Chess Lessons for Teachers

Since the beginning of third term my SpEd class has become the place to be during lunch time, I mean after lunch. It started with one grade 5 student who asked if he can borrow a chess board. Since I was concerned about the pieces getting lost, I asked him to bring his opponent in SpEd and play there instead.
The pair played 'till the bell rang as a signal of the start of the for the first period in the afternoon. The following day, this boy arrived with three more classmates and asked if they can play. Of course I said yes! Right about the second game of the 2 pairs, a group of grade six female students came and asked if they can play with the TIC TAC TOE. They played on the other table with loud giggling and laughing.

Then the following day after this, it was a blast! There were at least 5 boards laid out with the boys from grade six and five and the girls choosing to play TIC TAC TOE and memory game. This was my dream of seeing my students play strategy games that promotes thinking skills and their memory getting the needed stimulation.

I'm not saying that my school or any school in particular or the school system itself is at fault in providing our students the necessary mental stimulation. In fact for the past 100 years scholars have worked and put in lots of ideas and researches on the why's, the how's and the when's to help improve the student's learning.

Why is chess, scrabble and other boardgames are a valuable tool in education?

Here's what I have noted in the past five years as a chess coach, trainer and club moderator:

Chess is a game. It has it's inherent fun value that easily attracts students and children of all ages. I have dealt with the "zero knowledge" and the "varsity level" learners and in between. From what I've seen, they enjoy the game first and foremost. I can't imagine myself or any of these kids playing the game without the element of fun. 

Chess provides competition. Everybody feels good to win, nobody loves to lose. This is a fact why chess moves someone to play the game for hours non-stop. One more chance at winning, one more chance. This is where the clear thinking adult guidance should come in. During lunch times, I make sure I announce to everyone in the room that there's only 10 minutes left before the bell. Since we have at least eight chess clocks, they use shorter and faster time controls enough for them to finish that one more game and clean up and dash to their rooms on second floor.        

Chess is an avenue for focus, concentration and attention skills improvement. This is where the blur comes in specially for the outsiders. Would you believe me if I tell you that lunch times with my chess players are often the noisiest? I say noisiest but not rowdy or out of hand. They have learned to laugh at themselves or laugh at some jokes from a nearby table and still focus on their game. One Korean student named James would always imitate his friend Shawn into saying "Sir, it's own-age time". The boys love to say this when they think they are winning against me or to someone older than they are.Since we all play a friendly game, we are very lax with the loudness of the players but they themselves keep quiet when they are in a losing position. It's in this situation when they focus, concentrate and attend to the position seriously, without any cueing from me or any adult.   

Chess is "HOTS". Higher Order Thinking Skills is a concept that has become a major educational agenda. Just what are the skills included in the order? Let me share the entry from Wikipedia:

" The simplest thinking skills are learning facts and recall, while higher order skills include critical thinking, analysis and problem solving. Including higher order thinking skills (HOTS) in learning outcomes is a very common feature of standards based education reform Advocates of traditional education object to elevating HOTS above direct instruction of basic skills. Many forms of education reform, such as inquiry-based science, reform mathematics and whole language emphasize HOTS to solve problems and learn, sometimes deliberately omitting direct instruction of traditional methods, facts or knowledge. Critics of standards based assessments which use open-response items which require higher order analysis and writing instead of multiple choice questions point out that this style of testing is even more difficult for students who are behind academically. Indeed, while minorities may lag by 10 to 25 points on standardized percentile rankings, the failure rates of minorites are two to four times the best scoring groups on tests like the WASL. It is debated whether it is correct to raise the importance of teaching process over content.^"

It's a HOT game indeed! When one plays the game one has to do some decision making skills, make judgement calls, look ahead, evaluate positions and possibilities, do abstract reasoning, recognize patterns  do strategic planning to name a few.

What more can you ask for when you see your students enjoying while learning? Aside from the fact that it engages the students mentally and socially, you also know they are aware of the responsibility for the actions they make over the board.

That's what we want our students to become, be responsible for their own actions and it's all there in the game of chess. The Educational Value of Chess is something you cannot ignore so don't ask me ever again Why Chess?

This article was inspired by the works and writing of Mr. Theory. Visit his blog at Central Oregon Chess Journal.