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Rewordify.com. Information for teachers. The basics. Rewordify.com is a web site that acts like an “app” or a program you install Point browser to rewordify.com Works in any browser and on any device. What does Rewordify.com do?. Mode 1: Simplify, Highlight, and Teach
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Rewordify.com Information for teachers
The basics • Rewordify.com is a web site that acts like an “app” or a program you install • Point browser to rewordify.com • Works in any browserand on any device
What does Rewordify.com do? Mode 1: Simplify, Highlight, and Teach • Simplifies harder English by replacing hard words and phrases with easier ones • Highlights the replaced words, showing the original ones upon mouse-hover/click/tap
What does Rewordify.com do? Mode 2: Highlight and Teach • Identifies all the hard words and phrases in a passage and highlights them • Shows easy definitions of the harder ones upon mouse-hover/click/tap
Identifying “difficult words” • 34,300 difficult words and phrases • Hand-picked by experienced educators • Word length doesn’t matter • Difficult: ken, orb, diva • Not difficult: ridiculousness, unbelievably
What’s the point? • Makes hard English more accessible • Fosters independent learning • Offers an alternative to dictionaries • Assists visual learners
Target student population Rewordify.com can help: • Ages: high school through adult • Reading skill: approx. 5th grade and up
Target student population Rewordify.com is not intended for: • Ages: children younger than 10 • Reading skill: below about 5th grade level
Rewordify.com An alternative to dictionaries
Problems with a dictionary • Words definedin terms ofthemselves • Definitions have difficult words dictionary.com google.com merriam-webster.com
Problems with a dictionary • Requires a multi-step lookup process • Locate an unknown word • Look it up • Scan the definitions and analyze them • Pick the definition that is most relevant • Go back to original text • Apply the definition within the context of the sentence
Problem #1 addressed • Words defined in terms of themselvesRewordify.com never uses any form of an unknown word in its definition
Problem #2 addressed • Difficult words in definitionsRewordify.com never uses difficult words in definitions:
Rewordify.com knows context • Looks at how words are used in a sentence • Comes up with a “smart” definition based on context • Examples:“enchilada” is left alone, but“whole enchilada” is reworded to “whole thing.”
Rewordify.com knows context • “Art is beautiful.” is left alone“Art thou kind?” is reworded to “Are you kind?” • “He has a lot of spirit.” is left alone“He is my kindred spirit.” is reworded to: “He is my good friend.”
Rewordify.com How to use the site
How to use • Type or paste in text • Enter a web URLExamples of web URLs: www.example.com website.edu hardwebpage.com/hardpage/text.htm
Not a search engine • Sees words -> rewordifies the words • Sees a URL -> rewordifies the web page • Different from Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
Demo • Go to rewordify.com:
Demo • In the top box, type this:This site is replete with ways to improve your lexical knowledge.
Demo • Then, press “Rewordify Text.”
Demo • You’ll see this: The phrase “replete with” was replaced with “full of.” The word “lexical” was replaced with “word-based.”
Smart Highlighting • Notice the highlighting over the replaced words:
Smart Highlighting • Hover your mouse over the highlighting: The original word appears under your mouse cursor. If you’re on a tablet, just tap the highlighted word. lexical
Flexible Learning • At the top of any page, click “Settings.”
Smart Highlighting • Examine the options
Smart Highlighting • Examine the options (continued)
Smart Highlighting • Scroll down and click “Save settings.”
Smart Highlighting • Click the link to go back
Smart Highlighting • Refresh/reload the page to see the settings change word-based
School-printer friendly • Printing any screen looks good on ablack-and-white printer
Works on web pages • Click the “R” to clear the screen word-based
Works on web pages • Enter a web site, like www.nytimes.com
Works on web pages • The whole web site is rewordified
Rewordify.com Teacher Tools
Teacher tools demo • First, find an article online, or a document on your computer. • Select and copy all or part of the article:
Teacher tools demo • Paste the text into Rewordify.com and click “Rewordify Text.”
Teacher tools demo • The text is instantly rewordified.
Teacher tools demo • Scroll down and click on “View Teacher Tools.”
Teacher tools demo • You’ll see a list of the hard words, and sixprintablehandoutoptions:
Teacher tools demo • Vocab list with definitions • Vocab list with blanks • Matching exercise (with/without key) • Quiz version #1 (with/without key) • Quiz version #2(with/without key)
Wrap-up Advantages: • Completely free • No ads (ads on rewordified web pages will show) • No personal information collected • No username/password needed • Faster understanding • Clear understanding of what hard words mean
Help available • Home page demos • “Details” link – from any page • “Contact” link – from any page • YouTube channel – instructional videos • Blog: rewordify.blogspot.com
Rewordify.com Thank you!