Chapter 1: Focusing on the Secondary 'Whole' Learner

            I found this chapter very interesting because this is exactly what our district has been working on all year. We are working on creating higher-level thinking for all types of learners. I feel that it can be a challenging task to make sure you teach for all the different types of learners in the classroom. Many teachers are so use to doing the simple question/answer type format when it comes to assessment or homework. I sat through a meeting this year with people from commoncore.org (an organization that we are adopting for our common core literacy curriculum) they gave us wonderful advice to choose fabulous books full of treasure. It made me really think about how I pick out my books I use in my classroom. Why do I choose the books I do? Are they making my students think? Are they full of treasure that my students will carry with them in the future years? This concept of making higher thinking assignments takes a lot of work, but it is so rewarding.  
           Many people don't realize when they walk into the classroom that there will be many different types of learners as well as many different levels in your classroom. It is essential to make sure you reach every child in your class. This can be extremely challenging. Especially when you have students, like in my case, that are first grade reading levels all the way to sixth grade reading levels. I am constantly differentiating for my students. With all this said, I don't believe high-stake testing is the best way to assess students. Many students are not good at the paper/pencil, which now is turning in to a computer based test when PARCC comes out. I feel it is very ineffective to give students who are below level an on-level test. You are just asking them to fail. (I could go on and on about that topic)
           This chapter talks a lot about interest and motivation. I believe that if students are interested in a topic they will do better when it comes to comprehension and relating to a text. It may even motivate them to create outstanding work! I would love to have a library full of high interest books. I have spent a lot of money to create the library I have, and I try to keep it up-to-date with books the children enjoy. We have told our district several times that it is essential to get high interest, low level books for our struggling students. Many of our books that we have are from A-Z readers. Now, this is a great resource to have, but many of my students are not interested in a paper book I printed from the computer. The questions are very low level questions and don't challenge the students. The sad part is we can't afford to get those high interest books for struggling students. I have found great resources on the computer to help interest them. My students really enjoy tumblebooks and RAZ kids, but there is something about having a book in your hand that I feel like my students are missing. Hopefully in the future years, we will find that high interest books are a must for all levels and should be put in the budget. I believe that a school that has high interest materials will have higher test scores.