Classroom Innovations by Roy and Jennifer — Wherever I Lay My Mat’s My Home

The idea behind this classroom idea is for you to buy a whole bunch of 1-metre long sections of yoga mat material. Allocate one per child in your classroom, and let each person mark their's individually. The mat belongs to that person only.

Now… give permission to your learners to use their mat as they see fit. There's no need to use the desk if they choose not to.

The rules of the mat are this:

1. The mat belongs to a person.
2. It demarcates private territory.
3. Nobody may touch the mat or anything on the mat while it's on the floor.
4. Schoolwork or games or puzzles or any other activity may take place on the mat. Including meditations and timeouts.
5. At the end of the school day, no mats may be lying on the floor. They must be rolled up and stowed in a suitable storage space.

The mat creates a real boundary for each child. It teaches the value of boundaries. And it also creates a sense of privacy in a busy, chaotic world.

Feel free to use this idea in your classroom. And your comments are welcome. Maybe you've got a refinement to the idea? A different way of achieving the same goal? Jennifer and I are creating a book of these ideas, and we'd love your input. Thanks!

This painting started off as a pen sketch in Roy's Moleskine notebook, following a chat with Jennifer. Roy then scanned the pic, manipulated it a little to get the layout to his satisfaction, and then coloured it in Photoshop CS3. All on his trusty Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc.