10.3 Polysyllabic 

Where and when did I find it: I came across this word in the reading by Hennings (2000) for this week’s Reciprocal Teaching Lesson that Carrie and Meghan will be leading. 

Full citation: Hennings, D.H. (2000). Contextually relevant word study: Adolescent vocabulary development across the curriculum. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(3), 268-279. 

What it means: A word that usually has more than three or many syllables.  Poly is of Greek origin, polus ‘much,’ polloi ‘many’ and syllable meaning a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound with or without surrounding consonants, forming a whole or part of a word (i.e. polysyllabic has many syllables). 

Level of familiarity: I am familiar with this word, although I have a better grasp now about the importance of students' exposure to learning the clusters of words and their origins. I have provided affix instruction in the past, and do know that students at the middle and high school grades need more exposure and opportunities to word study. 

Do I want to know this word well and why? Yes, I want to know this word well, so that I can continue to become literate personally, and as an educator. Teaching students word study gives them an edge. Having an edge is not only important because it enables you to compete in an academic and professional setting, but also because it’s empowering and satisfying to become more knowledgeable.  I was also pleased to see that Hennings (2000) discussion about using a dictionary is not a four-letter word. Given the right kind of instruction, students can have discovering the etymology of words. 

Should others know this word well, and if so, who and why? I believe this is a word all content area teachers should know, since purposeful, repeated exposures to vocabulary makes all the difference in students building their own repertoire of words. In addition, it is no secret that as students progress through their secondary and post-secondary academic settings, vocabulary knowledge aids in comprehension. The research supporting vocabulary development is miles wide.