USCF Chess in Education Committee Home
United States Chess Federation
Chess in Education Committee
Co-Chairs John P. Buky and Dr. Joseph Eberhard
Contact emails: chessteacher@comcast.net
Download Texas 2008 Chess in Education Workshop Presentations:
TCA Presentation - Russell Harwood
Making Chess Fun - Thomas Johnston
Create Your Own Chess Diagrams - Thomas Johnston
Free Stuff - Thomas Johnston
Fischer Random Quad - Thomas Johnston
Endgame Envelopes - Thomas Johnston
64 Activities For Your Club - Thomas Johnston
Quad Pairings - Thomas Johnston
Strategic Planning for Educations, with a focus on Chess in Education - Clemente Rendon, TCA Vice-President
Report on the TCA Chess in Education workshop by Dr. Alexey Root
The March 8, 2008 TCA Chess in Education workshop was sponsored by TCA (Texas Chess Association, www.texas.org), UT Brownsville (http://www.utb.edu), UT Dallas (http://www.utdallas.edu/), and Texas Tech (http://www.ttu.edu). The workshop was co-organized by Alexey Root and Luis Salinas. Presentations from the workshop will be available at the USCF Chess in Education Committee Web site: http://www.thechessacademy.org/USCF_Chess_Education_Committee.htm.
The 2008 TCA Chess in Education workshop had 28 paid participants, up from 25 in 2007 (the first year of the workshop). Half of the 28 participants were educators: principals, assistant principals, and teachers. The other half consisted of parents and chess coaches.
The first presenter was Dr. Steve Lipschultz, who demonstrated Think Like a King software.
Second, UTB's Russell Harwood described his career path, from second grade teacher to UTB. Harwood emphasized that it did not take long to grow his first elementary school program from six novice students to a title-winning team with many students participating.
Third, GM Susan Polgar mentioned her vision of chess being in every school within her lifetime. Over the workshop weekend, which was part of the 1437-player Texas State Scholastic, Polgar coached the Knight Raiders (Texas Tech) chess team to a second place finish (first was UT-Dallas) in the college chess competition. When I turned out the lights for our workshop's Power Point presentations, the lights went out next door in the college section too. After that incident, our workshop was careful to be a good neighbor to the college students.
Fourth, I demonstrated an activity from my book, Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving. Participants paired up with chess boards to figure out how knights on b1 and b8, through taking turns and cooperation, might arrive at the other's home squares one after the other. The knight moves illustrated the plot of the children's book Coco Can't Wait. I also sold copies of Science, Math, Checkmate and of my first book, Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators.
Fifth, Jerry Nash spoke of the importance of coordination among communities, such as the chess and business communities, for continued chess growth. Sixth, Tom Johnston, a HS teacher from MO, presented photos, activities, and suggestions. A suggestion that I found particularly useful was to donate chess books and software to the school library, rather than keeping those items in one's classroom. Then all students can check out the chess resources. At the same time, the chess teacher is relieved from having to keep track of those resources.
The final presenter, Clemente Rendon, shared strategic planning for TCA's growth in general and specifically in chess in education.
The third TCA Chess in Education workshop will be March 21, 2009 during the next Texas State Scholastic, March 20-22 in McAllen Texas. For information about that workshop, please contact Clemente Rendon, Texas Chess Association Vice President, at: crendon44@hotmail.com.
The USCF Chess in Education workshop will be August 7, 2008, during the U.S. Open in Dallas. The press release will be issued in June of 2008, but I mention it now so that readers can "save the date" on their calendars. For information about August 7th, please contact me at: alexey.root@gmail.com.