Chess contributes to academic performance!

Chess makes kids smarter!

These are just a few skills that chess develops:

• Focusing: children are taught the benefits of observing carefully and concentrating. If they don’t watch what is happening, they can’t respond to it, no matter how smart they are.
• Visualizing: children are prompted to imagine a sequence of actions before it happens. We actually strengthen the ability to visualize by training them to shift the pieces in their mind, first one, then several moves ahead.
• Thinking Ahead: children are taught to think first, then act. We teach them to ask themselves “If I do this, what might happen then, and how can I respond?” Over time, chess helps develop patience and thoughtfulness.
• Weighing Options: children are taught that they don’t have to do the first thing that pops into their mind. They learn to identify alternatives and consider the pros and cons of various actions.
• Analyzing Concretely: children learn to evaluate the results of specific actions and sequences. Does this sequence help me or hurt me? Decisions are better when guided by logic, rather than impulse.
• Thinking Abstractly: children are taught to step back periodically from details and consider the bigger picture. They also learn to take patterns used in one context and apply them to different, but related situations.
• Planning: children are taught to develop longer range goals and take steps toward bringing them about. They are also taught of the need to reevaluate their plans as new developments change the situation.
• Juggling Multiple Considerations Simultaneously: children are encouraged not to become overly absorbed in any one consideration, but to try to weigh various factors all at once.

None of these skills are specific to chess, but they are all part of the game. The beauty of chess as a teaching tool is that it stimulates children’s minds and helps them to build these skills while enjoying themselves. As a result, children become more critical thinkers, better problem solvers, and more independent decision makers.

These conclusions have been backed up by educational research. Studies have been done in various locations around the United States and Canada, showing that chess results in increased scores on standardized tests for both reading and math. A study on a large scale chess program in New York City, which involved more than 100 schools and 3,000 children, showed higher classroom grades in both English and Math for children involved in chess. Studies in Houston, Texas and Bradford, Pennsylvania showed chess leads to higher scores on the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.

I reached a lot of my students because of this wonderful game: http://www.successfulmathematics.com/media/a01_a_main.pdf

For the entire article, visit: http://www.kcfe.eu/sites/default/files/research_KCFE.pdf

I don’t know how to describe this in words, but first of all I am excited about the wonderful people that I met, my fellows. In just a week, I felt that all of us (the fellows) became like a family. I strongly believe that we are the most excentric teachers, at least in North Carolina. We know how to be serious, but we know how to have fun as well!

I am planning to involve parents much more in my classroom’s life.

I strongly believe that involving parents in their children’s education will have a positive impact on everybody (including me).

Also, I will try to connect my content much more with real-life examples. Teaching students is not just about content; it is also about preparing them for “real-life” as good citizens, professionals, future parents etc. If we try hard, I think we can find every subject in any real-life context. We just have to try!!!

Something that I will definitely do (never done): watch daily news with my students (since I have TV in my classroom) and analyze them in context. I think it’s worth 10-15 minutes to do it and I am sure that I will be able to connect it somehow with my content. Amin to that!

I teach Math at Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy (which is a school with wonderful people). I really like my Math Department folks. We are a team!!! My principal (Mrs. Pam Patterson) is very supportive!!!

I have been teaching Mathematics for 16 years: 7 years in United States, 7 years in Romania and 2 years at a Cambridge International School.

I like my job, I am sure that teaching children is a gift that I have. Every human being is gifted with something. If you like what you are doing and you are useful to others with what you are doing  then you found your gift.

One of my colleagues, Helen Walker, being a Kenan Fellow, shared with me just a few accomplishments through this fellowship, so she made me curious. I didn’t have a chance to apply until this year. I am really excited about this opportunity!!!

Beside playing chess, eating healthy is very important too!!!

The main goal of my internship is to develop a STEM curriculum that would interest my students and would teach them something that they will never forget but most importantly apply in their life.

Absolutely!

Through my project, teachers and students will learn how having a healthy diet can influence positively their well-being. In the long run, this will be a positive influence on hospitals in general too.

My project’s title is:

“How does an unhealthy diet influence our health and well-being?”

Beside the mathematical topics that will be covered by doing this project, I would like to make my students understand and learn how important is to eat healthy.

A healthy diet gives our body the nutrients it needs to perform physically, maintain wellness and fight disease. People whose dietary habits include fresh, whole foods like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish have a lower incidence of major chronic disease.

Through this project, my students will make a research on how an unhealthy diet vs. healthy diet influences our health and well-being.

The most interesting thing in my internship was to see how the lab technicians run the blood tests. I was really impressed about the machines that can run approximately 80% of the possible tests.

My biggest challenge was to adapt to the hospital environment. If you work in a lab you have to change your protecting gloves every 10-15 minutes so you won’t contaminate yourself or the blood samples.

I watched lab technicians and pharmacists doing their work. It was a blessing to realize that my teaching job is much more dynamic and fun than these jobs.

Overall, my internship was a good experience!

Please visit my website:

www.successfulmathematics.com

It is really important to identify the education “issues” because this is the first step in the process of solving them. Like in Mathematics, the very first step in solving a problem is to identify the unknown.

I like how the Public School Forum of North Carolina listed these issues:

• develop highly paid opportunities for teachers to advance in their careers without leaving the classroom
• consider revising school performance scores to include indicators of college and workforce readiness and schools’ effectiveness closing achievement gaps
• support rigorous professional development for classroom teachers to implement new standards
• emphasize quality and equity in school choice
• ensure all children and youth have access to a variety of quality Expanded Learning Opportunities
• increase innovation in competitive grants for afterschool programs
• change the conversation toward valuing teachers as professionals
• continue to strategically increase per-pupil spending
• emphasize preparation of teachers to integrate new technologies into the classroom
• promote a balanced assessment system that includes formative and summative assessments