Bison Chess Players at OKC Chess Tournament

Jacori amd Kendel play a practice game before the tournament begins..
Two of our chess players participated in a chess tournament at the Oklahoma City Main Library on Sunday afternoon.
Jacori ponders his next move.
Dan Wade, a fine promoter of scholastic chess in our city, organized the tournament which was the last of a series of tournaments for young people this school year. Dan helps to sponsor a chess club at Wilson Elementary School in the Oklahoma City School District.
Dan Wade of the Wilson Elementary Chess Club
The students had a great time. There were groups of players from Norman Public Schools, Eagle Ridge Institute and many other schools and organizations in central Oklahoma.
My thanks to Dan for putting on the tournament. I also thank the Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization for their support of scholastic chess in Oklahoma.

My Worship Leader Remarks this Sunday

First OCHS graduating class being led into the Cox Convention Center for the graduation ceremony.
Note: Each Sunday at my church, one of the laity acts as Worship Leader. This Sunday was my turn. One of the duties of the Worship Leader is to deliver a brief statement on any topic the Worship Leader chooses. I chose to review my first year as a teacher at Oklahoma Centennial High School since this was the Sunday following our first graduation ceremony.

Last Wednesday evening, I was a part of Oklahoma Centennial High School’s first graduation ceremony. My special thanks to Gail Vines for helping make this a memorable event. As most of you know, this is my first year at OCHS after 13 years of teaching at old John Marshall High School.

It has been a great year, one of my best. I have gotten to take part in many firsts. We organized our first chapter of the National Honor Society, and, along with Brother Bob Bearden, completed our first service project by taking part in the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive.

Along with this, fellow OCHS teacher Mark Lyle and I developed the “Bison Chess Club” to which several Mayflower members donated “seed money.” I am happy to report to you all that we held our first school chess tournament. Our students have been so enthusiastic about the club that some have asked about the possibility of keeping the club going during the summer months. I can’t tell you what joy that brings to a teacher’s heart.

We look forward to greater things next year because we will at last be moving into our own building. For the past two years OCHS has been using the old John Marshall facility, but next year we will move to our permanent home over on Kelly just north of Britton in what was formerly Eisenhower Junior High, but now with MAPS for Kids money, is being remodeled into a brand new school

I covet your prayers for our students. Researchers say that the number one predictor of a student’s success is the student’s economic environment. The number two predictor is the economic environment of the student’s school population. Our students are largely drawn from the Britton, West Village, and North Highlands neighborhoods. Anyone who knows those parts of the city knows that our students come to school with a couple of strikes against them already. My job is to show them out to get a hit with a two-strike count.

I cannot change the situation into which my students were born. I have control over just one thing: the world I create for them in my classroom. My mission, the sacred mission of all my fellow teachers who call Mayflower our church, is to make that world one of nurture, growth and learning.

I know I speak for all my colleagues in expressing our appreciation for the historical support that this church has given to public education. Fellow teachers, let’s enjoy our summer and renew ourselves for the tasks which lay ahead when once again we will be called on to touch the future

First OCHS Chess Tourney Was a Winner All Around

We had our chess tournament on Thursday with eight students taking part. The students enjoyed themselves so much that they asked if we could do it again before school lets out. (Sadly, we can't.) They also asked about keeping the chess club going over the summer. I'll have to look into that one.

Tulsa Hosts US Chess Championship

Tulsa is hosting the 2008 U.S. Chess Championship. It began Tuesday and will run through May 21st. Twenty-four players were invited to participate in the tournament.

Ironically, today the Bison Chess Club is holding its first intra-school chess tournament. The quality of play will be far different, but we will have a similar level of enthusiasm for the game.

Another note about chess in our school. This morning I was at my duty station reading a book on chess. A man who is acting as a substitute in our building came up to me and told me that when he has "free time" for the classes he subs in, several students pull out chess sets they have in their book bags and start playing chess games with each other. A colleague bought about 20 chess sets from The Dollar Store and donated them to the club. I've been giving them out to our students who don't have a chess set of their own. Obviously, this has had a positive affect in our school

Our Chess Club is a part of the OSCO

The Oklahoma Centennial Bison Chess Club is now officially a part of the Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization. You can see our listing here: List of Member Clubs. I don't want to make a bigger deal of this than it is, but this represents a small step for our student chess players. Thanks OSCO!

My Principal Supports Our Chess Club

Me and a Bison Chess Club Member

Today, my principal, Carol Thompson, presented our school chess club with 5 tournament quality chess sets. It is so good to work for someone who really supports me when I try to do something a little bit off the beaten path.

Thank you Principal Thompson!

Principal Carol Thompson at her school birthday party

News from the Chess Front

I have not blogged in a while, so I thought I would report of the developments with our high school chess club. First, I went to my first ever chess club which meets at one of our Barnes & Noble coffee shops on Wednesdays. Roger and Steve who are two of the mainstays of the club welcomed me and then proceeded to "school me" on chess. I mean that in the literal and slang since. They talk me some of the finer points of the game while they proceeded to wipe me off the board!

I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I don't have much invested personally in the game other than I want to learn how to play better so that I can teach better. So I will take my lumps for a while and try to be the sort of pulpil I ask my students to be. Teachers can make horrible students, but I am going to try to take some of my own medicine for a while.

We had our first after school chess club meeting on Thursday. We had one student so up. I had several say they wanted to come, but they did not follow through. I have a feeling that this will be a long term process for which we will have to make many adjustments. But we have started, and this is good.

Chess Blog

Bison Chess Club Logo
I came across a blog by Susan Polgar who is a chess grandmaster as well as a four time World Champion. The more I get into chess, the more I find that there is an inexhaustible wealth of material about it. Someone somewhere claimed that there have been more books written about the game of chess than any other game. I find this surprising considering the amount of TV time Poker gets these days.
Chessboard with standard Algebraic nNotation
Mr. Lyle and I are going to begin an after school chess program at OCHS. We simply do not have enough time to do more than play a game in our morning chess session. Sometimes that's not enough. The first thing I plan to teach is chess notation which is a method for recording chess games, much like keeping a scorecard in baseball. (Baseball and chess have much in common. I'll have to explore that in another post.) I've ordered a demonstration board to help teach tactics and strategy. I've been trying to teach myself a little about the game, and I'm fortunate to have Mr. Lyle helping me since he knows more about it than do I.

We start next Thursday. Wish me luck.

Thanks for the Chess Donations

Recently, I have had some generous people step forward and donate money for our students' chess club. I will now be able to purchase T-shirts for our club members. We will hold our first intramural tournament sometime after Spring Break, and all those who participate will be given a free T-shirt. We may even have money left from this to buy some needed equipment to help students learn and play the game. Thank you generous people of Oklahoma.

Responses to the Coppernoll Column

The Donated Board Looks a Bit Like This

I've had some responses to Carrie Coppernoll's column that ran on Saturday. This morning a man came to my classroom to offer me an inlaid chess table with some very good looking chess pieces done on a "Roman Empire" theme (Augustus Caesar as King, Roman footsoldiers as pawns, senators as bishops and so forth). Of course, I said a very grateful yes. The kids will fight over who gets to play the set, so I am going to have to make it some sort of "honor" to get to use it.

He explained that he and his wife would play chess regularly, but that she had passed away last year. He wanted to donate the set so someone would get as much joy out of it has he had.

Very generous people we have living in our community.