Motivation; Reading Strategies; *Student Development; *Student Needs IDENTIFIERS Phonemic Awareness

Achieving literacy, while often one of the greatest challenges a child can face, is one of the most important elements in building a base for success in education and in life. Three main strategies are found to be parts of the process of how children learn to read: (1) developing phonemic awareness through the use of phonics techniques; (2) being read to on a daily basis; and (3) implementing literacy tasks to motivate and build appreciation for reading, such as open tasks or tasks where students are in control of both what they create and the processes they use to create it. When students can choose stories or tasks in which they are interested, they will exert more energy and effort learning the material and will show more responsibility for their work. One way of continuing interest among proficient readers is by connecting stories and literature to content studies in school. To sustain appreciation and motivation among all levels of readers, chosen texts should be comprehensible and coherent. (Contains seven references.) (CR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document