Conceptual Load: 8-2

Conceptual Load: 8-2

Sunday, October 28th, 2012

When & Where: While re-reading my article ('Why are There So Many Words in Math?") for reciprocal teaching, I came across this idea "conceptual load."

What it means: There are many definitions of what a conceptual load means. However, based on my own sythesis of readings from my literacy program, I believe that conceptual load refers to th amount of concepts that are in a text, and or content area. Now that I have defined the basic meaning, I think that begs the question: what is meant by concept then?

According to wikipedia.com, a concept is "a general idea, or something conceived in the mind." More specifically, "an idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct" (dictionary.com).

Level of Familiarity: My level of familiarty with the word concept is very high. I have used the word, concept, so many times when planning lessons or even in my graduate studies. Much like the word "knowledge," or "experience" it's a word that you know what it means but when you begin to unpack it you ask yourself "Do I really know what it means?"

Reflective Commentary: It's a tricky word because it represents an abstract idea. A construct of something that you have envisioned in your mind. But for education, concepts are constructed by the authority or the state. Your definition of the concept, school, looks very different from everyone else's. Knowledge is constructed through your own personal experiences within and outside of the school environment.

As a teacher, it is critical that you seek to teach material that is not isolated to only one subject area. You should try and find overall concepts that can be linked to other subject areas. This helps to make learning more meaningful for students.

Nocebo Effect- 8:1

Nocebo Effect 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

When & Where: So I came across this word when I was watching a show on National Geographic about strange diseases and disorders. In the episode, two women claimed to have negative physical ailments from technology (specifically wifi). The women both noticed that they were experiencing the same pain like symptoms. To combat this disorder, the women moved to a cave in Switzerland where there was no presence of wifi. Since living in the cave (for 6 months), there symptoms had vanished. The medical experts that commented on the women’s adverse reaction to technology claimed that these women were experiencing “nocebo effect.”

What it means: According to Wikipedia.com, nocebo effect is a “reaction or response refers to harmful, unpleasant, or undesirable effects a subject manifests after receiving an inert dummy drug or placebo.” So basically, these women convinced themselves that “technology” was going to produce negative physical consequences.

Level of Familiarity: I am glad that I finally discovered the idea “nocebo effect” because for the longest time I was referring to this process as placebo effect which is the opposite. Placebo effect is when a person takes a drug/ or substance and convinces herself that the drug will produce desirable effects. This is represented with birth control pills with the sugar pills.

Reflective Commentary:  Like I mentioned in my last blog, I feel that these words or ideas say a lot about who we are as a literate person. My selection of medical words illustrates that I am highly interested in medical terms. Although my primary care doctor suggests that I stay away from these websites that help to self-diagnose, I can’t. It’s like my innate response to stress to immediately look-up the symptoms and self-diagnose. I think this also says a lot about our culture. We have a hard time waiting for results. We want feedback/ results immediately. With technological tools that can deliver information in seconds, we expect everything to be that fast.

Corneal Abrasion 7:2

Corneal Abrasion 7:2

Saturday, October 27, 2012

When & Where: So I came across this word when my Ophthalmologist used this to diagnose my sudden eye condition that is affecting my vision.  She first mentioned it during my frantic exchange phone call  during after hours. Shortly after speaking on the phone, I looked the condition up on my iPhone.

What it means: Thank GOD, it’s treatable and goes away! But apparently, a corneal abrasion is like a scratch to your cornea. Although, I’ve heard of scratching your cornea, I haven’t heard it referred to as a corneal abrasion. According to geteyesmart.org, a corneal abrasion is a “scratch or scrape on the cornea, the clear round dome covering the eye's iris and pupil.”

Level of Familiarity: Like I mentioned previously, I have heard of just simply scratching your cornea, I have not heard of a corneal abrasion. When the Ophthalmologist called it a “corneal abrasion,” my condition sounded so severe! My level of concern was raised and I was immediately prompted to say “Am I going blind?” Luckily, this is a very minor condition that clears itself up in about 2-3 days. Phew!

Reflective Commentary: I truly feel that these blogs really display our literacy identities. For each student, they show the types of texts that we encounter or are interested. Although I strive to stay away from online medical texts, my hyper compulsive personality often affects my reading material. When I become really stressed, I tend to spend more time looking up diseases or disorders online and begin self-diagnosing myself and my family. Hopefully, this phase will subside as it often interferes with my productivity.

Malarkey- 7:1

Malarkey- 7:1

Saturday, October 13, 2012

When & Where: I came across this word, ubiquitous, while watching the vice presidential debate this week. Vice President Joe Biden, used the word many times when sparring with his opponent Paul Ryan. VP Joe Biden first used it to dismiss Paul Ryan’s explanations on foreign policy as a “bunch of malarkey” (USAtoday.com).  

Definition: As defined by Merriam Webster.com, Malarkey is considered to be insincere or foolish talk.  

Level of Familiarity: : Although I had not had exposure to this word before, I was able to gather from the Vice President’s tone what this word means. I basically gathered that he was insinuating that Paul Ryan was presenting “just a crock of bologna.”

Reflective Commentary: Now that I have looked up the exact definition of this word, I will definitely use it. It’s definition is very basic and I have no doubt that I will be able to use this word correctly. What I found most interesting about this word, in comparison to others in my journal, is that I was able to make meaning much quicker when I heard it used correctly in context. Additionally, the way Vice President Joe Biden used it helped to reinforce its word meaning. I may have not understood the complexity of the foreign policies issues but I least I gathered that Joe Biden thought Paul Ryan was blowing smoke up his ass…

Lacrymosa- 6:2

Lacrymosa- 6:2

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

When & Where: Through my feverish search to find varying digital texts for the CALTO project, I encountered a song titled “Lacrymosa.”

Level of Familiarity: This was not my first encounter with this word/ song. I actually sang this song as a choral piece in my High School Choir. However, I never knew the history behind this moving musical composition. The tone of the song is absolutely beautiful and begins with a very dark, melodramatic arrangement. At the end of the song, there is a sense of triumphant overcoming.

Definition:  According to Wikipedia.com, Lacrymosa is Latin for “weeping.”  It originally was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna, in 1971. Apparently (according to Wikipedia) the composition was left unfinished at the time of Mozart’s death, and Franz Xaver Süssmayr completed the piece later. This probably explains the shifting tone from minor and very dreary sounding to triumphant sounding.

Reflective Commentary:

Although there is a very detailed history to this song and it’s creation, my interest is related to the song’s use. 

According to many historical accounts (jewishvirtuallibrary.com), the International Red Cross was allowed to visit the concentration camp of Terezin once. Their conclusion from that visit was that the “Jews were being treated all right.” This was a camp were “notable musicians, writers, artists, and leaders were put for “safer keeping.” The conditions were still very poor. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, “Of the vast majority of Czech Jews who were taken to Terezin (or Theresienstadt), 97,297 died among whom were 15,000 children.”

There is a connection between the song Lacyrmosa and Jewish Concentration camp, Terezin. When the International Red Cross made their dutiful visit to Terezin, a children’s choir sang Lacrymosa upon their arrival. The use of this song selection is very ironic in that the meaning indicates “weeping.” In a way, this song choice was a inconspicuous cry for help. It unfortunately went unnoticed.

Spooling- 5:3

October 6th, 2012

When & Where:

So I came across this word when I was trying to set-up my classroom printer about a month ago. At that time, I just ignored the word because I was busy setting up everything for the new school year. But the problem was, my classroom printer just kept “spooling” and it would not properly re-start…

After I called technology support, I realized I am totally printer illiterate! Apparently, I forgot to remove the slip off the ink cartridge when I attempted to replace the ink.  

Definition: According to http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/spooling.html the definition of the word spooling "refers to putting jobs in a buffer, a special area in memory or on a disk where a device can access them when it is ready."the definition of the word spooling

My Level of Familiarity: . Initially when I saw the word, I thought the word sounded kind of dirty (lol). Then I realized I have heard that word used before in another context. I believe the word "spooling" was in one of my history textbooks. I just could not remember what it meant. As I searched for images to represent this word, I found thousands of images. There were various representations of this word and many of which applied to different disciplines. For example, I found pictures of "printer spooling" and military personnel spooling trackways for soilders to walk across.

 

Reflective Commentary: Then as I went through pictures, I realized how "easy" this word really is. Spooling can also refer to a basic thread and the spool used to hold it. What is most fascinating about this revelation is how this basic concept of "spooling" has been carried over to so many things; for instance systems that hold rope, thread, ribbon jumper hoses, fishing reels, and even wires.

 

Indemnify- 6:1

October 7th, 2012

Indemnify- 6:1

When & where: This past week I was reviewing a legal document and I discovered this word, indemnify.

Definition: According to  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indemnify the word indemnify can either mean “to secure against hurt, loss or damage” or to make “compensate to for incurred hurt, lost or damaged.”

Level of Familiarity: Because meaning was not interrupted by the word “indemnify” in the sentence I was reading from, I didn’t feel like I had to know the exact definition of the word.

Reflective Commentary: What I am finding most fascinating about this process of blogging my vocabulary words in my search for images. Through this navigation, I found many images pertaining to each word. Indemnify was no exception to that. I found lots of pictures of ways people would be compensated (pictures of cash, car insurance policies, repairs on vehicles, etc.)  if they were perhaps “indemnified.” I also found cartoon images represented court cases disputing whether or not employees were properly indemnified (an injured person’s right to claim reimbursement from his/her company).  But I picture I selected represents a movie titled “Double Indemnity.” I chose this picture because I was interested to see how this movie symbolically protrayed this meaning of indemnity. When I searched various websites, I found the reason behind the movie title on wikipedia.org. Apparently, there are some life insurances policies that offer double the insurance payout to the widow if the cause of death is accidental. The premise of the movie is based on this promiscuous house-wife attempting to have her husband murdered. I felt like using this digital narrative text, I was able to support my learning.

Google Chrome: 5-2

October 6th, 2012

Google Chrome

When & Where: So last month I created an iMovie of my students and I wanted to upload the video to youtube.com so we could make the video public. After several attempts to successfully download my content, I kept getting messages that my “upload failed.” After hours of trying to troubleshoot myself, I decided to look at the “Having Trouble Uploading a Video” FAQ Sheet. One of the recommendations on this sheet was to use a quicker web-browser. The first choice under that suggestion was “Google Chrome.”  

Defintion: Google Chrome is a new “fast, free web browser that is built for the modern web” (https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome).

 

Level of Familiarty: In terms of using google, I am very familair with the search engine and it is always my number 1 choice when it comes to searching for content. Google Chrome however was completely new to me. I have used other web browsers that have claimed to be faster such as mozilla firefox but never Google Chrome.

Reflective Commentary: Now that I know that Google Chrome is, I have already downloaded the app for my iPad to speed up my video uploads. I have not yet explored the browser to see if it offers other unique features.

PR- Personal Record:5-1

October 4th, 2012

“PR”- Personal Record- 5:1

When & Where: Since I've joined my cross-fit (an exercise program that combines various forms of fitness) gym back in May, I have been exposed to so many words that are completely foreign to me!

Level of Familiarity: The acronym “PR” I first saw on the daily whiteboard next to people’s names. The first time I saw it, I just ignored it because I was so overwhelmed with doing the work-out correctly. But then overtime, I began to hear people say when they were lifting “I PR’d.” After a few exposures to the acronym, I realized people were referring to beating their previous weight for lifting and setting a new personal record!
 

Defintion: The definition really speaks for itself. When a person sets a “PR” that means that they have exceeded their previous weight with a lift and he/she set a personal record.

Reflective Commentary: Now that I am familair with the acronym "PR," I have already used it appropriately this week. I achieved my first "PR's" with schoulder press and a clean lift (types of weight lifts regularly appearing in cross-fit workouts).

 

Ecumenical- 4:2

Ecumenical- 4:2

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Where & When: The word, ecumenical, appeared to me when I was reading my favorite text The Handbook of Reading of Research (2000). In context it appeared as "Whether we have come very far in our efforts to offer a more balanced ecumenical view of academic contents remains to be seen" (Alexander & Jetton, 2000, p. 288).

Defintion: According to dictionary.com , ecumenical (ek-you-men-i-kuhl) is an adjective and it means to be general and or universal. The defintion also provides about 4 other meanings that are mostly synnomous with the defintion mentioned above but they rest seem to tie in an element of christianity. For example, "promoting or fostering Christian unity."

Level of Familiarity: My level of familiarity with this word is very minimal. I honestly think this is my first encounter with the word. So if I had to place my "stage" of word learning according to Dale (1965) and I would say that I fall under "(1) Never saw it before" (Handbook, 2000, p. 270).

Often times, I am able to gain some level of understanding of a word by seeing it used in context. But usually, this occurs when I have had other exposures to that word. This idea is acknowledged by Nagy and Scott (2000) in their research relating to gaining a vague understanding of a word through "incidental word learning" (Nagy & Scott, 2000, p.270).

To be quite honest, even after I looked up the definition and read the word in context. I still felt a little puzzled to what the word ecumenical actually meant. At that point in my journey, I did not feel comfortable with using this word in a sentence. When I browsed through pictures, I found myself feeling more comfortable with this word and it's meaning.

Reflective Commentary: As I preparing this last blog post, I was thinking "Oh geez, I'm going to have to say this word aloud to my classmates tonight." Luckily, I was able to find the pronunciation on a dictionary.com smart phone app. What I found most interesting about my journey to obtaining full word knowledge was the process I took. I felt as if I was "code switching" between the internet, my Handbook (a printed text), and even my smart-phone app (Alexander & Jetton, 2000, p. 294) to gain full understanding of the word.  Although I was not switching disciplines, I was switching to and from various resources to help me define the word, ecumenical. As I navigated through these resources, I found myself using different cognitive processes to identify the information I needed. For example, when I used my handbook, I used the index to find the chapter on vocabulary processes. I didn't encounter any pictures/or visuals to help me within this text. The genre of this text is expository in nature in that it seeks to "inform readers by presenting information that explains principles and general behavioral patterns" (Alexander & Jetton, 2000, p.290). Then as means for gaining for word knowledge, I used the internet to find a concise defintion. While I probably could have used that very same website, dictionary.com, to pronounce the word, I switched to my phone because I knew I had an app that pronounced words for me.