#contentareatask

[beingtheteacher-blog]

Credential Program: Part 1

Now that you’re in the credential program, what should you be expecting? Credential programs are all so different, I’m sure. However, I will give you an insight on just exactly how my experience with the credential program went.

First off, it was an amazing program! Looking back, I learned more than I realized especially when it came to interviews and I found I was able to easily answer the questions based on complex situations, terminology, and overall how am I a good fit as a teacher. I’m telling you, I thought I came out of the program only scratching the surface. Nope. I learned a LOT. 

When I first entered the “class” which was literally an classroom in an elementary school where, little did I know, we were to spend the rest of the year bonding and making memories in that class, I was stunned. There were only about 34 of us. Small class, but big potential for connecting with everyone.

Let’s go further down the line...CATs. These things were more difficult than my assignments in undergrad. We had three of them to do plus a case study for literacy. Wait, but what are CATs? What is the CAT? 

Content Area Task. If it were to be compared to an actual feline, I’d say it was a lion. Make that three lions for three CATs. They were basically hefty assignments we had a whole semester to do - assess your school site, create a hypothetical lesson, and answer a lot of repetitive questions based on the lesson you have created. Each of my CAT assignments were close to 50-60 pages each. There are page limits for the commentaries, but they’re endless. One of the page limits was to be “no more than 10 pages.” Make sure you save your file and have a backup. Trust me on this one. One of my classmates walked in to class the night after it was due and she looked like pure death...her files were corrupted by the time she was almost done. Therefore, she had to redo them. Keep in mind the checklists that you may have. It’ll come in handy. Also, use your classmates as support. You’ll need it. Anyway, the CATs should include (but not limited to): 

student sample work (assessments only), lesson plans for a whole unit, the curriculum plan, student interview, text support, resources, and a long commentary

Try doing that three times for three different subject areas PLUS your literary case study. I’ll get to the case study some other time. I’ll let the CAT sink its teeth in.