Read a book. Eat a Pizza

After discussing in class about the motivation for children to read, I began to wonder how to really get children motivated to read. When I was in elementary school, we had the program called 'Book-It' which was very similar to the reading program we read about in one of our articles for our class discussion. Throughout the article, it described the intentions of these programs and what is really the motivation factor behind children wanting to read. Do children want to read because they want to get a pizza? Or do children want to read because they really enjoy reading?
After discussing this within our groups, I thought back to when I was in elementary school. As I stated earlier, we had the program called 'Book-It.' 'Book-It' was a program that allowed students to earn a pizza coupon at pizza hut for a free pizza if they read a specific amount of books. I remembering loving this. I enjoyed reading and I was getting a reward for doing something that I loved. However, I now know that all students were/are not like how I was. Even though I enjoyed readinig, I know there are some students that hate reading and will do anything not to read. Their motivation behind reading is earning the pizza coupon for pizza hut and not enjoying the book. I believe that as future educators, we need to realize that all students may not love to read. I don't think programs like 'Book-it' are a horrible idea. I think that these programs can actually be beneifical if they are portrayed in the correct way. If a teacher tells the students that the most important part of reading is to enjoy it and students should want to read because there are a variety of books that can fit their personality then students may get a reward, like a 'Book-it' pizza coupon for doing something that they really do enjoy doing, proving and giving a reward to the student because they are doing something good.