When and Where I Found It: In class last week, we were told to look over the list of words created by middle school students featured in Ruddell & Shearer's article, "Extraordinary," "tremendous," "exhilarating," "magnificent"; Middle school at-risk students become avid word learners with the Vocabulary Self- Collection Strategy (VSS). As part of their word list, they identified "spelunking" as an unfamiliar word they would like to know.
Meaning: According to Webster's dictionary, spelunk means to "explore natural caves."
Level of Familiarity: I had never heard of this word before.
Do I Want to Know This Word Well? Why? Yes, I think this would be an interesting word to pull out in a classroom to intice students into discovering new words. It has an appeal for students who are interested in outdoor activities.
Do I Want Others to Know this Word Well? Who and Why? I feel those students who enjoy extreme sports such as rock climbing, rapelling, mountain bicking and skiing might be opened up to another sport (and all the new vocabulary that comes with it.)
AJ, your references are much improved here. However, be sure to include the publication year for both of these references.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in your explanation of what the word means, do you think it would be helpful to know that the word is used as a verb?