I was one of the presenters at the ECISD (Ector County Independent School District) Math and Science Institute. I presented activities from my book Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving. Since roughly half of participants over the two days of workshops did not have prior experience with playing chess, I chose activities that did not require previous chess knowledge.
Today (May 20, 2010) was the first meeting of the Denton High School chess club. This was an organizational meeting for next fall. Eleven students attended (10 boys and one girl). When we were chatting informally during the chess games, one of the students, Luis, remembered my lessons from Strickland Middle School on Benjamin Franklin and chess etiquette (from People, Places Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess) and on the ABCD principles of chess (from Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities). I recognized several students from the middle school chess tournaments I’d run over the past six years.
When I presented to educators, parents, and children May 6 at Hedrick Elementary in Lewisville, TX, my name was on the marquee. What fun! The presentations went well, and I sold several of my books.
May 1, 2010 I ran the fifth annual middle school chess tournament for Denton ISD. It should have been the sixth annual, but last year's was not held due to the swine flu scare. On May 4, a front page story appeared with results from the event. This year, only one other team (Calhoun Middle School) sent players to compete. I am the volunteer chess teacher at Strickland Middle School, and Strickland hosted the tournament this year.
Tuesday, April 27, was our last chess club meeting of this 2010 spring semester. Two girls and five boys attended. To warm up for our May 1, 2010 tournament, we played touch-move ladder games. For more about how I run ladder games see the appendix to Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities. Or read Elizabeth Vicary interviewed by Jennifer Shahade (June 26,2007, Chess Life Online, "E. Vicary on Chess, Girls and Genius"), which is my source for how to run ladder chess games.
Here is a
of me talking about my four books on chess in education.
Five boys and two girls showed up for after school chess club at Strickland Middle School today. I taught how the mobility of the chessmen relates to their point values. In other words, how is it decided that a pawn is 1 point, a knight is 3 points, and so forth? Students calculated the mobility of every chessman from the corner and from the center and drew conclusions.
Last week (12th time I met with chess club) was our match with Sanger. For week thirteen, April 13, I congratulated the six boys and one girl who came to chess club on on our win the previous week. (Five of them had been part of that winning effort). Then I pointed out one area where we could have improved: Basic Checkmates (endgame mates with major pieces). One of our players stalemated with two queens against a lone king.
But, before I tell how many checkmates we inflicted on Sanger Middle School, here’s a brief recap of my Strickland chess club lesson plans for weeks ten through twelve. On March 9, week 10, we had only three students so we played bughouse. (I played too, to make it four players). On March 16, there was no chess due to Spring Break. On March 23, I was not there since I was presenting at UTD.
My former Chess Online student Kathy De La Torre emailed me recently. Since receiving her Master’s Degree from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2007, she has “been employed full time with the RISD for the past two school years as a 4th grade Reading/L.A. teacher. This year, with the full support of the principal, we have begun a chess club on campus.
On March 23 from 4-5 p.m. I will be presenting at UTD. My talk "Chess is Now for Children: Changes Over the Past 40 Years" is part of a year-long series of 40 events (or more) created to mark UT Dallas' fourth decade as a UT System institution. My talk will address the changing demographics of chess during the past four decades, from its beginning as a game for adults to a game now dominated by children.
Check out of the performance of the Living Chess Game, the culmination of 12 weeks of classes I taught at the Denton Public Library. Starting position, with White to play and draw: White: Kh8, pawn on c6. Black: Ka6, pawn on h5. Solution: 1. Kg7 h4 2. Kf6 Kb6 3. Ke5 h3 4. Kd6 h2 5. c7 Kb7 6. Kd7 h1(Q) 7. c8(Q)+ 1/2-1/2.
