LESSON PLAN
Unit: Chess Openings
Lesson #: 2 (The Intuition Behind a Chess Opening)
Unit Essential Question: What makes a “good” opening move?
Learning Objectives:
Know the chess piece value system
Understand the objective of a successful chess opening
What Students already know:
The rules of the game
How the chess pieces move
The objective of the game
Materials needed:
Chess Board
Whiteboard
Lesson:
Intro: Has anyone heard of the term “chess opening” before? What is it? Recap the last “lesson.” (1 min)
Direct Instruction & class content (5 mins)
I will use the whiteboard & chess board
Students will learn:
The chess piece value system
Development of pieces
The importance of controlling the center of the board
Attacking and defending pieces
Trading & the concept of a “tempo”
Demo w/ class (4 mins)
a. This demo will involve the whole class. Teacher will ask the class questions regarding what
they think they should do next and guide them on why or why not it may be a good move.
Closing: Ideally, we’d have students pair up and practice for one another, but for the sake of time and the lack of chess boards I own, we will not do that in the allotted 10 minutes.
Hook to next lesson: Next class, we will have you play chess games with each other and analyze how the opening phase affects the rest of your game.
Differentiated Activities:
If we have an odd number of students, there can be one group of three.
Some students may need more help than others so during hands-on practice, I will walk around helping/scaffolding those students
For students who may be more experienced, I will pair them up with me and challenge them further
Direct instruction & demo is good for visual and auditory learners. Pairing up to practice is good for kinesthetic learners.
Assessment (formative):
Introduction & Direct Instruction: Are students paying attention? Are students engaged, asking/answering questions, and participating in discussions? Are students making connections or comments comparing new material learned with material they already know?
- Hands-on Practice (students pair-up): Teacher walks around and guides students in pairs. Teacher poses questions to help the students think & self-evaluate. Are students able to carry out instructions? Are students asking for help from their peers or from me when needed? Is there growth and improvement from the last time I walked around? Are students reflecting on their experiences and learning from their mistakes? Are particular students finding it easy? Are others getting stuck and finding it difficult?
Good topic, Nathaniel. Your lesson plan is OK, but you make the assumption that the group will know the chess pieces and basic rules of the game (as if you had been teaching it in a previous lesson), but for the purposes of this microteaching, you can't really assume that! The participatory element of this lesson only involves one volunteer from the group, and it's not clear that everyone will be engaged by that. I know that 10 minutes is short, but it's too bad that everyone can't pair up and try at least one opening with a partner. Could you print up mini chess boards on paper? Some things to think about for when you are feeling better and try out your micro teaching! You might want to make some small modifications.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan, I'm assuming this is a lesson for students who know the basics of how to play the game. Prior to creating the lesson plan. I've asked the class if everyone knows how to play it and I've got only yes-es from my peers. That being said, can I assume for the sake of this lesson that everyone in the lesson already knows the basics of the game? The targetted audience of this lesson is people who know how pieces move in chess but have no sense or direction of how to strategize in the game.
ReplyDeleteOK, good background research, Nat! You will be teaching this to (or at least in front of) the whole class tomorrow, so be prepared to have 17 'students' watching you, with at least a few participating actively, and you'll have the benefit of feedback from the whole group.
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