3.1 Transportability

When and Where did I find the word:  In our course text (Fisher & Frey, 2008) Chapter 1, pages 26/28.

What it means:  This word is a specialized word which refers to a particular benefit from knowing the word.  If I say a word has transportability, it means that the word is used in a variety of ways and knowing what the word can mean would be helpful in advancing one's knowledge of the subject.  Fisher and Frey (2008) imply that the word transportability is used to identify a feature of words that would indicate to the teacher whether or not the word should be selected for direct and/or sustained instruction.   The authors say, "words that are transportable; words that may be used in other content areas as well" (p. 28).  

Level of Familiarity: The word itself was not new to me, but this particular specialized meaning of the word was new to me.  If an employee at Staples had said to me, "these boxes are useful because of their transportability from plane to car"  I would understand that she meant that these boxes will fulfill their purposes (keeping shipped items protected/safe) as they were moved from one place to the next, possibly using different motorized vehicles.   However, I had never heard this same descriptor used to qualify the particular quality of a word's usefulness or meaning. 

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why? I do want to know this word well because I think it helps me to use a more defined criteria for selecting the words/concepts I want my own students to learn.  At the same time, I feel responsible to teach my students what this word means.  I think if this concept was introduced in LTED 600, it might even help students better understand the HRR chapters they read on Word Knowledge and Vocabulary Instruction.

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...If So, WHO and WHY?:  I think literacy specialists should know this word -- and every content teacher should know this word -- because it will help them to have a more precise answer to the question "why do I want students to learn this word."