THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605210152
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 58 lines
Azalea Middle School teacher Liz Walker will do just about anything - short of wrestling a rattlesnake - to motivate her students to read.
To reinforce the plots in the books she teaches, Walker has bowled with tennis balls and soda cans, played ``over-the-hill'' baseball with her students, even dressed in funny costumes.
So when her sixth-graders decided to tackle a book on karate, Walker went hunting for a uniform to borrow.
Six months and some 30 hours of lessons later, she ended up earning a gold belt in the martial arts discipline.
On May 15, to the cheers of her students and some 300 other Azalea sixth-graders, Walker received her belt from instructors at the Chuck Norris Karate Studio at Janaf during a ceremony in the school's auditorium.
Afterward, Walker demonstrated a few punches and a couple of kicks. The students went wild.
``I told the children about it when I began starting lessons, and they've been watching and asking me how it was going,'' explained Walker, who teaches students with special needs. ``I wanted to get my belt in front of them to help motivate them. The children have really been my inspiration to keep me going with this.''
Intrigued by the discipline and exercise of karate, Walker decided to take lessons last fall after returning the borrowed uniform to the Janaf studio.
``Liz is not a typical karate student,'' said Cathy Smith, co-owner of the studio. ``Most of our students are children between the ages of 5 and 12. But karate can benefit anyone, no matter what their age. It gives you a sense of not just physical power, but also an emotional and mental power to deal with everyday life.
``At her age, that Liz even had the nerve to go for it was something. She was just determined to do it.''
Although Walker would not divulge her age, she did admit that she was ``one of the studio's most mature students.'' Even though she is an avid walker and cyclist, learning the basic karate blocks, kicks, punches and falls took perseverance, she said.
Most students earn their gold belt, the first of 12 levels to the ultimate black belt, within a couple of months, Smith said. It took Walker, the mother of a 24-year-old daughter, nearly six months.
``The most difficult part was to keep my balance,'' said Walker, a 20-year teaching veteran. ``With certain kicks, it was a real challenge.''
But the extra effort was part of the reward, she said. In fact, Walker already has begun working toward her next belt, a purple one.
Now, she said she can be even more sympathetic to many of her students who grapple with learning disabilities.
``I'm having a lot of fun with this, and it's making me feel very good about myself,'' she said. ``I'm determined to take this as far as I can go.''
Her students will be watching. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JIM WALKER
Liz Walker became intrigued with karate, and began taking lessons,
when she and her sixth-graders at Azalea Middle School were reading
a book about the martial art. by CNB