Keeping a vocabulary journal has been a wonderful learning tool that encouraged me to develop my own word consciousness this semester. The blog forced me to notice words that I might have previously only noticed briefly and then soon forgotten about. When looking through and reflecting on my blog, I realized that many of the words I selected were based upon what was going on in my own life. For example, several words that I choose to learn more about were related to physical fitness and exercising. I wanted to gain a better grasp on terms that I thought I should know since I am becoming a Certified Zumba Instructor on Sunday J. Several other words that I selected came from texts that I engaged in from this course and from the other course I am taking, LTED 626 Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Problems. I believe I chose these types of words because it connected to and could be utilized in my professional work. Most of the words I had some familiarity with, but I wanted to develop my understanding of these words by exploring them a bit further.
The vocabulary journal assisted me in becoming more aware of the new words around me. I was constantly looking for new words to add to my vocabulary journal. Once I found the words I wanted to include in my blog, I had to further investigate and reflect upon the importance of knowing and understanding these words. Being able to view my peers blogs also aided my word learning, as I was able to see the types of words they were using for their journals, and, as a result, learn new words simply by reading others’ vocabulary blogs.
The vocabulary blog encouraged me to be a more reflective. I found myself monitoring my reading and writing to make sure that I was comprehending the material I was encountering. Because I was constantly on the look out for new words, my abilities to read-to-learn drastically improved and I became a more strategic, independent word learner. As a writer, I developed a heightened awareness of using writing to learn strategies. Through the blog, was forced to use metacognition and think about what makes a good word and why the word I selected was most important.
Prior to this course, I absolutely hated the idea of vocabulary tests because they lacked authenticity with regard to student choice and motivation (e.g out of context, commercially produced word lists, etc). Thinking back to my high school days, I remember studying for these types of exams the night before the test. I’d commit the word to memory and then let all of the newly gained vocabulary drip out of my brain. I would soon forget everything I learned by the following week. After completing this course and keeping my own VSS blog, my attitude has definitely changed. Keeping a blog really provided me with an enriched learning environment. I found that through nominating words and completing the vocabulary test, I was able to focus on a few words and learn their definitions well. The vocabulary tests were beneficial to learning definitions more clearly and using the words in context.
Although I will not be adding weekly to my vocabulary blog, I will continue to utilize elements of this strategy to further develop my word learning. The VSS strategy really forced me into creating a habit of slowing down my reading and reflecting on interesting, unusual, words that I want to know better. I know that as I approach any text in the future, I will monitor my understanding of these words more effectively.
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