Chess You and Me, Kids

A few years (okay, MANY years ago, now) my son participated in his elementary school's Chess Club. He enjoyed the time and the game, while I enjoyed that it was an endeavor that was NOT sports... though certainly competitive. Unfortunately, as things often go, he outgrew both the school program and the interest, though he still plays occasionally at his mother's... that is until I brought something from work, home (again).

As part of our every-other-day "block" schedule at school, my students and I have one eighty minute block of "instructional" time deemed "Advisement." The intention during this time is to allow students to work (kind of like a study hall), but, because teacher's also have this time without a formal class, student's who require support form the academic teachers can seek it out. Highschoolers being highschoolers, most kids use this time in any number of ways, the chief among them (for those kids who are not particularly motivated) to waste time in way or another.

In an effort to make this time more engaging, I have been bringing an old chess set (saved from my in laws pre-moving cleaning last year) in to Advisement for my students to play. They really enjoy it and the activity has become the motivating carrot for many of them--if they spend the first thirty-five minutes of this time quietly working on homework or rereading, I bring out the set and they play for the balance of time... again, once they have finished their work. This past week, I purchased a very inexpensive second set and the level of student distractibility during this "free" time was halved once again.

After observing the enjoyment my student's experienced playing chess (the strategy of which both they and I admittedly know little about), I began wondering why we (my kids and I) stopped playing. It was then that I realized it was for the worst of all parental reasons... I stopped asking.

It was at this point I went into the attic retrieved our inexpensive plastic piece/cardboard set (which "plays" nicely thank you) and set it up on the living room coffee table.

It took only one request to have the games begin...