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Aside

Literature Circles: An Introduction

What are Literature Circles?

Literature Circles are small groups of students reading and discussing the same book (AKA reading groups, book groups, or book clubs). One of the main goals of lit circles is for students to enjoy reading and engaging in “open, natural conversations about books” (Daniels, 2002, p. 18). During lit circles, the learning is student-centered, taking place during reading and conversation, and the teacher becomes a facilitator and coordinator.  Teachers can support lit circles by being open to learning from and with their students, and developing an expectation of reciprocity in teaching and learning.

Lit circles are adaptable and teachers can customize them for their students’ needs, which makes them a great strategy for Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Groups of 3-5 students seem to work best. The essential elements of literature circles include student voice and choice (Daniels, 2002). In a classroom, each group may be reading a different book or the whole class may be reading the same book. For online learning, lit circles can be held via breakout rooms and the teacher can pop into different rooms to facilitate. For more information, the UBC Education Library has compiled a list of resources for teachers wanting to try lit circles.

Voice and Choice

  • Students could choose their own reading materials (teachers can start with a book talk to introduce the selections, ex. topic, genre, level of difficulty – or teachers can spread out the books over several tables and allow students some quiet time to peruse)
  • If students are all reading the same book, students could choose the motif or theme they wish to focus on and those could be used to form the groups
  • Topics for discussion should come from students and discussions are peer-led; “personal connections, digressions, and open-ended questions are welcome” (Daniels, 2002, p. 18)
  • Students will meet on a predictable schedule – it can be helpful to provide students with a calendar (older students can choose how far to read before each scheduled discussion)
  • If groups are reading different books, they could have an opportunity to share about their book to others (perhaps you’ll have students choose new books, form new groups, and continue lit circles throughout the year)

Roles

Assigned roles can be a great way to help students learn how to participate in discussions and what they need to bring to a conversation to make it rich and engaging. Younger students may choose to draw notes, as opposed to write them. Roles are particularly useful in preparing for discussions because they help students to learn what elements can prompt meaningful conversation. However, the eventual goal is to remove the scaffolds (the roles) and allow students to have free-flowing conversations, which an over-reliance on role sheets can impede (Daniels, 2002).

Examples of Roles:

Updated Roles for the 21st Century (Herrera & Kidwell, 2018) retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1181553.pdf

  • Connector: finds connections between the book and the student(s)
  • Questioner: asks questions about the section being read or the book in general
  • Illustrator: creates images as they read
  • Word Wizard: highlights a few new or meaningful words for students to learn
  • Summarizer: creates a summary of the book section
  • Researcher: digs into and discovers background information related to the book
  • Literary Luminary: locates quotations or significant passages to generate discussion 

Older students will likely be able to prepare for lit circles without having specific roles assigned. However, having students choose a ‘Discussion Director’ (who manages the flow of conversation, encourages participation, and brings some topics/questions to get started) can help to keep conversations flowing and help students to practice facilitating a small group discussion. Students can rotate through this role so each has the opportunity to be discussion director.

Dialectical journals or reading logs can help students to think through their book as they read and can help to prepare students for discussions (a dialectical journal is a double-sided journal that students write in during their reading – on the left, they write questions, drawings, interesting quotations, anything that catches their attention, and on the right, they comment and jot down their thoughts relating to what they have written on the left).

Assessment

Generally, assessments during lit circles come from “teacher observation and student self-evaluation” (Daniels, 2002, p. 18). Offering students multiple self-assessment opportunities can help students to cycle through identifying an area for improvement, setting a goal, assessing if the goal has been met, then setting a new goal, and so on. Summative assessments could also include written assignments or presentations.

Interdisciplinary Learning

Novels naturally weave disciplines together in their stories and teachers can encourage students to research background information that will contribute to their knowledge of the book. For example, students can look into historical context, geography, scientific context (particularly useful for science fiction novels), and psychology – teachers can model interdisciplinarity and encourage students to bring these elements into their discussions. Although lit circles are most commonly incorporated into English, social studies, and humanities classes, they can be used effectively in other disciplines, such as science (Straits & Nichols, 2006).

Preparation

If students have never participated in lit circles before, teachers can model roles and expectations beforehand. For example, teachers could use a short story or poem to demonstrate how lit circles work and what productive participation may look like, as well as to introduce and practice the roles and responsibilities.

During lit circles, students will need time to read (silently or in small groups) and committing time for silent reading from the start of the year can help to establish expectations and routines for that time. It can also be a great way to calmly start the class and get students focused. Teachers can demonstrate they value reading by committing time to read in a way that is visible to students and share their enjoyment (as opposed to using silent reading time for other tasks).

Teachers should read all of the book club selections before starting lit circles and choose books that they also enjoy. It’s important to display passion for reading and enthusiasm for the book choices – students can be heavily influenced by a teacher’s attitude and mindset! Teachers can also think about how book selections cover and connect to big ideas/themes for the unit or year to promote integrated learning (ex. identity, sustainability, compassion, etc.). Adrienne Gear,  MEd UBC, Vancouver teacher and well-regarded literacy specialist, has assembled some thematic book lists for grades 3-6 and for grades 6-9 to help get you started.

How to Get Started

Daniels (2002, p. 55) explains that there 5 key steps for a successful start:

  • Explain – let kids hear why this activity is important
  • Demonstrate – provide live or videotaped examples, by kids or adults
  • Practice – help kids try out a variety of approaches (a fishbowl activity can be an effective way to practice and improve group discussions!)
  • Debrief – ask kids to notice and catalog effective procedures
  • Refine – provide ongoing training through mini-lessons and coaching

 

References

Daniels, H. (2002). Literature circles: Voice and choice in book clubs and reading groups. Stenhouse.

Herrera, L. J. P., & Kidwell, T. (2018). Literature circles 2.0: Updating a classic strategy for the 21st century. Multicultural Education (San Francisco, Calif.), 25(2), 17-17. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1181553.pdf

Straits, W., & Nichols, S. (2006). Literature circles for science. Science and Children, 44(3), 52- 55. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/literature-circles-science/docview/236904244/se-2?accountid=14656

 

Guest post by Peer Mentor Lindsay Cunningham (Ph.D. student, EDCP), July 2024.

 

 

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by | August 31, 2024 · 4:58 pm
by | August 30, 2024 · 11:51 am

Lesson/Unit Planning: a guide for quick review of the essential points

This is a quick guide with questions you might ask yourself about your lesson/ unit plan to check that are considering the most essential points while planning.

1. Why do we teach..?

Let’s start with this video to help us understand why thinking about the goal of your lesson/ plan is the first step to achieving students’ learning. Please click to view.

Now it’s your turn:

  • Look at your lesson/unit plan and ask yourself:
    • Why do I teach? Is this reflected in my planning?
      • Who do I teach? Are my learners at the center of my planning?

2. Goal vs. Activities

One way to start planning is to select some activities you think your students will enjoy and then try to organize them together as a lesson or unit. The problem with this is that we can lose the focus, and move too far from what the goal of all these activities actually is. Moreover, choosing activities first rather than learning goals tends to not allow for differentiation, as these activities generally require all students to show their learning in the same way. See the difference between both processes:

comparing more backwards planning with more traditional approaches where backwards planning begins with outcomes in mind and moves to designing activities while former approaches might begin with a resource or activity idea.

Source: https://teaching.cambriancollege.ca/studio/backwards-planning/#1532372758719-5b1d9546-624f

 

In this example, a “backward design” process is recommended for planning because it allows more flexibility and focus and takes a more student-centred approach. The video below explains the step-by-step process of planning using backward design.

Personally, I like to do a brainstorm of all my resource and activity ideas around a central theme (because that’s often where my excitement and creativity lie!). Then, however, I set it aside and look to the curriculum for the specific content and competencies that are important for my students to learn/practice at a specific point in the year. Once I’ve established the learning goals, I’ll break them down into a progression of lessons and outcomes. Now I’m ready to get inspired again and look back at the resources I set aside to see if or where they might fit (or not!)

Do you want more examples? This Cult of Pedagogy blog post will be of interest. Dr. Shelley Moore offers examples of Inclusive design templates and frameworks that align with a backwards design model.

Now it’s your turn:

  • Look at your lesson/unit plan:
    • Did you start by choosing the activity or the learning goal? (if you started with the activity, look at it again and ask yourself “does this activity help students achieve the learning targets?”)
    • Can you identify pieces of evidence that your lesson/unit is focusing on learning goals rather than being merely a set of activities?

3. Write good learning goals (Part 1)

Defining learning goals is essential to a effective plan. The image below describes the features and examples of what a well-defined learning goal looks like:

Source: https://citl.illinois.edu/docs/default-source/online-course-in-a-box/good-vs-bad-learning-objectives.pdf?sfvrsn=2

 

Now it’s your turn:

  • Look at your lesson/unit plan:
    • Is your learning goal…
      1. Clear and specific?
      2. Measurable?
      3. Concise?
      4. Tied into course/curricular objectives?

4. Write good learning goals (Part 2)

When we are choosing our learning goals it is essential to pay attention to the ones that are similar to each other so that we can plan in a more focused way. Look at these three learning goals from the BC Math Curriculum (grade 3):

  • “Fractions are numbers that represent an amount or quantity”.
  • “Fractions can represent parts of a region, set, or linear model”.
  • “Fraction parts are equal shares or equal-sized portions of a whole or unit”.

Even though they are similar and these learning goals are all likely part of a unit of teaching, they likely aren’t part of a single lesson and teachers will want to plan different activities and assessments to achieve each one of them.

Now it’s your turn:

  • Look at your lesson/unit plan:
    • Are your learning goals related?
    • In what ways do the lessons/activities help students achieve these goals?
    • How do you know students have achieved the goals?

5. Connecting the why and what

In the BC Curriculum, we can interpret the Big Ideas as the “why” we teach and the content and competency as the “what” we teach, or in other words, the learning goals.

Now it’s your turn:

Look at your lesson/unit plan:

    • Do the curricular competencies and content work together to support learning around the big ideas?

6. Who are my students?

We do not plan for imaginary students but for the ones we have in our classes. Thus, it is essential to think about the student profiles and how to adapt your lessons to their needs and, potentially, their interests.

Tomlinson (2001) proposes a model to think about different student features we can consider while planning our lessons:

Source: Tomlinson, Carol A (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms

Now it’s your turn:

7. Classroom setting

Our lessons happen in a space (physical or online). Thus it is important to think about how we will organize this space for each moment of the lesson. Tomlinson (2001) gives some ideas of how a teacher can organize that space:

Source: Tomlinson, Carol A (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms

Now it’s your turn:

  • Look at your lesson/unit plan:
    • Have you planned the space for each moment of your class?
    • Behavioral expectations. How can different class instructional arrangements be used to deal with students’ behavior?
    • How can different classroom arrangements support your learning goals and students’ behavior?

8. Time

Our lessons also happen between some time frame. In this sense, it is not reasonable to plan the best lesson/ unit if they can not be implemented within the time limit you have.

Now it’s your turn:

  • Look at your lesson/unit plan:
    • Are your learning goals achievable within the time limit you have?
    • Do you have suggested times for each moment?
    • How many minutes are teacher-focused
    • How many minutes are student-focused?

9. What is next?

The last step in planning a lesson/ unit is to think about what is my next learning goal and how I can connect it to the current one. In other words, it is essential to think about the learning trajectory of my students and how I will support their progression.

It is important to understand how each learning goal is connected with the others. The BC Ministry of Education provides Learning Progressions to allow us to visualize and plan for curricular and cross-curricular learning.

Now it’s your turn:

  • Look at your lesson/unit plan:
    • Have you planned the progression of your learning goals?
    • Do you know your next goals and how they are connected to the current one?

10. Warm-up and end-up moments

Now that you have a good notion of your goals and the progression of you lesson/ unit, you can ensure the warm-up and end-up moments (opener/activating strategy and closure help to create coherence throughout your whole lesson/unit.

Now it’s your turn:

  • Look at your lesson/unit plan. Consider:
    • How you will start this class?
    • How will you provide closure?
      • Why did you make these choices?
      • How do they connect to the rest of the lesson?
      • Does your opening and closing help to start and complete a discreet cycle of learning? Are there opportunities to extend learning or signals of where you are headed?

More resources to support your lesson/unit plan

Guest post by Peer Mentor Ariane Faria dos Santos (Ph.D. EDCP), Aug. 2024.

 

 

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by | April 29, 2020 · 12:02 pm

Voice and Choice in Student Learning

Children have the right “to voice their opinions on activities and decisions which shape their lives, and the right to receive and share information in different ways” Articles 12 & 13, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (Bucknall, 2012, p. 4)

Why?

Providing choice in student learning has multiple benefits ranging from increased student engagement, to allowing for differentiation through providing appropriate challenges. The following chapter from “Learning to Choose Choosing to Learn” by Mike Anderson, ASCD may be of interest.

Similarly, student voice is important not only for sharing opinions and decisions on a student’s personal life and school matters, but also on emerging social issues. Research shows that even children of primary school age are aware of community, national and global issues, including racism, violence, and poverty, and would also like to be better informed and more involved in helping to solve problems (Holden, 2006; Taylor et al., 2008; Bucknall, 2012). In fact, student voice can allow for personalized, diverse educational experiences as it begins and ends with the thoughts, feelings, visions, and actions of the students themselves (Toshalis & Nakkula, 2012).

“Providing students with a place to voice their needs and interests, and a place for choice in the process, starts with teachers” (Garry, 2018, p. 5).

Students might:

  • own their learning journey and develop as self learners
  • share ‘power’ over the learning plan with instructor
  • discover their passions
  • experience contextually-relevant learning that is related to their own homes, families and neighbourhoods.
  • share and discuss learning interests with parents and siblings

Let’s explore a few opportunities!

CHOICE

  • Choice of Meaningful, Contextually-Relevant Content
    • Learning is most engaging when it is relevant to students’ personal lives.
      Encourage students to respond to your questions by looking around in their environments; home, backyard or neighbourhood. For example, in Math, you might ask them what 2D shapes or 3D shapes, patterns or mathematical representations they see in the world around them; at home, from a window or outside.
    • In a science lesson on features of mammals or reptiles, encourage students to come up with their own examples from a book or an online image, take a photo, label it, and share with the class. The various shared examples will foster a better understanding across students, and allow for peer feedback.
  • Choice of Books
  • Choice of Instruction
    • Encourage your students to explore topics of interest using a wide array of online resources. They might view videos provided by Khan Academy or TEDEd Talks. For more suggestions, check this list of distance learning tools provided by the Albert Team.
  • Choice of Activity
  • Choice of Process
    • Ask your students if they prefer working individually, in pairs, or in groups?
  • Choice in expression of assessment response
    • Provide students with a wide range of choices regarding the way they share their response. Check this post for examples of multimodal student response systems
    • For read-aloud resources, visit this post in the Scarfe Sandbox.
    • Encourage students to share their findings multimodally using apps like ShowMe.
    • Soroya Smith, second grade classroom teacher, shares ideas, for some apps that allow for student interaction with read-alouds.
  • Choice of Mode (for online or in person learning)
    • If teaching online, try not to rely too heavily on synchronous online sessions, as it might cause stress to some students. It can be supportive to NOT require the use of video camera when doing synchronous web conferences as this can make visible issues of poverty/circumstance. (That said, allowing video may also help learners feel more connected… as always, important to know your students and context)
    • Give students the choice to work online, or work offline on an activity and share it afterwards using an app, for example using ShowMe. This same offer could be made for in class presentations… pre-record or present live…
    • For more ideas, I was inspired by podcast by Brian Aspinall (teacher and teaching excellence award winner) and Michelle Hunter (grade 6 teacher) on creating opportunities for student choice during remote learning.

VOICE

As you are providing students with choices, consider inviting them to voice their opinions, ideas and preferences.

  • Feelings
    • At the start of a class session, you might encourage students to share their feelings for the day (once a safe environment and guidelines for the community have been clearly established – you know your context). An anonymous quick poll might be incorporated here instead of ‘vocal and identified’ sharing. Providing opportunity for students to voice their emotions in a safe, supportive environment, helps you know where the class is at and also allows students to feel they are not alone.
  • Interests and Preferences
    • In order to allow for personalized learning, encourage students to share their interests and learning preferences to inform the creation of choice boards..
  • Issues that matter: Students as Researchers
    • An interesting movement, Students As Researchers (SARs) creates a new role for children in social research and gives them a voice (Bucknall, 2012, p. 3). By allowing students to act as researchers (SAR), their perspectives and voices are allowed to come to center stage and students are empowered “to bring realities of everyday life to the attention of the staff” (Thomson & Gunter, 2007). Choice of research topics allows school staff to perceive unseen issues. Students might even explore their own feelings, the challenges and possibilities with respect to remote learning, and what suggestions they have. Similarly, students could search societal issues of concern. For example, students could discuss their roles at a time of the pandemic.
  • Podcast to share ‘voice’
    • All class response strategies rather than students sharing one at a time in a whole group can provide more inclusive opportunities to engage in class discussion. Similarly, incorporating various discussion strategies in the classroom can improve thinking, sharing and learning.
  • Podcast to share ‘voice’
    • As a means to share their opinions or research, students could create their own podcasts, videos, vlogs, blogs, images/memes where they voice their opinions and share with a larger audience. In a reflection on their own experience creating podcasts with students published in Edutopia, “A Way to Promote Student Voice – Literally”, teacher Paula Diaz provides some suggestions and examples.

Guest Post: Nashwa Khedr, EDCP graduate student, project assistant 2020; editing & contributions by YD

References:

Bucknall, S. (2012). Children as Researchers in Primary Schools. London: Routledge, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203116302

Holden, C. (2006) ‘Concerned citizens: children and the future’, Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 1(3):231–247.

Garry, Adam, et al. Personalizing Learning Through Voice and Choice: (Increasing Student Engagement in the Classroom), Solution Tree, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ubc/detail.action?docID=5105830.

Taylor, N., Smith, A. and Gollop, M. (2008) ‘New Zealand children and young people’s perspectives on citizenship’, International Journal of Children’s Rights, 16:195–210.

Thomson, P. & Gunter H. (2007) The Methodology of Students-as-Researchers: Valuing and using experience and expertise to develop methods. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, (3), 327-342.

Toshalis E. & Nakkula, M. J. (2012). Motivation, Engagement, and student voice . The Students at the Centre series. A Jobs For the Future Project. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resourcesSV/StudentVoiceResearch/MotivationEngagem entandStudentV oice.pdf

United Nations (1989) ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’, UN General Assembly, Document A/ RES/44/25. Online.

 

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by | February 9, 2019 · 7:33 pm

Language learning and digital technologies (dans une classe française)

Over the past year or so, I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Liza Navarro. First in 2017 as a GPA (graduate program assistant) in a Teaching Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) project, next as a project partner in a second TLEF project (for French language resources) and, this week, in her capacity as instructor of the French cohort section of LLED 353, Teaching and Learning English as an Additional Language.

BC Digital Literacy infographic

Infographic Created by UBC TC John Lim based on BC’s Digital Literacy Framework

We shared some activities to help spark discussion about the possibilities and considerations when incorporating digital technologies in a language learning context. I was impressed by the level of critical thinking and engagement teacher candidates were demonstrating as they participated (especially on the final day of class!). Thank you all!

We started by discussing and modeling some ‘All Class Response’ and discussion based strategies to support classroom engagement and assessment by providing opportunities for anonymous student voice. We incorporated Plickers during this portion.

We reviewed Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and discussed the value of providing students with varied opportunities for representation, communication, action and expression. As an example, we viewed and discussed a ‘ShowMe’ video to illustrate how a ‘whiteboard style’ application might be used to support multimodal formative (or summative) assessment. After briefly reviewing the BC Digital Literacy Framework, we engaged in some valuable conversation and sharing around the varied ways TCs are seeing multimodalities and digital technologies incorporated into their practicum classrooms.

Following the ‘presentation portion’ of our session, students were challenged to test and consider ‘as teachers’ digital technologies and how they might integrate them into their practice. They were provided with the SAMR model as a means of beginning to consider the value of potential uses of these technologies.

pixabay image

cc image courtesy of pixabay.com

We reminded students that it’s not about ‘all tech all the time’ and definitely isn’t just about incorporating the latest ‘tools’ but, instead, is about considering context, student and teacher needs as one begins ‘dipping a toe’ into tech integration! In particular, it is about students as creators of content vs. simply consumers (ie ‘ipad time’  in primary classrooms where students are playing tap tap games…). This article in edsurge may be of interest.

In closure, we encouraged students to seek support from their school advisors, faculty advisors, instructors and our ‘Scarfe Sandbox team’ during Gearing  up for Practicum sessions as they work to design effective learning plans for their upcoming extended practicum.

Slides from our session: French Cohort_19-02-08

I also wanted to bring to the attention of the TCs in this cohort that growing number of french resources being developed across different school districts. I know you are familiar with Teach BC but have you searched any of the school district resource sites? I found that Cowichan SD79 has put together a comprehensive set of links including some description of how digital technologies might be integrated in a language learning classroom.

 

 

 

 

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by | February 5, 2019 · 6:07 pm

Digital Technologies for effective learning design: selection & application

Recognizing how to effectively select a digital technology and appropriate teaching strategy is important work for teachers. Given the very busy job of teaching and the complex task of learning to teach, it is particularly important for pre- and early career teachers to spend time thinking about how the lessons they design can best support and extend student learning. Consequently, considering how their students might be supported through or with digital technologies has tremendous value in learning design. Further, when teachers consult the BC Digital Literacy Framework as part of planning for instruction, they will recognize that learning about, with and through digital technologies is an important part of teaching and learning in today’s classrooms.

BC Digital Literacy infographic

Infographic Created by UBC TC John Lim based on BC’s Digital Literacy Framework

Digital Literacy Framework KDU lesson outline

Lesson Outline using BC Digital Literacy Framework & KDU model

Let’s dig a bit deeper into how teachers might go about selecting, evaluating and integrating digital technologies for teaching, with a particular emphasis on promoting engagement and meeting the needs of varied learners. To this end, we can look at the BC Digital Literacy Framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the SAMR model by Ruben Puentedura.

Here are some slides from a workshop session:MY SRL tech integration Feb. 4, 2019

During the session, students experienced and viewed some examples of digital technology integration and were then provided with time to identify resources (in this blog) that might support objectives in current units and lessons they are planning. They then utilized the SAMR model to help evaluate the learning potential of digital resources. It is important to note that a model such as SAMR only has value if one considers the context (of the school, classroom and child) in the selection and evaluation. For example, students viewed a video of a child who, without access to a digital technology, would not have been able to share the depth of her understanding. In this way, even a substitution approach might make all the different for individual learning. As we discussed the importance of access, voice and choice for learners, many of the teacher candidates were able to identify observations in their practicum classes that reinforced this approach.

During our session, we used (or reviewed):

  1. All-Class Response – providing adolescent learners anonymous opportunities to engage, voice their ideas, opinions and understandings while providing teachers with the opportunity to gather data to inform teaching (and, potentially, strengthening or stretching student understanding). Remember, it is beneficial to incorporate discussion strategies (such as peer-teaching) when using all-student response.
    • Plickers (the low tech to no tech response system – free downloadable cards and app)
    • Mentimeter (backchannel chat, all class response, polling etc)
    • Padlet (digital white board – don’t forget to moderate your board!! ;D and notice that commenting can be done without approval so you should consider carefully if you want to allow commenting. We went deeper 
  2. Multimodal Response – supportive of UDL (providing students with multiple means of representation and expression)
    • SHOWME interactive whiteboard – I ask my students to ‘show me’ what they know about… to which they can draw, annotate, write, import images, narrate… There are many other digital whiteboards available online.

As mentioned, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with your questions or to further discuss any aspects of planning and assessment as you ‘GEAR UP’ for practicum!  YD

 

 

 

 

 

 

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by | · 3:14 pm

Rewordify

A website that modifies, simplifies, and “rewordifies” text. It allows you or students to enter a piece of text and then choose what level you want to rewordify (modify) it to between levels 1 – 5. You can then choose from a list of activities to go along with the words you’ve selected.

Many texts are written at a comprehension level higher than what some students’ are capable of reading without direct support, but this tool can help. Rewordify reduces frustration and improves comprehension by maximizing time spent reading versus dictionary research. The Site’s browser app (bookmarklet) also extracts most web pages to Rewordify.com for learning in one click.

Provided you have access to the internet, Rewordify doesn’t require student information for their accounts and can be used without an account. All that’s required is that the user copy or write the text into the provided box, and then it is modified to a more appropriate reading level, which is great for struggling readers or beginner readers trying to comprehend content. For example, an English Language Learner in a Secondary Science Classroom can read about CRISPR (see examples below!)

First, do the demo. You’ll be an expert in five minutes: Click here for the demo.

Learn the site, step by step. Our First-Time User Guide clearly shows you how to get started.

If you aren’t using a student or teacher account, follow the directions below:

  1. Find the text you wish to copy, write, or extract and insert it into the yellow box.
  2. Click on Rewordify Text.
  3. Read the modified text or change the settings.
  4. Hover over the yellow highlighted text to read the words that were modified

**Optional

  • Click on the subheading, Parts of Speech, to view the text broken down further.
  • Click on the subheading, Print/Learning Activities, for additional activities

 

Ready for more?

Have some fun. Are you up for a vocabulary challenge? Play Rewordo and Difficult Hangman. Be aware: they’re not easy.

Browse some classics. Want to be more sure of Shakespeare, or brush up on Bronte? Scroll to the top, and click the Classic Literature link. It’s a fast way to get started using the site. Or, use the Search bar at the top. Try entering the word raven to understand the deal with Poe, that black bird, and the “Nevermore” thing.

Check out the goodies. You can install our One-Click Learning browser applet that lets you rewordify most web pages in one click. Our cool (and free, of course) School Clock tells you the current time and date, what class period you’re currently in, countdowns to the next period, and more. You can customize it for any school’s schedule, and make as many different School Clocks as you have different day schedules. Use it now.

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