After reading both Patrick Sullivan’s “An Open Letter to High School Students about Reading” and Scott L. Newstock’s “How to Think Like Shakespeare” it became clear that both surface reading and deep reading have their own roles in the classroom. Sullivan tends to paint a negative picture of surface reading asserting that it only allows a student to memorize, recall, and be shallowly engaged with a topic. While these statements are true Sullivan seems to imply that surface reading is of no use to a student. However, I believe that through the combination of both readings the best way to positively impact a student’s reading and learning is through both types complemented by testing and other deep-thinking activities. Newstock argues that the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act “ushered in our disastrous fixation on testing”. Stating that relentless testing is to blame for student’s lack of imagination and interest in learning and reading. That Sullivan’s conclusions about student un-involvement in their learning is a fault of the system not of the students. Newstock’s argument is supported by Sullivan’s proposal that students read to finish their homework and prepare for memory recall exams, instead of reading for understanding and comprehension. In this way Newstock’s argument is given credence and exemplifies his claim that the type of content and how students are taught has been narrowed. Due to this both surface reading and deep reading are necessary in the classroom to balance each other. Surface reading is required for practicing memory recall and is important for simple and shallow concepts, testing should be used in a similar way; to develop those concepts and determine if the student has a basic understanding of it. Conversely deep reading in the classroom is imperative to understanding broader long-term concepts that require focus and depth of thinking. I feel that the combination of surface and deep reading could have helped during my academics in high school. In my personal experience I was never taught how to determine whether information was important or not. Thus, I take notes on small details and focus on minute facts and miss the larger picture. My experience is sort of similar to Newstock’s claim that a students’ knowledge becomes narrowed and test anxiety results in obsessive and ineffective study habits. That the joy of learning was removed by never being taught how to effectively read, take notes, and focus on broad ideas. However, I cannot relate to claims and studies showing that students would take surface level notes to read and finish their assignment as I would often read to understand but often miss the meaning. My problems with reading seem to stem from not understanding or being taught how to think deeply rather than never being given deeper thinking assignments. As a result of my high school experience with reading, writing, and taking notes I find that both Newstock and Sullivan’s ideas have real credibility and could possibly have an impact on how I read, take notes, and think in the future.