Written by Alexey W. Root on
Tue, Jul 29 2008 (18:11)
Monday night, July 28th, at Denton Chess Club I remembered to tell Justin, the HS teacher mentioned in my previous blog, about the USCF Chess in Education workshop. I learned from Justin that his high school students signed up for a school year of chess. Chess instruction will be during homerooms with him or with his chess colleague, a computer teacher. Because the same students will attend chess homerooms everyday, lessons should build on the previous day's learning. Luckily, there are two free curricula available that guide educators and students,
lesson by lesson, through basic chess knowledge. Khmelnitsky, I., Khodarkovsky, M. & Zadorozny, M. (2006). Teaching chess step by step. Montville, NJ: Kasparov Chess Foundation. Schools may order a complimentary set of three books (1-Teacher’s Manual, 2-Exercises Manual, and 3-Activities).
Polgar, S. (2006). Chess training program for teachers. New York: Susan Polgar Foundation. Request a free copy of the .pdf document (62 pages).
Click on the foundation links, in the references above, for information about how to order these curricula.
My books, Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators and Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving use chess as a tool to meet educational objectives. Depending on your classroom goals, many books and curricula can be helpful. In my books, I recommend several resources. But the Kasparov and Polgar curricula highlighted here, being free and also being authorized by world champions, deserve special mention.