On Tuesday, January 5, 2010, I will begin my after-school chess club at Strickland Middle School. The club will be hosted by the Communities in Schools program. Chess club will be free and open to all Strickland Middle School students. For the previous five years, I volunteered teaching chess at Strickland during the school day from 1:15 to 1:55 p.m., known as advisory period.

During the last two years (2007-2008 and 2008-2009), students had chess three days a week with me and study skills and character education with the paid teacher on the other two days. One advantage of chess advisory was regular, required attendance by students, which eased tracking progress and planning instruction. With advisory eliminated this year, I chose after-school for chess instead. What do blog readers see as the advantages and disadvantages of after-school chess club compared to school-day chess instruction?