Chapter 9 Vocabulary

I think chapter nine brought up alot of really good points on vocabulary.  It covered many good mechanisms on how to better absorb different words.  The first suggestion is that of assigning word study instead of memorizing.  I know that when I was in high school many of my friends and I would just cram things before tests, instead of actually understanding and comprehending.  If we would have focused more then, we would not have to go back now to see what certain items mean.  Knowledge is never gained quickly, but if we do take our time to reflect on what is being processed, the information will stay with us much longer.  I also really liked that she brought up teaching students how to use context clues.  Teachers are always telling us to use them, but I don't recall anyone ever really teaching me how to utilize them.  If we teach students how to define words by using other words around it, we can greatly increase their ability to read.  They will be able to use their own inferences to make sense of the sentence, even if they do not know all the words in it.  I also really liked here section on read aloud and SSR.  I found it quite astonishing that she stated, "In fact, adults, when talking to other adults, will use about 17 rare words for every 1000 words"(197).  That is not even one percent.  It makes me wonder what kind of example we are setting for those who look up to us.  If we want all of our future generations to have an enriched vocabulary I think everyone needs to start reading more now.