Measure, Assess, Teach (MAT) work is one of the platforms we have developed here at Recovered 4 Life (R4L).
This is a brilliant tool for quickly assessing the mood, and feelings of everyone present at your gathering. Teachers can use this as a fun tool to get students to identify their feelings. As the students get used to the first mat, teachers can move to the second mat which changes to feelings on it. This expands students vocabulary of feelings they are feeling at the time.
There are 3 mats in total, and can be customized to meet your organisations colour scheme. Below are a few examples of the mats.
Now that you’ve seen the mats how they work is quite simple. Everyone in the room participates in a safe, secure environment, even if say a maintenance man comes in to fix something they are subject to the mats as well. This provides the participants security that their feelings are valid and heard, and safe to express because everyone is in the same boat.
You lay the mat on the floor, and one by one a client or student stands on the feeling that best describes what they are feeling at the time. By standing on the feeling they are physically owning the space of that feeling, and in turn owning the feeling. If the feeling they have isn’t listed, they can’t make up their own, they need to stand on what is closest to their feeling and explain why they are standing on that feeling. So, if I feel sad, but sad isn’t on the mat, but frustrated is, I can stand on frustrated and explain why I am frustrated that sad isn’t there and explain how I feel sad about whatever is going on in my life.
This will give a teacher, facilitator, or tutor a real insight into the group they have in front of them and can tailor their lessons based on these new facts presented in front of them.
