When teaching chess I find things run a whole lot smoother if all students know that ‘If you touch a piece you move it’. You can download this full size poster and a few others from the Chess section of my site.

…and so almost a fortnight after the post that said, ‘I’m going to put up some chess stuff’, I’m finally at a point where I have a few things to show

My ‘knight’ cartoon as been through many, many iterations. He has looked sad, startled, evil & even bemused. I have been emailing drafts to friends to get their opinions & a little help with direction. We’ve discussed how I want to get away from the ‘battle’ metaphor (which boys love) and focus on the thinking and metacognition involved in chess. Thanks guys!!!

Finally I think I’ve got the direction right. I need posters for the ‘basic moves’ of the pieces as well as posters to help kids ‘play strong’.

Tonight my first four posters go live to the Internet. Feel free to print out my Chess Rules Posters and be assured that I have about 20 more posters in the planning that I WILL get to sometime soon. hehehehehe

cheers

Adrian

In MCMXCIII CE I started teaching chess to my Yr Two kids with great success. I have taught it to every class I have had ever since. I teach chess because I firmly believe that there is some sort of carry over (esp with boys) between engagement with the game and improved reading results. I’m not really sure why this is but suspect it has something to do with increasing their ability to concentrate and focus.

Any pointers to ‘real studies’ and not just my ‘gut instict’ would be greatly appreciated.

That said, tonight I’ve started experimenting with mock ups of what the chess resources page of my site might look like.