Throughout the semester I was excited to keep a vocabulary journal. I have always felt that I could improve on my vocabulary, and this assignment gave me the chance to do so. While reading, listening or watching T.V I noticed new words more often. It became very interesting to me how often I would be watching a television show and hear an interesting word that I wanted to use in my vocabulary journal. Many words I used came from my LTED 609 class that I was also taking this semester. Being able to transfer words from one class to the other was useful when writing papers or having conversations. Knowing in detail the definitions of words related to my profession was very helpful. My classmates would include many interesting words in their vocabulary journal that also described important words in my profession. By doing so I feel that I have not only added to my personal vocabulary of every day words, but also to my professional vocabulary word bank.
The vocabulary journal assisted me in being more aware of new words around me. I was constantly looking for new words to add to my vocabulary journal. I feel that I became a more efficient reader because I was always looking for important vocabulary words while I read. Reading educational journals became easier as i became more familiar with words that I either did not know at all or did not know exactly what the definition was. Once I had found new words, it was not difficult to keep track of them by writing them in my blog. The blog not only helped with learning new vocabulary, but it also helped with staying organized and with time management. Having to do 2-3 words a week kept me on top of my vocabulary journal.(until I fell a few words behind at the end of the semester!)
At first I thought that taking a vocabulary test would ruin the fun of the vocabulary journal. As we continued to fill in our vocabulary journals I realized how many words there was to learn. By nominating words and completing a vocabulary test I was able to focus on a few words and learn their definitions well. Usually the words for the test were interesting words, or words to do with the education profession. Learning ten words completely made more sense than trying to memorize 50 words a week. Taking a vocabulary test was beneficial to learning definitions more clearly and using the words in context.
Although I will not be adding weekly to my vocabulary journal, I will still be aware of new and interesting words. By creating this vocabulary journal semester I am more aware of words and more interested to learn their meanings. This journal as taught me to appreciate vocabulary throughout my every day life. Even as a coach I try to expose my athletes to new words every day. I use the phase "vocab. word of the day" when I am using a word I am sure they are unfamiliar with. Before doing this vocabulary journal I had always felt that as a teacher it is my job to expose my students to new, interesting, and sometimes difficult words but now I see how even more important it is.
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