Nick Laws, Prince Rupert Northern View
A teacher at Charles Hays secondary school is trying something new to fight back against poor attendance at his northern B.C. school.
Dane Waldal although relatively new to Charles Hays, has been teaching for quite some time and he has noticed a pattern, a pattern he is trying to change.
sa国际传媒� Every school Isa国际传媒檝e worked at has always had its issues with attendance, so I figured I could contribute a little bit in my own way.sa国际传媒�
Waldalsa国际传媒檚 way is a kickboxing class that gets the kids off their seats and on their feet. The catch? Attendance is mandatory, but not for his class, for all of the studentsa国际传媒檚 other classes.
In order for kids to participate in the twice-weekly class, they will have to attend all other classes, and have their slips signed by their teachers. The results speak for themselves.
Anna Ashley, a fellow teacher at Charles Hays has noticed a change in the students enrolled in Waldalsa国际传媒檚 class.
sa国际传媒淚 have noticed that since he has had an incentive program with them, they are doing more of their work and they are paying attention in class because they want to participate in his class.sa国际传媒�
The school switched from a semester program to a trimester program, which gave teachers the opportunity to open up two 45-minute classes per week. Waldalsa国际传媒檚 love of martial arts is what drove him to start the class.
sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檝e been a martial artist for over a decade, Isa国际传媒檝e competed in wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing and kickboxing, so I wanted to give the kids an opportunity to participate in the same thing that I love.sa国际传媒�
Waldal has tweaked the traditional kickboxing training techniques, for a more school safe environment. Instead of the traditional heavy bags, pads and mats, Waldal has implemented the use of shortened pool noodles as instruction tools.
sa国际传媒淲e donsa国际传媒檛 have the equipment for wrestling or jiu-jitsu, but with kickboxing, wesa国际传媒檝e got a big open space and some tools we can use to modify it.sa国际传媒�
Waldal says that he chose martial arts partly because of his love for the sport, but also for the discipline factor involved in martial arts, taking years of repetition to reach your potential. Something he equates to school and life in general.
sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檓 encouraging them to get to class, get there on time and put the work in every day and then good things are going to come from there.sa国际传媒�
Although the early stages have yielded positive results for both sides, Ashley warns that too many incentive-based programs may not be the path to go down just yet.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 a win-win for both sides right now and I think theresa国际传媒檚 always room for things that incentivize children to do different things. That being said, I donsa国际传媒檛 know if we always want to say in order to get this, you have to do that.sa国际传媒�
For Waldal, as long as the kids continue to have fun and keep their attendance up he is going to keep the class going.
sa国际传媒� I cansa国际传媒檛 be happier with the direction itsa国际传媒檚 going, just hoping more kids get into it and more kids want to sign up.sa国际传媒�
nick.laws@thenorthernview.com
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