Catalina

Today I had a great afternoon working with Catalina. She first started coming to the Center over a year ago. In the beginning, whenever she faced a difficult problem or question, she would just give up or take on a horrible attitude. It was so difficult working with her, but bit-by-bit we built up her confidence. Today in class she was introduced to the concept of least common multiples. She didn't understand the teacher's explanation, but wrote down everything on the board. The test on this concept isn't for two more weeks, but she wanted to start figuring it out today. (Already this marks a huge improvement.) We sat there together for over an hour and half, working on her math homework. Me, trying to re-learn the concept from an old Spanish math textbook we have in the center and then trying to explain it using the new vocabulary I just learned in a way a twelve year old can understand. Catalina, faithfully applying her multiplication tables she has finally mastered to figure out multiples of 28, 76, 114. Once Catalina finished all of her homework, which also included identifying prime numbers and determining the divisibility of other numbers, she asked if I could give her more numbers to practice finding the least common multiple. She wanted to make sure she really understood how to do it on her own. A few minutes later, I saw Catalina using her extra practice sheet to teach one of the other 5th graders how to find the least common multiple. I was so proud of her. She has grown so much in this last year.

Even though this may seem like such a small thing, a child doing her homework, for me it marks a change that has taken place in Catalina's character. She no longer is afraid to attempt things she doesn't understand right away. She has developed the confidence and perseverance to figure it out. Furthermore, rather than being smug in now having something she can do but another cannot, she shares her knowledge and patiently walks them through the steps she has just learned. This is the change I long to see in each of our kids. While learning the math concept itself is great, the character development is infinitely more valuable. This is why we do what we do.

Catalina playing "What is my occupation?" at Girls' Group.