Proposed Chess in Schools (CIS) Hybrid Delivery Model

 

Technology In my classroom

Technology is a tool that catalyzes gains in knowledge, skill, or understanding — preferably all three. I only use tech if it acts as a catalyst. If there is no need for a catalyst to achieve the necessary reaction from a student, then the student and I can leave tech be. When technology meets a need, I review the possible tech tools for the task in collaboration with the student and, where relevant, the family team and / or institution.

My childhood likely informs this approach to technology in the classroom: There simply was not access to any in my K-6 career (low SES status). After that, technology was often used to disguise poor teaching practices, or simply as a babysitter (. I did not own a computer until well into adulthood. Likewise, I did not own a smartphone until I was in my late-twenties. My inclination is to do as much as possible without tech because that was the only option available to me growing up. Students in the rural area where I now live face similar technological challenges.

On occasion, a major project necessitates the selection of a suite of apps, a tech ecosystem. The following mind map illustrates such a suite. My nonprofit, Cochise Chess, serves Cochise County, Arizona, which is the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. In order to meet increasing demand for our Chess in Schools program (CIS), we will soon deploy a hybrid delivery model.

We will create a regular, hybrid presence in distant schools across Cochise County in collaboration with school personnel. Schools will thereby gain the expertise of Cochise Chess for their afterschool — or in-school — programming, while our nonprofit minimizes cost with maximal, student-centered results.

I have designed the CIS tech ecosystem so that it aligns with the best practices set by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). At the instructor-instructor and institution-institution levels, the CIS hybrid delivery model emphasizes the standards for collaboration, design, and facilitation. Feedback is bidirectional, and the teacher experience is readily available to review thanks to almost-entirely open-source apps that exist in the cloud.

How we learn about and with technology in my classroom

1. Interactive Digital Annotations

In-person school staff will scan players scoresheets that contain students game notation using https://www.xchess.ai/home. This is the only paid app in the app suite. Cochise Chess will bear the cost of using the app. Staff will upload the games to the linked https://lichess.org/

Cochise Chess account, and add games to the school’s lichess study page. A study page allows students, school staff, and Cochise Chess staff to 1) annotate games with the support of the lichess engine, Stockfish, and 2) chat with each other synchronously or asynchronously. For those unfamiliar with the chess world, a chess engine calculates moves by brute force far better than a human being can — even a grandmaster! The engine is generally a reliable source of information that will only support students’ learning. Cochise Chess staff are trained to interpret the engine’s outputs. More information on creating a lichess study here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-OeLcG9Q0

If students are more curious about a position from a book, video, or a photograph they’ve taken of a peer’s game, then the student or staff member can utilize https://chessvision.ai/ to scan and analyze the position. Tutorial here: https://chessvision.ai/docs/intro

2. Self-Directed Learning Checkpoints

Students generally know when they’re stuck in the learning process or they’re experiencing some tension related to learning a particular concept. In-person staff can confirm when needed. Those concepts and practical examples can be found in our Open Chess Curriculum (OCC). The OCC is a combination of the Saint Louis Chess Club’s Curriculum: https://saintlouischessclub.org/education/educational-resources/chess-curriculum/), Levy Rozman’s (aka GothamChess) book How to Win at Chess, and our own findings.

Teachers can share students concerns directly with Cochise Chess staff by commenting in the Google Doc teaching journal for the school. Similarly, school staff can point Cochise Chess instructors to comments in the relevant lichess.org study for the school. Depending on a school’s policies, older students might be allowed to share their checkpoint questions with Cochise Chess staff directly in a Google Doc journal. Cochise Chess staff can respond in a lichess.org study, Google Doc, and / or a Zoom video recording.

3. Reflection & Peer Dialogue: Multimodal Learning Journals (How I Engage Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy with Technology):

The rich content co-created in parts 1 and 2 above will form the basis of students’ quarterly reflections on 1) how their chess has developed (ISTE Student Standard: Empowered Learner), 2) how their chess studies have informed their learning in more traditional school subjects (ISTE Student Standard: Knowledge Constructor), and 3) how co-designing the CIS hybrid delivery system (ISTE Student Standard: Innovative Designer) has enriched their understanding of themselves as a Digital Citizen (ISTE Student Standard: Digital Citizen).

Students’ journals can be shared in a Google Doc, or even a Google Site portfolio or YouTube video. In the process of drafting their reflections, students may find that they are in new territory in many ways. Student agency — in terms of language-used, cultural-sensitivity, and how to use technology to tell their story — presents a lot to process.

At present, all of our CIS students attend schools in Douglas, Arizona. Nearly all of those students are Hispanic and they — along with students like them historically — have lacked access to quality after-school programming. Accordingly, our students may wish to reflect on the Justice Anchor Standards found here: https://www.learningforjustice.org/frameworks/social-justice-standards. They might discuss how they — in collaboration with their school, teachers, and Cochise Chess staff -- have worked to counteract harmful stereotypes about Hispanic and rural learners. They could also analyze how their labor in the CIS program creates equitable, self-directed education for themselves that also benefits their community by surmounting long-standing resource shortfalls where they live.

How we learn about and with technology in my classroom