Random Thoughts Thursday part 16

Chessing, Chessification, Chessable, Chessify

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As a high school math teacher, I interact with teenagers almost daily. I like to think that they help my brain stay young. They certainly offer me a challenge and keep me laughing. Rule number one: when a teen wants to oppose your instructions, try not to engage in a "battle" to avoid head-to-head combat. If it is not a safety issue, there is just no need to "win" at all costs. That's always a lose-lose situation. Instead, when a kid starts to be mildly defiant, I try to catch it fast and employ quick wit and humor. Usually, a laugh throws them off their position, and they will happily just go with the flow, and all is right with the world again. Case in point: it was time for my chess enrichment class at school. It was the end of the day; the kids were tired.

Their brains were worn out from all their core classes, and they walked into my room, dragging their feet, just ready to go home after a long day. I get it. If I think back long enough, I'm sure that I can muster evidence that I too was once a teenager. My work was cut out for me. How could I keep the kids engaged and motivated to learn just a little bit before the final bell? After all, I only get the honor of teaching these kids chess twice a week, as other interesting "extra" classes fill the other three days.

On today's agenda is a quiz on Paul Morphy based on the information that I gave them last week. Sure, that was going to go over really well (eyeroll), but I needed to give them some "gradeable" work to justify this as a course for credit. Usually, they get points for working on chess puzzles, class participation, or memorizing opening or endgame configurations. I just wanted to give this class a little bit of the history of chess to add to their repertoire so when they "talk chess" in public, they can hold their own.

Pop Quiz and Cookies

So here we were, teacher with a pop quiz in hand and unsuspecting students filing into seats. On most days, I already have the chess boards set up, but not today, so they knew something was up. I said, "Make sure you have a pencil." Now they were nervously looking at me wide-eyed, as if they had forgotten something. I gave them the quiz and told them to do their best to see what they remembered from last week. While they were working, I set up a "random name picker" wheel that said "guy, gal, guy, gal..." sixteen times. When they had finished their trivia sheet, I had them break into guys and gals teams, and I spun the wheel to randomize which team would answer as we went through the questions in order. This time the guys were victorious and won packets of four Oreo cookies, and because I am "that kind of teacher," who can't stand to have half the class feel left out, the girls won half a packet of Oreo cookies by sharing a four pack of cookies with the girl sitting next to her. Okie-dokie, with cookies involved, the kids were awake...

Chess Time

Time to play chess... Well, ALMOST everyone jumped right into play... except one. He is a very bright kid, a leader in the group, and one of the top three players in the room, and that includes me. He is also a senior, so all the younger middle school students look up to him. If he is off task, several kids try to follow...oh no, no, now I don't have the energy for that. So here is how it went down:

"Alright, after you have turned in your trivia sheet so I can give you credit, please grab a chessboard and play your choice of opponent, and I will come around and comment on strategy," I said. To which I heard the reply from our "cool senior," catching everyone's attention, "But I don't want to play chess today." Pause for a moment. What would your response be?

Think Fast, Saved by Humor

If he didn't have to play, several others would have likely wanted to cop out and blow off class also. Well, my response was, "How come you don't want to 'chess' today?" He said, "Because I don't feel like chessing right now." I said with a smile, "How can you come to a chess CLASS and not want to chess?" To which he tried to derail my banter by saying, "When are we going to stop using 'chess" as a verb?" At which I replied, "As soon as you give me a chessification as to why you are not chessing." Bam! He chuckled. I found a chink in the armor. He said, "Ok, maybe I can play in a little bit, but I prefer to mentor or teach today." (an option I have given him in the past because he is a remarkable teacher for beginner students.) My internal thoughts led me to understand that he was holding out an olive branch and offering a compromise. I could meet him halfway, but not without a little additional teasing. "Very well then," I said. "I will listen to your advice to the other students, and if I find it chessable, then you will have chessified your case." That got a huge smile from him and several giggles from the other teens, and we had a VERY productive chess club today.

This young man keeps me on my toes, but I do enjoy finding that humorous way to push him to improve himself a little. He's causing me to come up with more creative activities in the classroom too, just to keep him participating in class. That's a good balance. Teachers and students can BOTH grow that way. So, today's post is dedicated to those challenging students who always keep teachers thinking and learning. I also wanted to tell his story because, as I was walking home, I started to think about how silly English can sometimes be.

Playing with English

You see, I teach English online to kids from various countries as a second job. Sometimes kids will come up with perfectly logical "English" words based on the rules of English, but their creative words don't exist in the language. I decided that my new chess language words today should be candidates for the English dictionary.

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Chessing- Chess-ing (verb) the act of playing chess

At the club, I had a great day chessing against other players.

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Chessification- Chess-ification (Noun) a logical reason given as to why you are unable to stop everything that you are doing and just play a game of chess.

I'm sorry, sir; I have no chessification for not giving you a rematch.

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Chessify- Chess-ify (verb) to show or prove that your chessification was right or reasonable.

I cannot chessify why I will not play today.

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Chessable- Chess-able (Adjective) to be worthy of being classified as a chess mentor

He was a very chessable teacher.

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Still Reading?

If you have read this far, you are my kind of chess player: serious enough to play online but playful enough to still entertain my silly humor. ;-)

A special thanks to all the chess players in my life who make me laugh.

Best wishes and joy!

Cheers!