Helping children to become better readers is a tremendous responsibility faced by educators today. With students of varying abilities, reaching each child requires training, time, and dedication. The goal of this study was to improve the quality and quantity of the teacher/student relationship component of the Reading Renaissance program, which is the core-reading program in the elementary school in which I work. Consideration was given to teacher intervention strategies that were in use as well as those strategies that both teachers and students identified as effective. Staff development sessions were provided and through surveys, observations, and focus group sessions, third grade students and teachers demonstrated that participation in specific, planned staff development could be successful for changing reading instruction. Time limits of the study made it impractical to measure student reading growth.