Rug Vibrations

A good friend recently returned to her homeland of California, where she was somewhat discomfited to find everyone, including her father, talking about vibrations. In California, it turns out, people are allowed to talk like that. They are even allowed to believe that people (and places) produce vibrations of energy, positive or negative, that influence those around them.

Well, I took it upon myself to test this vibration theory. I decided to change the vibrations of our rug.

The rug had been an uneasy place since school started. Despite the fact that second graders are bigger than first graders (and growing quickly), we have a rug the same size as the one we had last year. Trying to fit all 22 students, plus 2 teachers, in a circle on the rug was uncomfortable. Some of the boys' legs just didn't fold well, and everyone was banging knees with their neighbors. Meanwhile, I was trying to make them sit there, still-ish, and learn. There were conflicts, there was drama -- it wasn't happening.

I decided it was too much to try to fit them all on the rug that way, and that I was asking something unrealistic of them. So now we have 5 chairs on the edge of the rug and a rotating chair-sitting schedule. I made it so that 1 or 2 of the more-wiggly kids are in chairs each day, as well as 3 or 4 less-wiggly kids. The kids on the rug have more space, and more flexibility of where to sit, because I have loosened up on my assigned spots on the rug. They can move to where they are comfortable, and I can move them as well, if their chosen spots aren't working. They know that every 5 days, they will get to sit in a chair. (These chair spots are highly coveted, I tell you.) And, everyone pays more attention and the rug feels like a less wiggly place. Still wiggly, yes, and still unvacuumed, but at least a little less wiggly.

I am here to tell you all, vibrations do exist. I have improved the rug vibrations in my classroom, and we are all a little better off for it. Next I am going to hang some crystals, re-evaluate the classroom feng shui, and build a wiggle-decreasing altar.