I taught an elementary school chess club for two months
It was a very rewarding experience in many respects.
I started playing chess in 2011. Since then, I've become pretty good:
- I have a 2000 rating[1] on chess.com
- I've played in around 10-12 USChess national tournaments
But I always thought chess would just be a hobby. I didn't know my chess expertise would help me land an awesome job.
I got the call from MacKenzie in late March. I know MacKenzie well—she has two daughters who go to my school—and she's involved in many aspects of Alpha, my high school.
She asked whether I could lead/teach an after-school chess club for the young gradeschoolers at Alpha. Initially, I was hesitant. It's no easy feat to teach 6-8 year-olds chess for 75 minutes every Monday for 7 Mondays.
My decision to accept MacKenzie's offer and teach chess club for the young kids was a great decision for three reasons:
- I was pleasantly surprised by the money I made. I earned considerably more money per hour teaching chess club than I would at a minimum-wage job. I won't mention any numbers, but the pay was excellent.
- I got to add the work experience to my resume! As a soon-to-be college student, I'll be applying to internships very soon. The more work experience I have under my belt, the better.
- Most importantly: I had an awesome experience teaching. Sure, it was sometimes exhausting to deal with the limitless energy that 6-8 year-olds have, but I taught them so much about chess. I've seen them improve their game considerably, which makes me super happy.
I also learned it's hard to maintain the attention of those young kids throughout an entire 75-minute long chess club! I used two strategies to keep them interested:
- I never lectured for more than 20 minutes at a time, because otherwise the kids always zone out. So I split a 75-minute club into four sections:
- 3:30–3:50pm: I taught a basic concept (like piece development, not making blunders, K + Q vs. K mate, etc.) for 20 minutes.
- 3:50–4:00pm: I let the kids play a "minigame" based on the concept I just taught. For example, when I taught the kids the classic K + Q vs. K mate (in the first section), I had them perform the mate against each other in this section.
- 4:00–4:20pm: I taught another basic concept or just did introductory checkmate/win-material puzzles with the kids.
- 4:20–4:45pm: I let the kids play games for the rest of the time. I put it last because that's always what they look forward to.
- I always took the opportunity to ask kids what they thought. For example, I would often ask "What do you think is the best move here?", "Why do you think that?", "Who do you think is winning: White, Black, or is it even?", etc. I've found that kids pay more attention when chess club feels more like a conversation, rather than a lecture.
I hosted the seventh and final chess club session today. It was a lot of fun—I gave the kids tips on how to improve their chess over the summer, and then we just played a ton of games. I ended up playing six games simultaneously versus the six kids present. I didn't go too hard on them[2] and we had a lot of fun.
I'm gonna miss the elementary school chess club! I'm glad I had the opportunity to teach & be a role model for the kids. Special thanks to Gaby and Ben for helping chess run smoothly.