Try one full Smart-Reader lesson before you start your trial.
This sample shows exactly what students and teachers experience: supported reading with word-by-word highlighting, comprehension prompts, vocabulary in context, and a writing scaffold.
Tap play — the text below highlights word-by-word as the narrator reads.
Sample reading
A trained narrator reads the passage with word-by-word highlighting so students never lose their place.
Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart
True! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily — how calmly I can tell you the whole story.
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture — a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees — very gradually — I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.
Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded — with what caution — with what foresight — with what dissimulation I went to work!
Student reads aloud
After hearing the model, students read the passage themselves. Smart-Reader's mic listens and highlights each word as they say it, then scores the read for fluency.
Read the excerpt aloud
To unlock the questions, read this passage out loud. The mic keeps listening and your highlighted progress is saved if it disconnects. You need 80% of the words.
Nice reading! You hit the 80% target.
Close-reading questions
Smart-Reader generates comprehension prompts around the text. Students type or speak their answer, then get instant coaching feedback — not a grade.
Close reading
Close reading
Close reading
Vocabulary in context
Every reading pulls key words with definitions and example sentences. Students explain each word in their own voice — literally, using the mic — to prove they understand it.
Vocabulary
Definition
extremely sharp or intense
In this passage
The narrator claims his sense of hearing became acute after the disease.
Vocabulary
Definition
listen closely; pay attention
In this passage
He commands the reader to hearken, as if giving courtroom testimony.
Vocabulary
Definition
concealing one's true feelings or intentions
In this passage
He brags about the dissimulation he used to hide his plan from the old man.
Vocabulary
Definition
a large scavenging bird, used here as a menacing image
In this passage
Comparing the eye to a vulture's makes it feel predatory and inhuman.
Essay outline
Once questions and vocab are done, Smart-Reader builds a copy-ready five-paragraph outline using the student's own answers and evidence from the text.
Sample essay outline
Thesis
Hook
Introduction
Body 1
Topic: The narrator's insistence on his own sanity is the strongest evidence that he isn't.
- "The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them."
- "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me."
Analysis: The narrator's tone stays calm precisely where a sane person's would not, exposing the gap between what he says and what he shows.
Transition: This dissonance sets up the next move…
Body 2
Topic: Displacing his fear onto the 'vulture eye' lets him justify violence without motive.
- "The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them."
- "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me."
Analysis: The narrator's tone stays calm precisely where a sane person's would not, exposing the gap between what he says and what he shows.
Transition: This dissonance sets up the next move…
Body 3
Topic: The calm, deliberate tone makes the story more terrifying than a raving confession would be.
- "The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them."
- "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me."
Analysis: The narrator's tone stays calm precisely where a sane person's would not, exposing the gap between what he says and what he shows.
Transition: This dissonance sets up the next move…
Conclusion
Ready to create your own readings?
This free sample is the only no-signup experience. To upload your own text, save work, assign readings, or open the full reading workspace, start your 14-day trial. After the trial ends, access continues only with a paid subscription.