As the special education teacher in an inclusion classroom I often like to take a moment during the day to take a view from the rug alongside my students. I like to sit beside them while a lesson is taking place and take in what they are experiencing as young learners. This experience helps me gain perspective into how they listen for information, process that information, and develop new ideas in their minds. I can watch how students observe and take in new information, how they add to the classroom conversation, and how they ask questions to clarify for themselves. My view from the rug always proves to be a valuable experience for my teaching skills.
The creation of a set of classroom rules is one of the most important beginning of the school year lessons which our class took part in today. We created our list of classroom rules by thinking about each other and the respect we would like to see in our room throughout the year. As I sat down on the rug with some of my young first graders I could just feel their sheer sense of excitement and and eagerness as they named some of the behaviors we would like to follow over the year in our room. Today my view from the rug reminded me that as adults it can be refreshing to take some time to pause and reflect on the small moments in our day that renew our own sense of excitement and eagerness. I am looking forward to a year filled with lots of first grade fun with my young learners as we start this new school year together.