The 'J' Factor

Mark Johansson has ‘gone the extra yard’ this year with chess coaching on the junior campus of Castlemaine Secondary College. And the tournament results have been rewarding.

Twice a week, for the whole year, Johansson’s voice booms over the lunchtime announcements: : “CHESSSSSSS……. IS……ONNNNNN….….IN …..LAWWWSON….. HAAAALL!” where the ‘true believers’ refine their skills in a relaxed and informal environment. But, on the tournament circuit it’s a different story.

On August 16 a team competed at Bendigo where they won their age division and finished third overall behind Red Cliffs Secondary College seniors and Bendigo Senior Secondary College.

The troupe ventured over to Ballarat in early September, where they won not only their age group (junior secondary) but won the open secondary division also. Out of 50 students the team monopolised individual placings earning 14 of the top 20 spots.

In the September holidays, Mark and Harry took 6 students to the Victorian Youth Masters. The best finisher was Shay Keillor-Reed, coming third in his age category.

Hungry for match practice, Johansson organised a tournament at CSC Junior Campus where players ventured over from Maryborough. Again, Johansson’s team won their category.

Having now qualified 10 players for the State Finals they finishied a creditable ninth in Victoria. Shay Keillor-Reed finished 16th and Max Nanchman finished 20th out of the state’s elite 110 players.

Johansson was upbeat: “These guys were great- they are only in yr 7 but were competing against yr 8’s and 9’s. The next few years should see our school perform really well.”

As recognition to our cluster’s commitment to promoting chess, the junior campus has been given a ‘wild-card entry’ into the National Interschool Championships to be held in Melbourne in December.

Overall Mark, a great years work!

Sam Grumont interviews Ross Allengame

It's stalwarts like Ross Allengame who make Chess-Squared successful. Here, the Castlemaine Primary School teacher talks to Sam Grumont about his recent success in our cluster tournament and the benefits of chess in his classroom.

Sam: what is your reaction to your kids winning the chess tournament?

Ross: I was very, very pleased with the way they performed. I was a bit worried about round 5 as they all had one defeat by then but they managed wins in the next two rounds.

Sam: are they all grade 4 students?

Ross: the majority are grade 4 with 4 grade 5 kids and two grade 6 kids. Oscar Black won the boys champion, he’s a quiet achiever, and he only started playing chess this year. He plays his father at home and me at lunchtimes quite often, taking notes and participated in chess seminars during last holidays.

Sam: what do you attribute the success and enthusiasm of the kids in playing chess?

Ross: probably how you set the room up and what you are really trying to achieve with the game of chess. Are you trying to achieve a passive sort of game or are you really making it a game of war where there is a bit of competition to see who can actually win? If so who is going to win on points, going to win on time, and who’s going to be king of the heap?

Sam: Can you tell us a little about the tables and the round robin competition?

Ross: That has provided a focus for everyone to come back after ten weeks to see where they are up to, making sure they are here on a Thursday to make sure they don’t go down in points and also giving those people who are really good that keen eyes like who’s coming up to beat them and working out tactics for who to play to get more points in the game.

Sam: some kids have surprised you this year?

Ross: I’ve got a lot of troubled children in my room. They’ve had a lot of behaviour problems, a lot of issues at home, a lot of personal issues, but chess has been a way of keeping them concentrated over a period of time. They’ve actually concentrated more with chess and pass that back into the classroom with their ordinary work, keeping things a lot quieter, concentrating and not annoying other kids in the room.

Sam: Finally what pieces of advice do you have for someone setting up chess for the first time?

Ross: keep it simple. I’d probably do something similar to my dungeons to warlords system for teaching chess and then I’d probably go into a competition scenario where there is a round robin or a day chess competition. You don’t need a lot of knowledge with chess, I can play only a little above kids chess but a little bit of extra help with expertise as we have with the chess tutors, can be very handy. It’s a learning curve for you as a teacher.

BLAST-OFF 2007

Welcome to CHESS-SQUARED for 2007. A lot has happened since our conclusion in 2006.

Harry, and a loyal band of parents, took 24 students to Melbourne in December and participated in the Victorian Youth Championships. One student, on the train ride home after two nights in Melbourne said to Harry “I’ve only ever done two good things at school, the year7 camp, and this. And I liked this a lot more!’ A great endorsement.

We welcome new tutor, Peter O’Connor, who is working at Maldon and Newstead. Peter joins local chess stalwarts Ron Moore, Greg Smith, John Lavery, and Sir Harry Poulton.

We will bring interviews onto our blog, so we can get to know all tutors- not just the ones coming into our own classes.

I’m just completing a submission for a National Numeracy Award, that will summarise our program and what was achieved in two terms in 2006. The Awards will be announced in Literacy and Numeracy Week in early September 2007 that receives high exposure nationwide. A strong feature of our program are the partnerships we have with Castlemaine Community House, School Focussed Youth Service, James Cook University, and of course the Innovations and Excellence Program. Fingers crossed our program gets some recognition.

There is presently a world-wide ground-swell of Chess In Schools progams.
When Susan Polgar offered a free 30 lesson chess curriculum on her blog, amazingly, 5000 requests came from all around the globe! I’m still processing the implications of that, not just for chess, but to highlight the power and potential influence of blogging in terms of linking classrooms with the global community.

In September, there will be an International Chess In Schools Conference in Aberdeen Scotland. A team from Mt. Alexander is examining the possibility of visiting that conference. We had initial conversations with conference organisers, sent them our blog address and received a reply stating ‘…….your program covers many themes of our conference, in a way we have not yet been able to do yet in Scotland’.

But most importantly, we are continually grappling with our ‘core business’: to find ways to increase exposure of chess to children, innovative ways to use chess as a tool for maths learning, and to increase engagement and enjoyment of schooling for young people.Stay tuned.

To pinch an appropriate quote from Kevin Brown, one of our cluster principals: ‘May the moves be with you’. Let CHESS-SQUARED 2007 begin!

Regards
Steve Carroll

UPDATE: A recent post on Susan Polgars blog states
'Since I offered the free chess curriculum from the Susan Polgar Foundation on my blog a few months ago, I have received almost 25,000 requests from coaches, teachers, parents and educators, etc., from over 85 different countries.'

Well Known Chess Aficionado Provides $8000 in Scholarships!

The Mt Alexander School Cluster ‘Chess Squared’ program was given over $8000 in scholarships by a well known chess enthusiast to enable our cluster ‘chesskids’ to attend the ‘Victorian Youth Championships’(17th & 18th of December).
Our benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, attended our tournament at the Old Castlemaine Jail, and said it was the largest tournament of its kind in the history of rural Victoria.
He has a passion for chess, and was so impressed with the professionalism of our program, and the enthusiasm of our chesskids, he has subsidized the $220 entry fee by $180.
The top 40 players from the local event were eligible for the scholarship.
Innovations & Excellence have agreed to cover the remaining $40.
Although our lists have not been finalized yet we anticipate 38 students will take up the opportunity provided by the generosity and good will of our anonymous benefactor.
The Victorian Youth Championships provides kids with a tournament-seminar environment. Students will attend lectures, engage in social activities, there will be individual coaching for every player, and $5000 worth of prizes to be won.
It will initiate our Mt. Alexander chesskids into a state wide chess culture, and will provide wonderful learning opportunities.
Our scholarship students have shown great initiative in their preparation for the tournament.
They have undertaken a self motivated course of study in the finer aspects of the ‘royal game’ with a view to making the tournament a rewarding experience.
Castlemaine Chess Club members Harry Poulton and Ron Moore have been running free Sunday training programs at The Castlemaine Community House for students to hone their skills for the upcoming event.
This will be the final event in our 2006 chess calendar, before we return in Term2 2007.
The program coordinators and tutors want to thank teachers, parents and everyone else who have been involved in making the ‘Chess Squared’ program a wonderful success.

Report from Sam Grumont

Yes, yesterday 245 primary schools students marched, strolled and bussed their way into the Old Castlemaine Gaol to compete in the Mount Alexander Schools Chess Competition.

Once inside students sat at tables lined along the spokes of the prison which made it a unique experience for the them. Chess Kids ran the competition, supplying all of the equipment, boards, pieces, clocks and computer program.

Each student played 7 games competing with others at their level. The winning team of 4 students get to play the state final next week.

The enthusiasm of the kids for chess has surprised all of our teachers and principals. The Mount Alexander Cluster chess/numeracy initiative mainstreamed chess as part of each school's numeracy work; tutors worked with the kids and their teachers passing on their passion for chess. One of the principals, Kevin Brown, said to me that he had attempted to get chess going with a little success but the tutors brought another level of knowledge and enthusaism to the classes.

In all of the schools I have worked in as a consultant one thing that kids constantly say a good teacher has is 'they really like their subject' or 'really like teaching'. Passion, you can't beat it.

Content knowledge in your discipline is important. It's obvious to kids that you really know what you are teaching and that you can assist them in moving to a higher level because of your knowledge. Both process and content are important. I'm emphasizing this because I seem to be reading a lot of teaching material which virtually dismissed content knowledge as unimportant. But in chess like other areas knowledge of your subject can inspire kids.

The chess competition was the finale of our initiative for this year. We aimed to finish on a high note.

Now we need to evaluate our pre and post test data, anecdotal information and conduct some student assessments to see if there has been some effect on the numeracy skills of our students. Some initial information looks positive.

If you have any stories about using games successfully in class let me know.

Visit Sam's blog:http://learningandknowing.blogspot.com/

GRAND FINAL Day- Monday 9th October

I visited the Old Castlemaine Gaols first public open day today.

The facility has a long-term lease from Mt. Alexander Council to CVGT (Central Victoria Group Training) until 2012. It is CVGT’s aim to develop the site into a hospitality training centre, an upgraded tourism venue and viable community facility.

Their long term strategic plan is about getting the ‘formular right’ and developing a sustainable precinct that will benefit the people of Castlemaine.

Although not yet open to the public, the Goal is operating as a training centre for chefs and catering.

So, what’s this got to do with chess you may ask?

As a celebration and ‘Grand Final’ of our program CHESS-SQUARED Innovations & Excellence have contracted Chess Kids to run a primary school tournament open to the 12 primary schools in our cluster on Monday October 9th.

It will be held at the Old Castlemaine Gaol.

Innovations & Excellence are supplying buses to bring students together for the tournament. Hopefully all schools will support the event, and we are hoping to get 200 students participating.

Castlemaine Chess Club convenor Harry Poulton said: “This will be the biggest event in the history of goldfields chess.”

The top four students for the day will automatically gain entry to the Chess Kids Victorian Championship held the following week in Melbourne.

Particpating schools need to enter their school and students on-line:
http://interschool.chesskids.com.au/?tournament=56

Sam Grumont will contact all schools in week 1 of term 4 to clarify any questions.

The 'Big Day Out'

Castlemaine Secondary College made smart moves at the recent Regional Schools Chess Tournament held at Bendigo, winning 6 of a possible 14 medals and seeing 5 students make their way through to the Victorian Schools Chess Championship.

Of the 42 secondary students participating, 23 came from Castlemaine Secondary College.

The result is a marvellous endorsement for our chess program- Chess-Squared- funded by Schools Innovations and Excellence, that started earlier this year.

The program has seen teachers across 13 schools in the Mt Alexander cluster work in collaboration with tutors from the Castlemaine Chess Club and Castlemaine Community House.

CSC teacher Mark Johansson has been a key player in the initiative. Johansson has run lunchtime tournaments honing players skills to competition standard, and has incorporated chess into his junior maths curriculum.

Johansson has also visited primary school classrooms, teaching tactics and strategy.

“In class students are engrossed in the game. It’s surprising how it consolidates so many maths skills.” Johansson said.

Johansson commented on the steadily growing chess culture at CSC over the year. ‘Earlier this year, we’d run chess one lunchtime per week. Recently, it’s been running three times a week with healthy student numbers supporting the activity.’ Johansson said.

We wish everyone well in the State Finals early next term.