CAT

On Monday, I went in for CAT hours for the first time. I went in the morning, which is different from my usual afternoon schedule. Because of this, I was in a class that had some friends that I see in session, as well as some new faces. It was interesting to me to see how the children interact and how they respond to their teacher. However, during these CAT hours, there was a student who was very upset. The assistant teacher asked me to work with the student. Now, a few weeks ago, after classroom observations, one comment that was made was to really reach out to students who are visibly upset and to encourage them to use their words to tell you why they’re upset.

So, with this in mind, I tried to talk to the upset girl. At first, she kept crying, though it was obvious that she was listening to me. I told her it was OK to cry, but that I needed her to use her words to tell me why she was upset so that I could help her. She was very receptive and eventually explained why she was upset and we talked about ways to avoid her getting upset again.

This was a very fulfilling experience for me. This experience allowed me to get to know more students at my site and create a more meaningful connection with the children.