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" If children learn to understand their feelings, they know how
to process them and express themselves, which builds self- esteem
and alleviates stress. "
- Leah Kalish
If the glowing faces of the grade school-aged students at The Accelerated
School in inner-city Los Angeles are any indication, Leah Kalish is
no teacher - she is an opener of kids ' hearts and minds. Named 2001
School of the Year by Time magazine, this charter school in South
Central Los Angeles - one of the toughest, poorest, most gang-ridden
regions in the country - is earning high marks for its integration
of culture and the arts into its curriculum. On the syllabus: yoga
classes with Leah Kalish.
At Accelerated, kids learn by doing. Art, music and poetry interweave
with arithmetic and grammar for the hands-on experiences that kids
love. The results? A 97% average attendance rate, a jump of 93% in
Stanford Achievement Test scores, with increases of 35% in reading
and 28% in math in the year 2000 alone.
The educational philosophy behind the acceleration of Accelerated?
Treat all students as gifted - and make the mind-body connection.
" Unless you ' re fully engaging the mind and body of the children,
they ' re not going to be productive, " said Kevin Sved, the
school ' s co-founder (Time, May 21, 2001).
The school ' s popular yoga program benefits everyone. Teachers report
yoga helps students concentrate and focus, and that taking a yoga
breathing break helps to create calm classrooms.
Middle schooler Sara had trouble sleeping; now she comes to class
fully awake and rested. Second-grader Robbie couldn ' t focus at the
beginning of the school year; by January he was completing his math
workbook pages on time.
Kalish says, " Yoga is not about fixing things. It ' s about
making a strong link with yourself. " As one student put it,
" It helps you know the inner me. "
Kalish structures her classes around imaginative play, with traditional
poses named for familiar animals and things in nature like "
Turtle, " " Waterfall, " " River, " "
Dog " and " Tree. " Games such as " Can you stay
still? " are a surprising hit with more rambunctious youngsters.
Yoga offers lifelong emotional and social fitness benefits by teaching
concentration, focus, critical thinking, creativity, perseverance,
confidence and relaxation. Says Kalish: " If children learn to
understand their feelings, they know how to process them and express
themselves, which builds self-esteem and alleviates stress. "
Leah Kalish, program director/instructor at the Accelerated School
in L.A., is featured in the Yoga Fitness for Kids videos for ages
3 - 6 and 7 - 12 (see Shopper ' s Guide, p. 134). A member of The
National Association for the Education of Young Children and International
Alliance for Learning, she is co-founder of the Yoga Education Network. |
