Teachers working with at-risk students must instill in their students the motivation and desire to read. At-risk readers do not value reading in the same way their teachers do. Teachers should strive to make the reading experience one that is relevant to the student both at their present reading level and when their ability to read has improved. At-risk readers do not perceive reading as a search for meaning acquisition. Teachers must provide a learning environment that focuses on reading, thinking, and discussion rather than skills, workbooks, and mastery tests. Many at-risk readers are not aware of their own reading weakness. By providing students with reading materials that are slightly above their reading ability which focus on subjects of high interest to the students, at-risk readers will be reminded that they still have a way to go in becoming readers who can use reading as a means of unlocking information. At-risk readers enjoy being read to. Teachers should provide students with their own copies of the book being read; at-risk readers can gain immensely by following along while a good reader reads. At-risk readers are more motivated when they feel they have some control over the reading environment. Having students make predictions about a story before they read it provides a format in which students are reading to prove or disprove their predictions about the story, creating their own purpose for reading. (MG)