8.1- Multimodality

Vocabulary Word:  Multimodality

Where I Found It:  I found this word in class when receiving Mo and Elyse's article for the Reciprocal Teaching lesson. This word is found throughout the article and in the title.

Siegel, M. (2012). New times for multimodality? confronting the accountability culture. journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 55(8), 671-680.

Definition:  The author defines multimodality as "the social picture of making meaning by combining multiple semiotic resources." My understanding of this definition is recognizing/making meaning from multiple mediums or ways of presenting/experiencing content

Familiarity: I certainly was not completely familiar with this word, but I did have an idea of what it meant. I thought it would have something to do with differentiated instruction and how using various teaching methods and assessments that focus on different senses (visual, audio, etc.) and student learning styles can produce better results.

Reflective Commentary: My undergrad work at SUNY Brockport gave me opportunities to work in many special education classrooms and lectures and I often learned about and experienced what differentiated instruction is. This idea of multimodality is essentially what differentiated instruction is. This is very difficult to put into practice, as there are many facets to consider when planning a lesson with multimodality in mind. However, I think that a team approach is the best bet for this practice to turn into something fruitful. The team should consist of the teacher, student, social workers or psychologists, parents, administration and any other individual that can provide information about the character of the students. By understanding WHO our students are, we can understand how they best learn. With saying this, I believe that the word multimodality is a term we should all understand and embrace.

7.2- Plutocrat

Vocabulary Word: Plutocrat

Where I Found It: In an article from the Rochester D&C, page 8A in the Tuesday 10/23/2012 edition of the paper. The article served as a re-cap of the last Presidential Debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. The article stated that Romney "was seen as a plutocrat in the prior debates."

Definition: Dictionary.com defines the word as "a member of a plutocracy." Thanks, dictionary.com
You can find the definition here. After reading this definition, I looked up what a plutocracy is- a government where the wealthy rule.

Familiarity: When I read this, I had no idea that a plutocrat was. Unfortunately, there weren't any context clues to help me understand the word better.

Reflective Commentary: I was intrigued by this word when I first read this as I had never encountered it before. After deciphering the meaning, I thought about how many people I know or work with that could be described as a plutocrat, but I failed to think of anyone. I think that this word is important to know because many of us, being grad school students and working in local schools, are not plutocrats. I think even more importantly, we live in a democracy, so there is no way any of us could be described as a plutocrat, even if some of us may be wealthy. It may be hard to accept that we are not as wealthy as we would like, but important that we stay grounded and know where we come from.

7.1- Penchant

Vocab Word: Penchant

Where I found it: While reading an article in the NY Daily News- "A North Carolina mom with a penchant for tattoos is finding out the hard way after tattooing her 11-year old daughter because she asked for it, say police."

Definition: Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the word as "a strong and continued inclination."

Familiarity: I had no prior knowledge of this word. Based on the context, my guestimation was pretty close to the actual definition.

Reflective Commentary: I think about this word and how it can be applied to the classroom. I firmly believe that each student, teacher, staff member, faculty, and even support members have some sort of penchant. MY understanding of the word is a strong liking or curiousity in something. I think that every teacher should make an effort to find their student's penchant, or liking. I think that it is important we know our students on a personal level, so that we can connect with them. What better way to connect with a student than to know something that really interests the student or something that they really like? This was we can at least spark up a conversation with them and try to connect. Cahnces are the student is more likely to open up with the teacher if the teacher understands, respects, and even likes the same things the student likes. If we, as teachers, just try a little harder, we may get amazing results when we least expect it.

6.2

Vocab Word: Lollapalooza

Where I Found it: When i was looking up definitions on Dictionary.com, there was a question asking the definition of this word.

Definition: "an extraordinary person, thing, or event"

Familiairty: I am very aware of the concert event known as Lollapalooza, but never knew that it was an actual word. I was immediately interested in finding out what th word meant when i saw it.

Reflective Commentary: I know the concert and remember my dad going to one of them when i was younger. I am happy that i decided to find out what the actual word means because it real definiton of the word matches up well with the actual event. Concerts are usually extraordinary, like the time i won backstage passes and autographs from my favorite band, that was special. Additionally, a classroom is and extraordinary place because of the different personalities, skills, and abilities that each person brings to the room, so in essence, a classroom is a lollapalooza!

6.1

Vocab Word: Explication

Where I Found it: I found this in the "friendly-text" article by Dreher and Singer on page 100.

Definition: Dictionary.com broke the cardinal rule of defining a word while using the word: "the act of explicating" (very frustrating). But further down the page, it is defined as "analysis or interpretation" and "comprehensive exposition or description."

Familiarity: I had never heard this word prior to reading it in the text, although I am familiar with the root word- explicate.

Reflective Commentary: This term was used in the article to describe how "explicit" or direct the text of a textbook was in providing information about a topic. I think this word can be used as an example in a classroom of how to define a word based on it root word. I knew that the word had something to do with explaining or describing because i knew the root word, but to get the full definition based on the context, i had to look it up. Students should be taught how to recognize root words, prefixes, and suffixes, as well as use context clues to help define words in text that they are not familiar with.

5.2

Vocab Word: Audacious

When and Where I found it: I found this word again in a Twitter feed.

Definition: Dictionary.com defines the word as "extremely bold or daring".

Familiarity: I was unfamiliar with this word, although I remember hearing or reading this word before.

Reflective Commentary: I think that this word is applicable to current classroom idealogies. The word's definition can be applied to the classroom because I think that both teachers and students need to be audacious, or brave/daring. Allow me to explain. Teachers need to try new things and find new paths of getting to their end goal, like an audacious explorer. There are many tried and true methods of teaching, but as we know, these ways are not always the most effective. Teachers need to be bold and daring and try new things in their classroom so that they meet the needs of all students of all levels. Now that the teacher is being more audacious, hopefully the students can learn to be bold and daring in what they are doing. Many times students are only comfortable with strategies or skills that they are familiar with, but these skills/strategies may not be working as well as another one could. In this sense, students need to follow their teacher's lead and be more daring and bold in the work that they take on, whether it be the way they get the work done, or the content itself.

5.1

Vocab Word: Evicerated

When and Where I found this: I actually found this word from a Twitter feed from a sportscaster. "Michael Morse just evicerated a ball."

Definition: Dicitonary.com defines the word as to remove the entrails from/ to deprive of vital parts. Based on the context of the tweet, the guy making the comment used the word to describe a very long home run hit by a MLB player.

Familiarity: I had never heard this word prior to reading the tweet.

Reflective Commentary: I am sure that the majority of education professionals, unless they are a science teacher/major, will not be using this word in an everyday context. I think it is important to have a wide range of vocabulary words that can be used when speaking and writing. Especially when technical or higher level vocab words like this one can be used. When speaking, reading, and writing we need to be aware of these higher level words as they can be used to be more direct and specific in your language use. In this regard, people may take you more seriously or will have an easier time taking your ideas with more respect as you are able to use higher level language.