I teach in an inner-city progressive K-12 school that seeks to teach whole children in a high-poverty community, teaching social and emotional skills that empower students to meet their academic and life goals.
Many of our students struggle with basic logic skills, and therefore in academics - especially science and math. They haven't had enough opportunities to practice planning and choosing wisely. We don't have funds for chess sets in our school, but I would really like to teach my advisory students, aged 12-18, how to play this strategic and thought-provoking game. Learning how to develop strategies with rooks and bishops will teach my students how to make well-planned life choices that avoid the four factors that contribute to the cycle of poverty: incarceration, dropping out of high school, teen pregnancy, and drug use. Reading "Makes Me Wanna Holler," Nathan McCall's inspiring autobiography that traces his journey from the street to the prison yard to the newsroom of the Washington Post, I came across his personal account of learning to play chess while incarcerated. McCall writes, "On the chessboard, I eventually saw that I could predict - and, more important, control - outcomes if I considered the consequences of moves before making them. That gave me a whole new way of looking at things."
I need 10 chess sets to allow each of the students in my advisory to play. We will use these chess sets for 25 minutes, 1-2 days per week. On the remaining days, I will make the chess sets available to other advisories so that more students can benefit from your donation.
Your help will ensure that my students have opportunities to develop the logic skills that are necessary for success in life. Your donation will empower them to be active strategists in their own lives - a gift that never stops giving.
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