Kelly Watson

M.Ed ePortfolio

Text and Device Toolkit

The Challenge

In an asynchronous course, students analyze texts without a teacher beside them. They needed a reference that explained authorial choices across text types without burying them in information irrelevant to the text in front of them.

The Process

I built the toolkit as a tabbed Google Doc, since the district already works in Google Workspace.

  • Chunked by text type: the toolkit is organized into tabs by text type, so students open only what applies to the text they’re reading.
  • Consistent entries: each tab sorts devices into linguistic and structural choices, plus visual choices for non-literary texts. Every entry gives a definition, an example, and a sentence connecting the choice to an IB concept. Devices that recur across text types keep identical entries.
  • Branded to the course: the same header, font, and blue palette as the rest of the course, with objectives on the introduction tab.
  • Accessible: headers tagged with Grackle Docs and color contrast checked against WCAG 2.1.

The Results

Students get one reference they can navigate independently, organized by the text they’re reading. Chunking keeps cognitive load manageable, and tagged headers let screen reader users move through the document’s structure.

Toolkit Screenshots

Text and Device Toolkit cover and introduction page
Cover and introduction page, branded to match the rest of the course.
Text and Device Toolkit with its document tabs expanded
Expanded tab view: each text type opens as its own tab, so students see only what applies.
Literary text directory in the Text and Device Toolkit
Literary text directory, where students choose the text type they’re working with.
Prose fiction tab showing literary device entries
Prose fiction preview: each device entry includes a definition, an example, and its connection to an IB concept.

Full Toolkit

This is a Tabbed, Google Document that is not supported by PDF at the moment. Please view the public link below.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T1dwa1quJ_NmiRtfmTAdoty_tubCUjCm8v9NK_F17u4/edit?usp=sharing