11.1 Catawampus or Cattywampus

When and Where Did I Find It:   I was reading my daily email from A.Word.A.Day and this was the word featured on Tuesday 11.08.11.
Full citation A.Word.A.Day. (online).  catawampus. http://wordsmith.org/words/catawampus.html (11.11.11).

What it means: According to the website, it is an adjective which is used to describe something as  1. Askew; crooked.   2. Diagonally positioned: catercornered.
Also interesting to note is the etymology of the word:

From cater (diagonally), from French word quatre (four). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwetwer- (four), which also gave us four, square, cadre, quadrant, quarantine (literally, period of forty days). Earliest documented use: 1840. The word is also spelled as cattywampus.

Level of Familiarity: I knew what this word meant, but I admit, I had completely forgotten the word even existed until I saw it.  

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   I think this is a really fun word.   I like to say it (I like the way it sounds).  Also, even though it is a word that was created to help in literally describing a particular geometric shape/angle, I think it is a really useful word to use to describe one's emotional or physiological shape.   If someone said to you, "I'm feeling cattywampus today,"  you would know to be very careful with how you interacted with this person. 

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?   
To be fair, I suppose I cannot expect others to find this word as interesting and memorable as I do.  However, I do think knowing this word would help those who are interested in art, interior design, mathematics, geometry, and writing figuratively.  

3.2 Word/Words

When and Where Did I Find It:   Although most people would think they know what the word, "words" means but I have no doubt it is a tacit understanding.   I found this word when revisiting an old version of the McKenna and Robinson text, Teaching Through Text (2002).  The authors state, "Words are symbols for concepts...a schema is all the information and experiences that an individual has learned in association with a given concept. ...The written symbol itself does not 'carry' meaning; rather, the reader bringsmeaning to the symbol (Smith, 1988)"  (as cited in McKenna & Robinson, 2002, p. 99).
Full citation McKenna, M. C. & Robinson, R.D. (2002).  Teaching through text:  Reading and writing in the content areas (3rd ed.).  Boston, MA:  Allyn and Bacon.  

What it means: The term is defined in the sentence above.  "Words are symbols for concepts; words themselves do not carry meaning, rather the reader brings the meaning to the symbol" (McKenna & Robinson).  To further detail this discussion the authors state:   


"Words therefore come to have many associations for us.  Those associations concerned with the word's general meaning and which are likely to be shared by most users of the word are said to be denotative. The word's dictionary definition is sometimes called its denotation.  Associations that are not directly connected to a word's denotative meaning are described as connotative.  Such associations vary with individuals because their experiences vary.  To some, the word golf might connote doctors, presidents, and country clubs.  To thers it might connote frustration, fatigue, and wasted hours...Both denotations and connotations are very much a part of a student's schema for a given word."  (McKenna & Robinson, p. 99).

Level of Familiarity: I am familiar with this concept, but I think it always good to be reminded of the symbolic nature of words.  

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?   Ha! I love that the word, "word" is in this prompt.  Yes, I want my schemata for this concept to be well developed.  I think understanding the symbolic nature of words is key to becoming a strategic teacher of vocabulary.  

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...if so WHO and WHY?:   I certainly think my LTED 625 students (as well as all teachers) should have a deep and principled understanding of what words are -- as well as how best to learn them. 

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."