Monday, February 9, 2009
Final Reflection
The project has come to an end and I definitely feel more prepared as a chess club sponsor. I might even strike up a game at Wednesday's practice! The 8 W's model was very effective in leading me through the stages of inquiry. It was very helpful to break everything down in stages. Once it was broken down, it was easier to see how the stages were so interdependent and how easily the cycle of inquiry restarts.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Chess has many supporters in the education field. There are many lesson plans out there for chess and incorporating it into your classroom. The game itself deals with quadrants and coordinates, lines and angles as well as thinking strategies. Children are forced to weigh their options and making decisions when playing the game of chess.
It was a little difficult to match the standards to the game of chess only because the standards have become so specific. If one were to look at the big picture chess would align with most mathematical reasoning standards. Here are a few I found that fit with the game of chess.
5.3.7 Use information taken from a graph or equation to answer questions about a problem situation.
5.7.1 Analyze problems by identifying relationships, telling relevant from irrelevant information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and observing patterns.
6.7.3 Decide when and how to break a problem into simpler parts.
A1.4.1 Graph a linear equation
A1.9.2 Decide whether a solution is reasonable in the context of the original situation.
It was a little difficult to match the standards to the game of chess only because the standards have become so specific. If one were to look at the big picture chess would align with most mathematical reasoning standards. Here are a few I found that fit with the game of chess.
5.3.7 Use information taken from a graph or equation to answer questions about a problem situation.
5.7.1 Analyze problems by identifying relationships, telling relevant from irrelevant information, sequencing and prioritizing information, and observing patterns.
6.7.3 Decide when and how to break a problem into simpler parts.
A1.4.1 Graph a linear equation
A1.9.2 Decide whether a solution is reasonable in the context of the original situation.
Here are few websites I would like to share. Some are geared towards children but I found them all to be very helpful.
Chess Kids
http://www.chesskids.com
Chess Guru
http://www.chessguru.net
United States Chess Federation
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/7324/28/
Chess Dryad
http://www.chessdryad.com/education/magictheater/
Chess.com Play. Learn. Share.
http://www.chess.com
Chess Kids
http://www.chesskids.com
Chess Guru
http://www.chessguru.net
United States Chess Federation
http://main.uschess.org/content/view/7324/28/
Chess Dryad
http://www.chessdryad.com/education/magictheater/
Chess.com Play. Learn. Share.
http://www.chess.com
Wishing
The wishing phase of the 8 W's model relates directly to the reflection element of Callison's information inquiry elements. During this phase, I am able to reflect on the process and draw on its strengths and weaknesses. Callison believes that reflecting must occur as well in both summative and formative levels. Overall, I think the project went well. I had some frustrating points dealing with the tremendous amount of information initially. Once I decided that my topic was just too big, I was able to lessen the information and the frustration minimized. A strength would be the use of blogging. I felt the blog was a great tool to share the thoughts and feelings I had throughout the project. It also allowed me to see other students' frustrations as well. A weakness would be instantly reverting to my old trusty source, the Internet. I have a bad habit of trying to get all my information for the web. I really had to force myself to explore other sources. I think one of the greatest challenges of the project was keeping up with the requirements of spreading out the postings and comments. I am the type of student that wants to just dedicate a day to an assignment and do it from start to finish. Completing the project in small chunks gradually was different for me as a learner.
I am not sure if anything could be done differently for this type of project. Though I found the spreading out of postings difficult, I feel it is necessary to do it in this manner to show the process of inquiry.
I feel my personal inquiry experiences are very similar to those of my students. The generation of students I am teaching are very Internet familiar and often look to it for all their information. Every fifth grader I have knows how to "google". I also believe that they too feel the frustration of being overwhelmed with information. This is a major reason why I think students need to be taught models of inquiry to help sort through the information and minimize the frustration.
My personal approach to inquiry is still basically the same as it was before the project. I still need that haunting question to light a spark. In this case, it was my desire to learn how to play chess. And as usual, I turned to the Internet right from the start. I am not sure if that is good or bad. I know it is a great tool and it is necessary to utilize it in today's world. I do think that I have forced myself to explore other sources during this project. One thing that has changed is the reflecting. I rarely reflected on the findings but now I find myself analyzing and sharing the information. I find that I like discussing the topics with others.
The wishing phase of the 8 W's model relates directly to the reflection element of Callison's information inquiry elements. During this phase, I am able to reflect on the process and draw on its strengths and weaknesses. Callison believes that reflecting must occur as well in both summative and formative levels. Overall, I think the project went well. I had some frustrating points dealing with the tremendous amount of information initially. Once I decided that my topic was just too big, I was able to lessen the information and the frustration minimized. A strength would be the use of blogging. I felt the blog was a great tool to share the thoughts and feelings I had throughout the project. It also allowed me to see other students' frustrations as well. A weakness would be instantly reverting to my old trusty source, the Internet. I have a bad habit of trying to get all my information for the web. I really had to force myself to explore other sources. I think one of the greatest challenges of the project was keeping up with the requirements of spreading out the postings and comments. I am the type of student that wants to just dedicate a day to an assignment and do it from start to finish. Completing the project in small chunks gradually was different for me as a learner.
I am not sure if anything could be done differently for this type of project. Though I found the spreading out of postings difficult, I feel it is necessary to do it in this manner to show the process of inquiry.
I feel my personal inquiry experiences are very similar to those of my students. The generation of students I am teaching are very Internet familiar and often look to it for all their information. Every fifth grader I have knows how to "google". I also believe that they too feel the frustration of being overwhelmed with information. This is a major reason why I think students need to be taught models of inquiry to help sort through the information and minimize the frustration.
My personal approach to inquiry is still basically the same as it was before the project. I still need that haunting question to light a spark. In this case, it was my desire to learn how to play chess. And as usual, I turned to the Internet right from the start. I am not sure if that is good or bad. I know it is a great tool and it is necessary to utilize it in today's world. I do think that I have forced myself to explore other sources during this project. One thing that has changed is the reflecting. I rarely reflected on the findings but now I find myself analyzing and sharing the information. I find that I like discussing the topics with others.
Waving
Waving is a unique part of the 8W's model. This is where I get to share my information and product with a specific audience. Callison doesn't touch upon this area independently but I feel it is an important part of the inquiry process. I plan on communicating my ideas on chess through the pamphlet. When the call out for chess club begins, I would like to distribute these pamphlets to every homeroom. I think it will help draw more attention to the program and ease the anxiety of the worried students who think they do not know enough about the game.
I think my fellow fifth grade teachers would be interested in reading about my experience. I have already spoken with several of them about the project and they have been eager to check out the blog.
Waving is a unique part of the 8W's model. This is where I get to share my information and product with a specific audience. Callison doesn't touch upon this area independently but I feel it is an important part of the inquiry process. I plan on communicating my ideas on chess through the pamphlet. When the call out for chess club begins, I would like to distribute these pamphlets to every homeroom. I think it will help draw more attention to the program and ease the anxiety of the worried students who think they do not know enough about the game.
I think my fellow fifth grade teachers would be interested in reading about my experience. I have already spoken with several of them about the project and they have been eager to check out the blog.
Wrapping
Wrapping is a specific stage where I get to create my own product to properly share my information. This stage has it's own step in Dr. Lamb's model but I believe Callison merges it with other elements in his stages of inquiry. As mentioned earlier, I plan on using this information to create a pamphlet encouraging middle school students to join the chess club. I feel this information is important because it is helping me to understand the game better and also helping my students to become less intimidated by older students with more experience. I want them to know it is safe to try something new, even if you don't now every rule.
I am focusing on information for middle school aged children but I believe that the pamphlet I have created will be most useful in the fifth grade, the youngest grade in our middle school building. The fifth grade comes in to school scared out of their wits about the "big kids". If I can encourage them to join chess club, I feel it will allow them to associate with these "big kids" in a safe environment. I have added images of my pamphlet below.
Wrapping is a specific stage where I get to create my own product to properly share my information. This stage has it's own step in Dr. Lamb's model but I believe Callison merges it with other elements in his stages of inquiry. As mentioned earlier, I plan on using this information to create a pamphlet encouraging middle school students to join the chess club. I feel this information is important because it is helping me to understand the game better and also helping my students to become less intimidated by older students with more experience. I want them to know it is safe to try something new, even if you don't now every rule.
I am focusing on information for middle school aged children but I believe that the pamphlet I have created will be most useful in the fifth grade, the youngest grade in our middle school building. The fifth grade comes in to school scared out of their wits about the "big kids". If I can encourage them to join chess club, I feel it will allow them to associate with these "big kids" in a safe environment. I have added images of my pamphlet below.
Weaving
The nest few elements of the 8 W's model, weaving, wrapping, and waving, seem to all merge with Callison's inference element of information inquiry. In the inference stage, I am trying to form a conclusion about all the gathered information and present it in an appropriate media form. . After reducing the amount of information through my guidelines, I chose to organize the information in categories. I basically outlined the information in my notes and listed what I thought to be most important. I plan on using this information to create a pamphlet for chess club that will explain the basics of the game. I found that most younger students are intimidated because they do not know how to completely play the game and fear they will embarrass themselves. I hope that this pamphlet will give those timid students the confidence boost they need to join the club.
I also spoke with the teacher I sponsor the chess club with at school. He is a veteran teacher and has been a chess club sponsor for over ten years. I asked him what he felt was important for students to know coming into the club. I also used his comments to select what information I would use in the pamphlet and what I disregarded.
The nest few elements of the 8 W's model, weaving, wrapping, and waving, seem to all merge with Callison's inference element of information inquiry. In the inference stage, I am trying to form a conclusion about all the gathered information and present it in an appropriate media form. . After reducing the amount of information through my guidelines, I chose to organize the information in categories. I basically outlined the information in my notes and listed what I thought to be most important. I plan on using this information to create a pamphlet for chess club that will explain the basics of the game. I found that most younger students are intimidated because they do not know how to completely play the game and fear they will embarrass themselves. I hope that this pamphlet will give those timid students the confidence boost they need to join the club.
I also spoke with the teacher I sponsor the chess club with at school. He is a veteran teacher and has been a chess club sponsor for over ten years. I asked him what he felt was important for students to know coming into the club. I also used his comments to select what information I would use in the pamphlet and what I disregarded.
Wiggling
In the wiggling stage, I am evaluating the information. This stage relates to Callison's assimilation element in his inquiry stages. I need to review the information found when searching, and make connections from what I know to what I want to know. After finding such a large amount of information, I decided to weed through it all and only keep the information that I felt would be suitable for my targeted age group, 10-14 years of age. I know that is a wide range but that is the age range of my middle school and all grades (5th through 8th) are welcome to join the chess club. This really helped condense the sources into a more manageable package.
Another evaluation tool I used was to avoid small websites publish by people unassociated with some type of youth chess organization. For example, I chose not to use sites created by the average person. Instead I used websites created by organizations such as the World Chess Federation.
In the wiggling stage, I am evaluating the information. This stage relates to Callison's assimilation element in his inquiry stages. I need to review the information found when searching, and make connections from what I know to what I want to know. After finding such a large amount of information, I decided to weed through it all and only keep the information that I felt would be suitable for my targeted age group, 10-14 years of age. I know that is a wide range but that is the age range of my middle school and all grades (5th through 8th) are welcome to join the chess club. This really helped condense the sources into a more manageable package.
Another evaluation tool I used was to avoid small websites publish by people unassociated with some type of youth chess organization. For example, I chose not to use sites created by the average person. Instead I used websites created by organizations such as the World Chess Federation.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
I looked for some more information through some other sources. I used the public library catalog to search for books on how to play chess. I used "chess-juvenille literature" as my search criteria. The search returned 19 hits in which all of them seemed like valid resources. I really preferred the book with the large picture illustrations though, they really help children to understand the rules being taught.
I thought it might also be helpful to have a video explaining chess so I searched YouTube. I found that there are a lot of clips out there. I had to weed through the results to find credible clips but I was able to get a few really informative, simple clips I think may help one understand the game. I have included one of the better clips below.
I thought it might also be helpful to have a video explaining chess so I searched YouTube. I found that there are a lot of clips out there. I had to weed through the results to find credible clips but I was able to get a few really informative, simple clips I think may help one understand the game. I have included one of the better clips below.
Since there is so much information out there about chess, I have decided to narrow down my questions. I would like to focus on the game and how it is played. My main purpose is to find information that would be helpful to middle school aged children who are interested in chess. Being the chess club sponsor at my school I would like to grab some of those timid students ands get them involved in an extracurricular activity. I also would like to find information about chess competitions at the tournament level so am as the sponsor am better informed and would therefore be better able to answer the questions of the students involved in chess club.
I received a great comment on Oncourse the other day. A fellow class mate, Rusty, shared a pathfinder he did for a previous SLIS class all about chess for kids. After looking at it, I have found it to be a great resource. Thanks Rusty! The website listed are fantastic and are at a very elementary level. I found this to be helpful since I hardly know anything about the game. One link I really liked was the Kids Academy Chess Kid. It has great mini lessons that break down the game into small chunks of information, just what I needed! I feel like I hit the jackpot!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
I searched Britannica Online using the keyword "chess". This resulted in over 200 articles. This is still a bit much but nothing compared to the results from the search engine. The first article that popped up on the search was extremely informative. For example, I had no idea that chess first appeared in India. From their, it worked its way west to Europe spreading through Asia and the Middle East along the way.
An interesting fact I found is that the most famous chessmen created came from the Vikings and were made of walrus ivory. I am still looking for information about how each piece received their name. I have only found a small detail that the bishop was formally a piece called the elephant in an ancient version of chess called shatranj.
An interesting fact I found is that the most famous chessmen created came from the Vikings and were made of walrus ivory. I am still looking for information about how each piece received their name. I have only found a small detail that the bishop was formally a piece called the elephant in an ancient version of chess called shatranj.
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