Effort, etiquette, sincerity, self-control and character – all of these are the five main principles that Whitesville Elementary’s fourth-graders are focusing on this week as they take Tai Chi lessons with Yan Agrest from Master Studios.
They did a bunch of moving around, showing off the different power stances that Agrest has been teaching them this week, but what Agrest really likes about Tai Chi is the stability and stance aspects of it, and the biggest lessons are coming from students learning the five main principles.
Students covered “effort” on Monday – ask any Whitesville Elementary fourth-grader what “effort means” and they will tell you: “You get what you earn.”
Meanwhile, “etiquette” happens to be Agrest’s favorite principle. He started off Tuesday’s lesson by sharing his background, and how his family left the former Soviet Union to come to America when he was 12 years old. He said food was scarce in the Soviet Union and when he came to America and entered a Publix grocery store for the first time, he was not only blown away by the amount of food, but also by the fact that people were jumping over each other to get to the food.
He talked to students about mindfulness and how things are done wherever they go – and how rules change from place to place.
Agrest told students that etiquette means “learn and follow the rules,” and he tied them into their classroom behavior.
Agrest also talked about having a “black belt attitude”, and that students should not ever be afraid to take on challenges because they help people grow.
“Challenging things are good,” he told them.
Tai Chi lessons came at the tail end of a series of visitors Whitesville Elementary has had at school this semester. Whitesville Elementary is a partner with Engaging Creative Minds (or ECM), a non-profit organization that supports schools with special programs geared toward STEAM initiatives. Through ECM, Whitesville Elementary was able to bring a few special visitors to the school to do some fun hands-on activities with the students.
Instructional Coach Debbie Gallagher said the Tai Chi lessons were actually a bonus for the students this semester; she said the school specifically wanted to bring Tai Chi to the students because the experience targets socio-emotional needs – a lot of what students talked about with Agrest had to do with mindfulness, focus and balance.
“It’s just a perfect niche,” she said.
In February, students worked with Charleston Stage, which is part of a national non-profit organization for American theatre, to learn about the Westward Expansion, the reasons why people were moving west, and the implications it had on native people and others around them. This was taught through a theatrical lens with voice, movement and imagination elements to help create a performative learning experience.
Students also got crafty with local artist Marielena Martinez, who collaborated with the children to help them create Roy Lichtenstein-inspired geometric sculptures that represented ecosystems and habitats.
Tai Chi lessons with Agrest was the most recent activity they got to do. Students explored the creative movement of karate and Tai Chi as they learned about the five main principles, and how they tie into their schoolwork.
Agrest finished up his lesson with the students by posing the question: who wins – the good guy, or the bad guy?
The answer is: it depends on who is more focused, as distractions are always going to happen.
“The person who wins is the one who ignores the distractions,” he told students, adding, “Be a good person – be a good guy.”