12.2- Laudable

Vocab Word: Laudable

Where I found it: While reading Donald Shcon's Reflective Practitioner. "Surely this is a laudable exercise in self-criticism.

Shcon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner. USA: Basic Books, INC.

Definition:  Merriam Webster defines laudable as "worthy of praise/commendable."

Here is the link.

Familiarity: Unfortunately, the word laudable was one of many that i did not understand while reading this book.

Reflective Commentary: I do not think this word, laudable, is too important to know, nor is it connected to teaching in any specific way. It's still a nice alternative to use when speaking of praise.

12.1- Corroborate

Vocab Word: Corroborate

Where I found it: I found this word while reading a book by John Dewey. Additionally, during a conversation a couple weeks ago, someone I work with used the word corroborate in an incorrect way.

Dewey, J. (1909). How we think. New York City: D.C. Heath & Co.

Definition: I again used Merriam Webster's website to define the word: to support with evidence or authority : make more certain

Link to definition.

Familiarity: I heard this word before in a legal context. I was sure that my friend misused the word when they spoke it, but I couldn't think of the actual definition.

Reflective Commentary: Based on the definition, with the push of the CCSS and demand for students to support what they think with text-based evidence, we, as teachers, should certainly be aware of this word and it meaning.

11.2- Salience

Vocab Word: Salience

Where I found it: I found this word in the Damico & Baildon article on Relational Cosmopolitanism, page 233- "Explicit in much of this history is the salience of inquiry-based teaching and learning..."

Damico, J., & Baildon, M. (2011). Content literacy for the 21st century: excavation, elevation, and relational cosmopolitanism in the classroom. journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 55(3), 232-243.

Definition: Merriam Webster online dictionary defines salience as "a striking point or feature." Here is the link to definition.

Familiarity: I was not familiar with this word at all. Even in the context of the text, I was wrong. I thought that the word meant "clarity" or something along those lines.

Reflective Commentary: I do not think that this word is particularly important to know. Obviously having a wide-ranged word knowledge is important, but salience does not have any significance.

11.1- Caveats

Vocab Word- Caveats

Where I found it- Multimodality article from Siegels.
"Nothing may seem more ironic than suggesting that talk about multimodality could be linked to assessment, so I begin with some caveats and clarifications."

Siegel, M. (2012). New times for multimodality? confronting the accountability culture. journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 55(8), 671-680.
Definition- Merriam Webster defines caveats as:

1a: a warning enjoining one from certain acts or practices

b: an explanation to prevent misinterpretation

c: a modifying or cautionary detail to be considered when evaluating, interpreting, or doing something

Familiarity-  I was not familair with this word before looking it up.

Reflective Commentary- I find this word, caveats, interesting and i think that we, as educators, should know what it means. We give our students caveats while we teach everyday, especially when defining caveats as "an explanation to prevent misinterpretations." It's funny that we give kids caveats toi our students but do not actually refer to them as caveats.

10.2- Impervious

Wocab Word-  Impervious

Where I found it- I heard this word while playing a video game- Assassin's Creed III. One of the charatcers told another character that "the enemy's defense is not impervious to our offenses". This is a long and complex game, so unfortunately i would not be able to give you a specifc location of where this was said, other than towards the beginning of the story line in the game.

This was also a word in Siegel's Multimodality article, but I thought that it would be worth noting that I came across this interesting word twice in a week.

Definition- Merriam Webster defines impervious as:

1 a: not allowing entrance or passage : impenetrable <a coat impervious to rain>

  b: not capable of being damaged or harmed <a carpet impervious to rough treatment>

 

2: not capable of being affected or disturbed <impervious to criticism>

 

In the context of the story in my game, definition 1b would be most appropriate.

 

Click here for the link to Merriam Webster definition.

Familiarity- I have heard this word before in social studies/history classes and knew what the word meant. Given this video game takes place during the American Revolution, it bolstered my understanding.

Reflective Commentary- I just happen to like this word, impervious, but i do not see any reason why it should be a "must-know" word or if it has any real significance to teaching, but it certainly could be used in a educational context.

10.1- Verbocentrism (No definition!?!?)

Vocab Word-  Verbocentrism

Where I found it- From the article of endless vocabulary words-

Siegel, M. (2012). New times for multimodality? confronting the accountability culture. journal of adolescent & adult literacy, 55(8), 671-680.
Definition- Merriam Webster online dictionary does not have a definition for verbocentrism and neither does Dictionary.com.

Familiarity- Clearly, this word is very unfamiliar. I don't think I have ever come across a word that an online dictionary couldn't help me with. I am baffled by this word.

Reflective Commentary-  Due to the unsuccessful journey of finding the meaning of this word has brought me to a complete stop. I even Googled verbocentrism and found nothing, even in the "images" section. I really hope that someone can help me with finding or at least partially understanding what verbocentrism means.

9.2- Neoliberalism

Vocab Word- Neoliberalism

Where I found it- I found this word in Siegel's article on multimodality. We also discussed it in class.

Siegel, M. (2012). New times for multimodality? confronting the accountability culture. journal of
adolescent & adult literacy, 55(8), 671-680.
Definition- I used the online version of the Merriam Webster Dictionary instead of dictionary.com. it defines neoliberalism as "a liberal who de-emphasizes traditional liberal doctrines in order to seek progress by more pragmatic methods."

Click here for URL link to definition.

Familiarity-  I had never heard of this word prior to reading the article.

Reflective Commentary- I knew that the prefix "neo" meant "new" and that liberalism is a form of government policy, so my original guess as to what the word meant was "new liberalism". Obviously this is a very simple definition, but i wasn't able to put it into my own words as politics are not my cup of tea. I was able to better understand after Elyse explained it during the reciprocal teaching lesson, and reading this definition really helped me understand the word.

I don't think that this word should be a word we have to know unless you are interested in politics. However i used this word in the blog because it took me three different sources to finally get a full understanding of the word. Multimodality works!

9.1- Incumbent

Vocabulary Word: Incumbent

Where I found it: While listening to a sports talk radio show on ESPN radio (Sirius XM satellite radio). The Mike and Mike show, M-F 6am-10am, had on a special guest from NFL Films top talk some football. His sentence (edited)- "protecting the quarterback is incumbent on the offensive linemen..."

Definition: Dictionary.com defines the word as: "holding an indicated position, role, office, etc." AND "obligatory"
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/incumbent?s=t


Familiarity: I have heard this word before, but seldom use it or hear it used in context. When I heard this I knew, based on the context clues, that incumbent must mean "to rely upon, or is the responsibility of..." In this case I was right!! Score one for the home team!


Reflective Commentary: I think that this word is important for teachers to know. Or at least understand the concept of the word, as many times we are all incumbent for effectively teaching our students. We are responsible for their learning, but need to be aware that we need to also hold students accountable and responsible for their work as well, making the student achievement incumbent on both teachers and students alike.

8.2- Succinct

Vocabulary Word: Succinct

Where I Found It: I found this word while reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Fache's briefing of his agents and hour ago had been usually succinct and assured.

Brown, D. (2003). The da vinci code. new york: doubleday.

Definition: Dictionary.com defines the word as: expressed in few words; concise.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/succinct?s=t

Familiarity: I was not familiar with this word when I came across it. Even in the context of the book, I was not able to figure it out as the were not any context clues.

Reflection Commentary: I think that this word, succinct, is something that we should all be aware of. I'm not saying let's use it all the time, but especially as teachers, we have to make sure that our words are consise and explicit, but not too vague. Succinct means to be clear and use as little words as possible, but we know that this is not effective in the classroom. Yes, we want to be clear, but sometimes students, teacher, parents, and other individuals need to hear an explaination in different ways.