Revising a Literacy Unit: A Case Study | Inclusive AI Strategies

What changed

The unit keeps Odell's teaching sequence: five Parts built on two speeches, Ronald Reagan's First Inaugural Address (1981) and Hillary Rodham Clinton's remarks to the APEC Women and the Economy Summit (2011). Every change is logged with the original wording, the revision and the reason.

Changes by kind
Kind of change	Changes	What it covers
Correction	52	Misquotations, wrong line references and typos, each checked against the two speeches.
Inclusion	29	Examples, defaults and supports that assume less about students' time, devices and backgrounds.
Clarity	29	Instructions and notes rewritten so students and teachers can act on them.
Accessibility	24	Untagged PDFs rebuilt as structured web pages and Google Docs that work with screen readers and on phones.
AI era	10	Activities in which students check AI-written claims, summaries and quotations against the text.
Standards	7	Standards references checked and realigned.

Three changes, before and after

A misquotation in the model paragraph Correction

Writing EBC Handout, Step 3, paragraph 1

Original: Clinton sees women as a "vital source of growth" that needs to be "unlocked" (22-23).
Revised: Clinton sees women as "a vital source of growth" that "we need to unlock" (22).
Why: Line 22 reads "we need to unlock a vital source of growth"; "unlocked" is not in the speech. Both quoted phrases are on line 22.

Who reads in class Inclusion

Teacher introduction, How the unit is structured

Original: If scheduling and student ability do not support independent reading outside of class, these activities can be done in class at the beginning of each Part.
Revised: Class time is the default for the independent reading, and reading at home is an extension where students have the time and access. Each independent reading comes with supports: pre-teaching glossary words, a gist check, sentence frames, and discussion in any language before writing in English.
Why: Students without quiet time or a device at home should not start each Part behind, and the original tied in-class reading to "student ability".

The fillable PDF tools Accessibility

All tools, Forming, Making, Organizing (2 and 3 points) and Written tools

Original: Untagged fillable PDF forms with drawn grids, fields named "Text 1", "SE1a" or "Ref 1", fixed-size boxes, and filling and saving that depend on the free version of Adobe Reader.
Revised: Web pages with a labeled field for every entry, grouped in fieldsets, boxes that scroll or resize for long answers, and the sequence stated in words. Answers save in the browser on that device only; a Print button prints or saves a PDF with the typed answers, and the page can also be printed blank for handwriting.
Why: A screen-reader user could not tell which box belonged to which claim or point, and the PDF workflow does not work well on Chromebooks or phones.

What teachers get

The full unit as accessible web pages: the five Parts with teacher notes, both speeches with Odell's line numbers and a glossary, and the log of every change.
19 Google Docs to copy or print: the tools, handouts, checklists, rubric, completed models, and both speeches with a column for notes.
Versions of the Forming and Making tools with sentence starters and a worked example, for English learners, students with IEPs, or anyone who wants a start.
Three activities in which students test AI-written claims, a summary and quotations against the speeches.

The original units

Odell Education's original units, all grades and strands, are free to download with no sign-up.

Open the folder of original units (Google Drive)

Get the revised unit

If you want your own copies and to see what kinds of revisions you can make, enter your name and email. The links to the revised unit and its Google Docs will come by email.