Students should be engaged in reading.  It greatly affects the performance of students. Reading, in fact is greater than the sum of other teachable skills.  Student should read comprehensively.  Reading must be fun and enjoyable and must not be a forced exercise.

            Reading could be a taxing exercise inside classrooms.  For this, instruction techniques have been developed.  A proven technique is the balanced literacy.  The class is broken into three segments: guided reading, shared reading, and independent reading.  It was proven that in this manner, children discover a way to enjoy and appreciate reading.

            At home, it is important that children see their parents reading.  This helps reinforce their interest in the activity.  Fifteen minutes of reading before bedtime is also a good exercise for student.  Parents have certain degree of control to make their children be involved in reading.

            Today, there are so many things that compete to the student’s attention to read.  There are many distractions that they encounter to keep a good reading habit.  Television, computers and malls are some that keep away students from reading.

            Teachers must enhance their teaching methods to arouse the student’s interest in reading.  The students must be made realized that written words are fascinating.  Students must be made to understand that written words inform, educate and entertain.

            There are also strategies to make reading of students effective.  Teacher must find ways to make effective the reading process.  Teachers need to become creative in the approaches to make students comfortable and at ease in the development of reading skills.

By: Pheobe Hazzlee I. Valeroso | Teacher III | Sisiman Elementary School | Sisiman Mariveles, Bataan