Small attendance at the Friday chess club on March 25, 2011 due to many conflicting events for the Denton High School students, though there was a record 33% female attendance (2 of the 6 students attending were female). Some ladder games were played and analyzed; we’ll try again for ladder games next week.
The chess event at Barnes & Noble on March 19 was a success. About 25 people visited the chess tables staffed by Denton High School chess club officers. The officers taught activities from my books or played full games. I sold a couple of my books from my author’s signing table. Simon Halipir (photo by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) took my favorite photo of the event.
Chess Life Online today (March 14) ran my story about the upcoming Barnes & Noble Chess in Education event featuring the Denton High School chess club officers and me. READ MORE.
Denton High School Principal Darrell Muncy visited chess club on Friday, March 11. He was just in time to try on our new chess club T-shirts, designed by chess club member MariPen. Next week, during spring break, the club officers and I will host a chess in education event at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Denton.
On Friday, March 4, only five students attended, due to a tennis tournament and Calculus Bowl being held at the same time. Nevertheless, it was a productive chess club meeting. I worked with two students on the "king and pawn versus king win" from People, Places, Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess while two other students completed a ladder game. When the fifth student arrived, he helped the two groups solve the Eight Queens problem featured in my book Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving.
For March 2, I had two new boys for a total of 9 (7 boys, 2 girls). This is the lesson plan and also what actually happened today.
Objectives: Students will use algebraic chess notation to read and write chess. Students will propose a best move for presented positions from a game between two of their classmates and tell why they chose that move.
I gave two presentations at University of Texas of the Permian Basin on Monday, March 1, 2010. For the three-hour morning presentation, 246 schoolchildren and their teachers and coordinators from the gifted and talented programs in Odessa and Midland, and some other educators as well, attended. One boy solved the knight's tour as reported in the local paper. Another local paper also covered the story, and I was interviewed by a TV reporter too.
On Friday, February 25, 2011, I divided the Denton High School chess club students into four teams of three students for two games of team chess. Here’s some more information on how to implement team chess, which I first learned about at Jim Liptrap’s Klein Chess Camp (where it had previously been introduced by Brownsville chess coach J.J. Guajardo). Summary: A two- to three-person student team consults at their analysis board.
For February 23 after-school chess I had four students (3 boys and 1 girl). Some of my students had pre-UIL practices for their instruments, which may explain the low attendance. Objectives: Each student will take notation for some or all of the ladder chess game. Students will discuss the importance of reading and writing in chess and in general, as also covered in my book Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities.
Before volunteering for Denton High School chess club today, I was at UT Dallas to receive The President’s Volunteer Service Award, Bronze level. That award recognized that I volunteered between 100 and 249 hours in 2010, much of it teaching chess! I sat next to Saheli Nath, who was also receiving a Bronze-level award. The high school chess club meeting today was mostly casual games.
On February 16, 8 students (5 boys and 3 girls) attended chess club in the cafeteria. I learned that it is harder for blindfolded students to move like a bishop than a rook. Objectives: Students will work in trainer-trainee groups on the bishop section of chapter 5 of Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities.They will fill out their trainer-trainee worksheets, featured in People, Places, Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess. They may then go on to another section of chapter 5, or go over a previously played chess game (post mortem).
On February 9 I had 12 students (9 boys and 3 girls) in the after-school chess club at Strickland Middle School. For the first time, we didn't get our classroom. Rather, we were in the cafeteria with other after-school groups. On the plus side, this attracted four students who had either never come to chess before or who had come only once or twice before. Also, we had more room to move around. On the minus side, some of the tables weren't the best shape for chess boards and it was noisier.
