What I noticed about my word learning inclinations?
Overall, I noticed that I was way more attentive to words. Conscious of words that impeded my understanding during any literacy practice (working out, watching my favorite hit series, etc). In the past, I would just ignore or neglect unfamiliar words that I encountered in literacy experiences. This course, as well as the blog fueled my desire to understand unknown words. Initially, my vocabulary blog represented just a grade. But as the semester progressed, it became more than that. My outlook about learning words changed.
I don’t believe it was my effort or lack of that lead me to neglect words in the past. I truly believe that I misunderstood the process of word learning. Traditionally, you are taught that if you don’t know a word then look it up in the dictionary. Even with the internet and various digital tools that can provide immediate feedback, I would find myself resorting to just online dictionary sites. With the power of newer technology, we can have instant access to almost anything (in terms of knowledge). My previous train of thought was; I should be able to acquire the meaning instantly. Word learning, or any learning, is not something that you go from all to nothing in. To gain “full, deep contextualized understanding of a word” you have to have multiple and varied exposures to that word (Handbook of Reading Research). The vocabulary blog did just that.
Blog entries could include pictures. I found this process very helpful. The insight I gained through browsing through image galleries of a vocabulary word was quite powerful. With words like “spooling,” I found multiple representations of this word in various contexts (army vehicles, sewing machines, and printer components). This allowed me to see how words vary across disciplines and can have multiple meanings.
What I learned through this process is that it is completely okay to not know a word. There are so many words out there. It is impossible to know everything about the world around you.
Are there certain types of words that interest you?
Based on my vocabulary blog, I noticed that most words that interested me revolved around the literacy practices that I frequently engage in (cross-fit, literacy graduate class, health fears or OCD’s, and even television shows). Reflecting upon my list, the words cannot be categorized into different parts of speech (verb, adjective, and noun). When I explored the meaning of a word, I did not seek to solely understand it in the context that it appeared. My mission was to decode what that word meant in context and to reveal how it might be used in other contexts. But overall, the words that interest me are ones that allow me to have the greatest access to the things that I love most (cross fit, hit TV shows, and even graduate school).
What did you notice about your routine literacy practices?
I noticed that my routine literacy practices include interests like Crossfit, HBO series viewer, and even Graduate school. Looking through my word list repitoire, I’m finding that I need to read for pleasure more. If there were just a few more hours in the day, I might find myself reading more literature on superfoods and new homeopathic medicines. Rather than reading about terminal diseases that I’m convinced I have, I want to read more about disease prevention.
In what ways did you benefit as a word learner from keeping a vocabulary blog this semester?
Like I mentioned previously, I believe that this process changed my understanding of learning words. It made me realize that it is okay to not know a word. Admitting to yourself, “okay, I have no idea what that word means” will benefit you.
I think people feel embarrassed to admit they do not know something. Education today is so focused on getting the correct answer with all of the high stakes testing that exists. No one wants to be wrong or show misunderstanding. I think our society shuns upon a person who exhibits a lack of knowledge and will coin him/her as a moron. In the past, I would pretend to understand a word or phrase in a large social group because I didn’t want to be ostracized as an “idiot.” But now I really have learned it does not matter what people think of you. The only way you are going to learn, is to admit that you do not know something. Even with my vocabulary blog, my co-worker told me to not publicly admit that I didn’t know what “fracking” meant. He said “Oh my god, you seriously don’t know what that means. You can’t admit it in a blog. You will appear as an intellectual idiot. Fracking has been in the news so frequently this past year.” Despite his negativity (which I didn’t take offense to), I wanted to explore the understanding of the word “fracking.” When I admitted that I didn’t know the meaning of fracking, many people were willing to contribute their understanding of the word to me. That provided for some really good testimonials that I included in that blog entry.
In what ways did this aid your abilities to read-to-learn? Writing-to-learn?
Through this process, I realized to be more metacognitive, which means aware of my thinking and learning during reading. When I encountered unknown words through reading activities, I would instantly highlight them and cognitively prioritize them in like a “mental to-do list.” I would make it a priority to figure out what that word meant and how it related to the context to which I was reading. After discovering some degree of meaning for that word, I would refer back to the context to which I found it. This would often provide me with more insight on the topic to which I was reading, particularly for words like “cosmopolitanism.”
How were you impacted by vocabulary tests? Has your attitude about Vocabulary tests changed?
I definitely loved the framework that we used for vocabulary tests. Particularly the fact that we were held responsible for our blogs and making sure that we provided accurate information for our peers as it was the “study-guide” for each word. I even enjoyed perusing through my classmate’s blogs to see how they constructed their blogs. The tests did not for a menial definition of a word. They required us to use a word in a sentence which requires a person to think more critically about a word.
Like I mentioned earlier, I think many educators place too much emphasis on getting the correct answer or even just correctly identifying vocabulary words. Word knowledge is much more complex than that. Being able to use a word illustrates a higher degree of word understanding than just matching the word to it’s definition.
How will I continue to learn words?
Now that the semester is over, I am going to admit to myself that I don’t understand the meaning of an unfamiliar word. Rather than just ignoring the word and hoping I will encounter it somewhere else where it will make sense to me, I will be an active word learner. Take the initiative to understanding words that impede my understandings. Furthermore, I will also use various resources to acquire a deeper, contextualized meaning of a word. In the end, it will benefit me to have more access to the things that I love most…
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Oh my goodness--those GORGEOUS children (and there is no question where they get it)! Layla is such a big girl now! Anyway, I really like what you say here about the fact that it wasn't that you were lazy about vocab learning but that you didn't understand the process. I think there's a good possibility that k-12 students misunderstand the process too, especially when vocab learning is typically not a very pleasant or engaging process in school.
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