. Through 
Padlet, students can respond to 
https://padlet.com/   constructed response questions and/or 
Padlet​ is an online virtual “bulletin” board,  other quick writes. The responses that 
where students and teachers can  students share will be able to view by all 
collaborate, reflect, share links, and  students. Then, their peers can respond to 
pictures in a secure location. Padlet  their thoughts, and I can also provide 
creators can also moderate posts, remove  critical feedback regarding grammar or 
posts, and manage their board 24/7. Padlet  content. Padlet will help create a 
is free and easy to use!  collaborative culture of learning where 
  students feel comfortable critiquing each 
Link to Video About Padlet  other and sharing ideas. 

Part II: ​Goals 

Reading Resource One:  Implementation Goal:  Assessment Goal 

Achieve 3000  This resource will be used for  I will assess if reading is 
the following activities:   improved using this resource 
● Read non-fiction  by completing the following 
articles on various  activities: 
topics relating to the  ● Generate weekly 
grade-level curriculum.   reports of student 
● Annotate passages and  performance on 
identify critical pieces in  assigned activities. 
the text.  ● Generate a monthly 
● Learn new vocabulary  report of Lexile growth, 
that relates to the  which is generated 
article that is provided.  based on how students 
● Answer standard  are performing on the 
aligned multiple-choice  assigned texts. (e.g., If 
 questions that correlate  a student is 
with the article and test  consistently scoring 
comprehension.  high on the activities, 
the student Lexile will 
rise, and the articles 
will get more 
challenging.) 
● Use semesterly SRI 
Lexile exams to 
monitor Lexile growth 
and quarterly exam 
performance to 
monitor student 
comprehension 
growth. 

Reading Resource  Implementation Goal  Assessment Goal 

Two: ​SORA  This resource will be used for  I will assess if reading is 
the following activities:   improved using this resource 
● Read fictional and  by completing the following 
non-fictional texts.  activities: 
● Access grade and Lexile  ● Monitor student 
level aligned ebooks  completion of texts by 
and audiobooks.   checking student Sora 
● Annotate pieces of  accounts every month. 
literature.  ● Have students 
● Keep records of texts  complete book reports 
ready by students and  proving the 
personal achievements  comprehension of 
in reading.  texts.  
● Assign students  ● Request students to 
specific texts based on  share reading 
student capability and  accomplishments and 
interests.  profile averages that 
are displayed to Sora 
users. Sora records 
things like (average 
time per book, average 
time per session, and 
total time read.) 
● Use semesterly SRI 
Lexile exams to 
monitor Lexile growth 
and quarterly exam 
performance to 
monitor student 
comprehension 
 growth. 

Writing Resource One:  Implementation Goal  Assessment Goal 

Canva  This resource will be used for  I will assess if reading is 
the following activities:   improved using this resource 
● Allow students to  by completing the following 
engage in graphic  activities: 
design and creating  ● Assign monthly 
writing projects such as  projects that need to 
slideshows, greeting  be completed on 
cards, social media  Canva. 
graphics, and other  ● Use the performance 
artifacts that may  on those monthly 
assess content  projects to monitor 
mastery.  growth in writing and 
● Serve as space for  presentation.  
students to collaborate  ● Use quarterly exam 
on assigned writing  performance to see if 
projects.  growth on constructed 
● Provide students  response or essay 
templates for creative  questions.  
writing projects.  
● Provide students with 
an opportunity to 
engage in more 
real-world applicable 
projects that may 
increase enthusiasm for 
writing and investment 
in English courses. 

Writing Resource Two:  Implementation Goal  Assessment Goal 

Padlet  This resource will be used for  I will assess if reading is 
the following activities:   improved using this resource 
● Provide a space for  by completing the following 
students to collectively  activities: 
share their thought and  ● Assign weekly quick 
responses to questions  writes on Padlet.  
and quick writes.  ● Assess the growth of 
● Allow students and  Padlet usage and the 
teachers to provide  quality of free 
real-time feedback on  response questions 
responses and share  and peer 
thoughts and  feedback/responses. 
suggestions.  ● While the first Padlet 
● Help students  discussion may take 
collaborate on projects  20-30 minutes, I want 
by having groups a  to consolidate that to 
 space to share  10 minutes by the end 
resources and  of the year, which will 
contribute to group  prove students can 
projects.  collect their thoughts 
and convey their 
opinion more quickly. 
In addition, it will prove 
students are able to 
synthesize peer 
responses to formulate 
their own responses in 
agreeance or 
disagreeance. 
● As mentioned with 
other resources, use 
the quarterly exams to 
monitor progression 
and growth in writing. 

Part III: ​Reflection 

When creating this project, I had my school - my students, at the front of my mind. I have 
been at my current school for six years in varying capacities, including a college and career 
counselor and an English teacher. Honestly, as a fashion merchandising major and Teach 
For America alumna, I think my lack of formal teacher training in English and pedagogical 
knowledge makes school leaders question my wisdom and best practices, despite having a 
proven track record of results with students. The lack of confidence and openness to my 
ideas is why I chose to return to school and receive my Specialist Degree in Reading 
Education. Also, it is why I decided to take courses like LLED7110E. Therefore, when I seek a 
leadership position, I will say that I took the necessary coursework to improve literacy, 
which is a crucial skill for turning schools around. 
 
With that being said, I included the additional context of my school to give you a glimpse of 
my school's strengths and weaknesses. From the Governor's Report Card, you can see 
some of the hurdles that I face daily. Our students are reading and performing below 
Georgia's average. We have a diverse mix of kids with high needs due to socioeconomic 
status. Also, unlike some of the neighboring schools, we have a higher ESL and SPED 
population. These barriers contribute to students needing differentiated resources, 
real-time feedback and data tracking, and intrinsic motivation for doing well in English. 
Luckily, the resources I selected to address our students' unique needs, and I believe we 
can make some of the changes we seek in our population. 
 
Padlet and Achieve3000 allow for real-time feedback so that students can learn from their 
mistakes. When completing an activity on Achieve3000, if a question's answer is wrong, 
students are given the correct answer and explain why. When it comes to Padlet, I imagine 
proposing a free response question as a warm-up and using the time to have myself and 
peers provide commentary and offer praise and suggestions. Canva allows students to see 
how writing can be infused in other types of documents or resources applicable in the real 
world. I imagine having students create social media posts related to a book we have read 
or create a list of books they would suggest. In addition, using the platform to develop their 
own books and express their creativity to show how the need to read, write and speak is 
critically important in day to day activities. Lastly, Sora and Achieve3000 both provide 
access to differentiated reading materials that meet students where they are and not 
necessarily at grade level. Many of my students have never read on grade level, and it's 
unfair to continually expect them to perform at a level they don't understand. Instead, we 
need to remediate and meet students at their reading level to absorb the language, build 
their vocabulary, and work their way up to more complex texts. As a mother of a toddler, I 
see how language and new skills are acquired. I'm not going to expect my daughter to run if 
she never learned how to walk. Therefore, I can't expect my student to comprehend a 
12th-grade text if he/she never grasped the vocabulary between 6th-11th.  
 
I look forward to you reviewing this plan and possibly taking this plan to administration in 
the near future.