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Why did I choose Steps as my textbook? (1)

8/31/2022

In 2014, I decided to start teaching chess after accompanying my daughter playing in chess tournaments for 8 years. I know that textbooks are needed, but many introductory books only have lecture notes, no exercises. And many puzzle books don't explain at all. If there is no outside suggestion, I might choose the following two books as teaching materials.

Soon after I started to advertise, Jairo found me because he needed someone to teach after school. He gave me a hint to check out Steps. I immediately went to the USCF Shop to search and found a set of workbooks and manuals. When I received the books, I really felt good, and I made my decision right away. THIS IS IT!

First impression:
1. Rich in content, clear knowledge points, and step by step
2. A lot of practice, save the trouble of finding exercises for students
3. Not in a hurry

I used some Step 1 content in the after-school class, taught a Step 2 class, and prepared the initial teaching material for my daughter's All-girls Camp in November.
(To be continued)

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The difference between online and in-person classes

8/31/2022

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Some parents asked about the difference between online classes and in-person classes. I will write a few words. The difference discussed here is about the online and in-person classes I am teaching. Not necessarily be able to cover other teachers'.

The first is the length of class time. The online class is 75 minutes, and the in-person class is one hour. The online class is basically a half-hour homework discussion, a 15-minute new lesson, and a half-hour commentary on students' games. Online class students do not play games in class. Parents make an appointment after chess class, according to the pairing I give for the week. The in-person class is 20 minutes of homework discussion, 10 minutes of new lesson, and half an hour of game playing. Playing chess is a feature of the in-person class. Parents who are willing to sign up in-person class are also interested in this opportunity to play against their classmates. But the disadvantage is that the chess games in in-person class cannot be commented, because almost no one records it (clearly and correctly), and even if it is recorded (my advanced class is required to write notation, for preparing for tournaments), there is no guarantee that I will be able to play the game out again with the score sheets.

From this point of view, the teaching time of online courses is obviously more than that of in-person courses.

In terms of curriculum design, online classes are about one academic year, with thirty-four lessons, one step in a year. The in-person classes are a quarter and a section, 10-12 lessons, and there are about 30 lessons in a year. However, many students only sign up for one or two quarters, so it is difficult to ensure the continuity and the final teaching quality. It is difficult to guarantee. There are new students every quarter, so taking care of them is another task. Teaching content will be discounted.

Online classes are video recordings of the entire course, while in-person classes are only videotaped for computer teaching part.

Whether it is online or in-person, my teaching is always of a question-and-answer mode. The teacher is responsible for asking questions and the students are responsible for answering. All are fast-paced. In online classes, we cover at least 36 homework questions and about 10 positions for new lessons. We can only do our best in in-person classes, and the goal is the more the better. Thirty questions should be fine. Therefore, we will see almost 1,500 positions a year in online courses, 350 positions in in-person courses a quarter and about 1,000 positions a year. Therefore, we will solve many more problems in a year than many other classes.

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Why did I choose Steps as my textbook? (1)

The difference between online and in-person classes

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