Ms. Coppin has been working on exciting new methods with her fifth graders in reading enrichment. They recently finished reading Gary Paulsen's novel 'Hatchet'. One method they worked on while reading was the role of metacognition while reading. When reading this has helped them think about what they are reading and how to apply it in their discussions. Students also made predictions, and connections when reading. They also practiced questioning, inferring, visualizing the text, and synthesizing. Ms. Coppin noticed students were able to really put themselves in the shoes of the main character, Brian. They felt upset when Brian was struggling, they felt disgusted when Brian had to eat different foods, they felt discouraged when Brian started to give up, they felt pain when Brian spoke about his parents divorce, they felt strong when Brian overcame something. She explained how much she enjoyed to see students think like the character. The students also worked on an end of unit vovel project where students videotaped themselves and role played an interview with Brian. We can't wait to see what amazing things our reading enrichment students will work on next!
