"I learn better on a yoga mat."

This school year got off to a rocky start. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my students and I have not been anywhere near miserable, but it has been an incredibly challenging fall. My students have more energy than the Kenyan runners who lead the marathon and sitting down to work on multiplication tables, or anything for that matter, is completely unappealing to them.

I spent the first month pulling my hair out, trying any incentive I could think of...ok, I was bribing, to get them to sit down for even five minutes. It didn't work.

I tried going old school and putting names on the board with check-marks and threats of calling home and staying in from recess. It kind of worked. But then it didn't.

Day by day through the months of September it did get better, slowly but surely. But it wasn't great. I came home many nights with tears in my eyes because it just didn't feel good.

As a fifth year teacher, I still battle the "you don't know what you're doing" demons. A fellow teacher at my school says that even after 20 years of teaching, she still battles the same thing sometimes. Nobody is perfect, not even your teacher. And I don't care who you are, there is nothing worse than feeling like you are trying with everything you have, and it is still failing.

Now, this little story does not end with the perfect solution and high fives all around from my students as we march into high levels of achievement. But, it does have a happy ending.

This past week something really wonderful happened. It was Wednesday morning at 11am. This time has been the worst time of day all year. Our school day starts at 7:45 and lunch for my kids is at 12:30. 11am is when everybody has run out of steam and my kids would really like to run around the building screaming. And I would too.

Throughout the fall, I have come to dread 11am. I watch the clock as it creeps closer and often get a stomach ache as I know the storm is coming. Behaviors get crazy, I get cranky, and as my husband would say, nobody wins.

So, last Wednesday, I asked my kids about it. I often think we as adults forget that this is something that really works. If you ask kids what's the matter, they will most often tell you. I asked them if they noticed that 11am was the worst. They all nodded their heads. We talked about the reasons why and all decided that by that time in the morning, they were tired and ready for recess and lunch.

We all thought of potential solutions. I especially liked their idea of "running a marathon like you!" I imagine my students and I setting out for a 26.2 mile run at 11am every day. I actually don't completely doubt that many of them would make it.

But instead, I asked them if they wanted to try yoga. There was a long silence. They stared at me as if I had three heads. And then, they said yes.

We pulled out yoga mats and I showed them a few poses. They all loved child's pose, downward dog made them giggle, and they had incredible focus when it was time for tree. I told them the only rule was that they had to stay on their own mats and when I was reading or giving directions they had to listen.

The awesome part happened next. My students, my squirrelly, energetic, slightly off-the-wall students, took out their reading work and went to it. They worked and worked. I read aloud and they listened. I asked them questions, and they responded. All the while taking breaks to stretch out into down-dog or bridge. It was adorable and heartwarming and it totally worked.

I have no illusion this will work every day. I'm not even sure it will work tomorrow. And I have no idea if this will be a permanent fix. But right now, I am so happy that we had a good day. And I keep thinking of my sweet student's words on his way to lunch, "Ms. Rajanen, I think I learn better on a yoga mat!"