All literature teachers agree that students should read with perception, enjoy reading, and continue reading after classes have ended. Because perception promotes the pleasure that leads to continued reading, the basic step toward improved reading is to increase perception. The "index-card" system, which focuses attention on textual explication, invites the student to react to a story and to record on cards his responses, together with the lines or details that prompted them. Then, in class discussion of noted passages, the students can compare their reactions and ideas. Such an approach benefits the teacher because he becomes sensitive to precisely how students respond to particular works and he receives, through their various viewpoints, the raw materials which he can use in a discussion of the work. More importantly, this method benefits the student by encouraging him to respond to the work, to share ideas with his classmates, and to evaluate his own insights through the class discussion. The pleasure derived from increased perception then leads to additional attempts to understand the story more completely. (LH)