What and where did I find it: I came across this word in our course text, Handbook of Reading Research, in Chapter 19. The authors "weigh the impact of living in a society where information is an ever-present, essential commodity..." (Kamil, Mosenthal, & Barr, 2000, p. 286).
Full Citation: Kamil, M.L., Mosenthal, P.B., & Barr, R. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of reading research: volume III. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
What does it mean. Dictionary.com define the word as "something of use, advantage, or value."
Level of familiarity. I know this word well, but I generally associate it with the New York Stock Exchange, or the financial page of the newspaper. As I said, I do not generally associate this word with information as a commodity, which of course it is.
Do I want to know this word well and why? Yes, I do want to know this word well since I think the word serves as an important reminder that I want to convey and impart useful information that is advantageous to students.
Do I think others should know this word well and why? I think everyone should know this word well because there are all kinds of commodities and information should be considered a valuable commodity. We think of "knowledge as power" because, knowledge/information, is essential. Students often ask, "Why is this valuable and why do we have to learn this?" I think when they ask these kinds of questions, they are not seeing text-based learning as an important, essential commodity. Chapter 19 sheds additional insight about students having principled understanding and that educators should be aiming for rooted relevance. Both of these concepts support text-based learning as a valuable commodity.
Hi Janet, this is a great sentence (and a great vocabulary word). I have this same sentence highlighted in my chapter. Even though we often think of "commodity" as being a "Tier 1: General Vocabulary" word (Fisher & Frey, pp. 11-14), there does seem to be something "specialized" regarding the use of this term in the context of reading comprehension, yes?
ReplyDeleteRegarding presentation: Make sure you follow APA conventions (include page number references as a part of your quote) and when you are citing a chapter from an edited work, include the authors and title of the chapter in the full citation. For an example, see my entries for 5.1 and 5.2.
By the way, I also love your rationale for WHY OTHERS should know this word well. Your use of the terms "principled understanding" and "rooted relevance" are two of my favorite descriptors when explaining my student learning outcomes. I have a hard time (ethically as well as enthusiastically) trying to design lessons for students which do NOT have these are the primary goals. :-)
ReplyDelete