I chose to make this as my artifact because it shows that there is more to the picture than just what is in the frame. There is a quote in the bottom that describes how everyone pictures Ivan as a big, mean, scary, gorilla, but then I drew a picture of him with words around him of who he really is.

Hey Devan,
I replied back to one of your posts, but just wanted to make sure you saw it. So sorry it was so late. I didn’t see your post for some reason. I just couldn’t find it. I am so glad you are loving The Chocolate War. I will have to read that next. Josiah and I are reading The One and Only Ivan and are loving it. If you like books that make you see a different view point you will like it. Wonder is kind of similar in regards to different views. What is your favorite part in your book so far? Whose your favorite characters?

Hope to hear from you soon

-Marilyn

Hey Taylor,
How’s it going? Tell me a little bit about yourself! I know we are reading the book Wonder, and I was seeing how you liked it so far?

-Marilyn

In my eyes, I see many things challenging about teaching reading due to the fact that I struggle with reading a little as well. I love to read a good book, but my problem is the amount of time we have to read that book, and I feel like many elementary kids struggle with that as well. I believe there are ways around this though. I have been reading a book a week now to try to improve my reading speed, and I think this could help children as well because it is not a forced book, but one of their choosing. It also may be challenging due to many young kids see reading as a thing “they have to do,” and as a bad thing, and as Miller summarized that we need to find a new way to teach to kind of get this out of their head. As teachers we need to adjust to the modern day time, and start thinking like the modern day kid. Technology is alive, and here to stay, and rather judge it as taboo, maybe we can embrace it, and all the reading it produces and can help conform to the modern day child. Another struggle that seems to remain among elementary students is the books that are assigned by the teacher. I had one teacher who was amazing, and took a whole different approach, and had each student write down their likes, hobbies, interests, and what not, and made a list of books that each individual child may possibly enjoy reading. This helped me, as a struggled reader, a lot which made me see reading as a fun thing, not just something we dread. I am very excited to teach reading in the state that I can show them different ways to make reading fun, enjoyable, and not feel like a task. I will be able to strive at making these kids “wild readers.”