K-12 Schools Staff Training

Fit learning into your busy schedule with access to on-demand training modules, downloadable PDFs, upcoming webinars, and tools to educate your staff and end users any time of day or night.

Upcoming Webinars

Sora Essentials: The Reader Experience

September 17 @ 9:00 am

Duration: 30 minutes

Ready to learn the basics of Sora so you can start exploring and help others get started, too? Join us live for our demo and ask questions of our K-12 experts.

This session is primarily a demonstration of the user experience in Sora, the student reading app. Students and educators have access to all of the same great features within the app. In this webinar, you'll learn how to:

  • Sign in with your school credentials
  • Browse, borrow, and enjoy ebooks & audiobooks
  • Personalize the reading experience with adjustable settings
  • Define words & create annotations
  • And more!

Audience: K-12 school partners who are new or would like a refresher on Sora, the student reading app.

Notes:

  • Times shown in Eastern Standard. We understand the timing may not suit everyone but signing up ensures that a recording is sent the day after the live session so you can view at your convenience.
  • All attendees will receive a comprehensive resource to review, explore, and promote Sora after the session.
  • You can earn a certificate of attendance with our post-webinar assessment.

Register
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Educator Resources

Want to host your own training session? Looking for resources to use with your school community? Browse the resources below!

Recommended

Sora Bursts Video Series – Weeks 1-6

You can download links to all videos and worksheets from our Sora Bursts series in a single zip file by clicking ‘Download’ at the bottom of this section, or access the videos and accompanying worksheets, week by week, below:

  • Hook teachers on Sora and digital reading with an elevator pitch.
  • Turbo-charge your digital circulation.
  • Make Sora data actionable.
  • Level up your digital librarian skills.
  • Plot your roadmap for Sora success.
  • Put it all together.

    . Download Preview

    • Educator Kit – Supersonic Phonics

    This .ZIP file contains an introductory video about Supersonic Phonics and decodables, a helpful self-paced PDF guide to get educators started with phonics and decodables, and our Sora Starter Pack which includes lessons and activities, level charts, and more.

    Download Preview

    PowerPoint Slides – Get Started with Sora for Staff & Students

    Download these slides to host your own internal Sora training with educators, school librarians, students, or anyone else in your school building who need to know how to log into Sora, browse and borrow titles, use app features, and more.

    Download Preview

    PowerPoint Slides – Introduce Sora to Students & Families

    Download these slides to introduce Sora to students, parents/guardians, and your school community at parent-teacher conferences, activity fairs, back-to-school nights, or anywhere you connect with folks who may be new to digital reading at your school or district.

    Download Preview

    Self-Paced Curriculum (PDFs) – Getting Started with Sora

    This .ZIP file contains 3 helpful self-paced PDF guides to get educators started with Sora, including: Sora Essentials, a getting started guide for the student reading app; Summer Reading with Sora, a guide for making the most of summer reading with Sora; and Supersonic Phonics, a guide to our phonics and decodable books in Sora.

    Download Preview

    Self-Paced Curriculum (PDF) – Getting Started with Marketplace

    This kit contains 1 easy-to-follow PDF for staff to learn what’s possible with OverDrive Marketplace, and how to use it to customize the Sora digital collection.

    Download Preview

    ZIP file – Sora “Quick Tip” videos

    This .ZIP file contains links to 1-minute “quick tip” videos for K-12 educators who want to learn about the following in Sora: finding copies of a title, accessibility features, sharing direct links, and navigating without using page numbers.

    There are also 1-minute videos about Class Sets and On-Demand Class sets, using Marketplace Top 200 lists to fill in gaps in your digital collection, and using the Sora Activity dashboard.

    Download Preview

    PDF Guide – Share to Google Classroom from OverDrive Marketplace

    This how-to guide outlines steps for how to share titles and collections from your Sora digital collection to Google Classroom, using OverDrive Marketplace.

    Download Preview

    Staff & Student Learning Kit – Managing Holds

    This kit contains 1 easy-to-follow PDF for K-12 educators on managing holds in Marketplace, 2 short videos about holds in Sora – great for students, staff, and parents alike, and a marketing graphic for educators to share.

    Download Preview

    Lesson Plan – Annotations with Sora

    This kit contains 1 PDF lesson plan on exporting notes from Sora and ways to incorporate them into assignments, 1 Word document template on using Sora for Cornell-style notes, 1 short video showing how to create annotations, 1 short video showing how to export annotations, and 1 marketing graphic for the web or social media.

    Download Preview

    Lesson Plan – Student Learning at Home

    This kit contains 4 student lessons (1 early, 1 middle, and 2 high school), 1 instructional video link, and 1 getting started handout.

    Download Preview