Using Chess As A Teaching Tool To Help
At-Risk Students Develop Resilience To Adversity
"Helping kids grow one move at a time..."
|
 |
Lodge Captures the Lion's Share of Prizes at Inter-school Chess Awards, by Antonio Pilgrim, The Barbados Advocate (03 July 2007)
Jordan added, "We have over 100 chess players at the school, and we are hopeful with the programmes we have in place more students will join. The playing of chess has made students more disciplined, and it also helps them to concentrate more. There are some children that have dyslexia who play chess to the point where their talents and self confidence have improved ."
"The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn: 1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action ... 2nd, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action: - the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations; ... 3rd, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily." ~ Benjamin Franklin
"Playing chess is like taking your mind to the gym," and, "If you can win a game of chess, no one can ever call you stupid." ~ from new film, Knights of the South Bronx
Research summary:
Students in our schools mirror the problems of our society. Students "at-risk" for school failure are generally from poor, minority families who live in neighborhoods with high crime rates, high unemployment, few opportunities for recreation, and easy access to firearms. In these families, parents often rely on coercive methods of discipline, do not monitor children, well, participate in many negative interactions, and sometimes share deviant behaviors with their children such as substance abuse and physical abuse. Children from such families often have poor academic skills, poor conflict resolution skills, and poor problem-solving skills; act impulsively; use drugs; and lack the ability to understand the perspective of others. They may associate with delinquent peers and become involved in gangs for status, power, and control.
However, many "at-risk" students resist a negative life trajectory. Research on resilience to adversity suggests that at-risk students benefit from strength-based programs that model and teach pro-social behaviors and provide growth opportunities for students to connect to a caring adult, to develop competence, to exercise choice, and to make a meaningful contribution to the community.
The Chess-in-the-Schools program is a well-researched program that "helps students to grow one move at a time." Chess is a universal teaching tool for ages four through a lifetime. A volunteer or paid Chess Coach can sponsor a chess club or class at any grade level before, during, or after school, giving students supervised opportunities to improve both academic and social skills. The US Chess Federation and local businesses are resources for materials. The skills that students learn by playing chess such as problem-solving, thinking before acting, and behaving courteously, make them smarter students and more responsible citizens.
