Ed: When did you start teaching at P.S. 291?
Al: I started at 291 last September. I started teaching
in 1969. I taught until 1980 when I left teaching to take over
the family business. Last year I sold my business and went back
to teaching.
Ed: What sort of business were you in?
Al: A specialty food business.
Ed: Okay, how did you get started at P.S.291? What were
your experiences when you started?
Al: After being home for a few months I got bored and decided
to go back to teaching. I met with Ms. Yvonne Torres, a former
colleague, and now Principal of P.S. 291. We worked out a program
which would be split into half teaching chess, and the other half
teaching a conflict resolution class, where I took students that
had any type of behavioral problems and worked with them. The
chess program turned out to be so effective that they combined
my two programs into one, which was teaching chess. Many of the
students that I received as conflict resolution cases joined the
chess class - it became just one program after several weeks.
Ed: Let's talk about the conflict resolution program in
itself. What sort of methods did you use, what sort of kids did
you have, what was going on there?
Al: I went into each teacher and asked them to recommend
students. One particular student - that's when I first started
- was a boy I noticed walking down the hall, banging with his
fists on the wall. When he passed a classroom he would take his
fists and just start banging hard on the door. One teacher opened
the door and said "Josh, what are you doing?" and he
looked at the teacher and said "Shut up, you b....."
I thought "This would be an ideal student for the program."
I spoke to the teachers and they said they've known Josh for three
years and he's been very aggressive and didn't function in the
classroom. He became one of my immediate candidates for the program.
I had about five students from the learning disabled class that
he was in, and they all became very good chess players.
Click here to hear part 2 of the
interview
Ed: How did that come about? Was teaching chess part of
your conflict resolution curriculum?
Al: No. That wasn't part of the program - it was just meeting
with them, talking with them... but a lot of them had a fascination
with what I was doing. My room was very interestingly decorated,
and they were all very interested in learning to play chess.
So when they came in, I taught them a little about the different
pieces, and how the game is played, and it just started taking
off. I'd teach them a little each day about it, and I had each
of them work in some of the chess classes, so everyone started
melding into the regular chess program.
Ed: What sort of response did the students show to the chess
program? How did the individual students change their behavior
as a result of the chess program?
Al: Well, the most dramatic changes in the chess program
were in the students from the learning disabled class. A lot
of them were put in there because they couldn't function in a
regular class. They were very aggressive. One boy that was in
there, Eric, had just taken a knife and ripped up the seats on
the school bus. He would constantly curse at the teachers in
the classroom. He had outbursts where he'd throw all his books
out of the room and turn his desk over. He entered my program,
and it was difficult for him in the beginning. He tried very hard.
He couldn't read at all, but he showed a great interest in learning
to play chess. Within a couple of weeks he started playing the
game. He played very well, and came after school and at lunchtime
to practice. One day when I was driving home I saw him walking
on Fordham road with a chess set under his arm. I asked him where
he was going, and he said "I'm going to my sister's house
to play chess." After about two months his behavior started
to improve in the classroom. He was always a delight in my room
- he tried as hard as he could. By the end of the year he was
playing in tournaments - we would travel to different schools
throughout Westchester and Connecticut. He just showed a tremendous
improvement in his overall behavior. And he became quite a fine
chessplayer.
Ed: So his attitude about chess was positive from the beginning?
Al: It was very positive with every student from the learning
disabled class. The boy Josh who I spoke about earlier, who was
a severe behavioral problem, by the end of the year the two teachers
who he cursed at came up to me and said they had never seen a
change in any student like the one they had seen in Josh. By the
end of the year he would go over to them and say "Good Morning.
Is there anything I can get for you?" By the end of the year
the two teachers went over to him and hugged him and kissed him,
he was so delightful.
Click here to hear part 3 of the
interview
Ed: That's great. Al, I suppose I should ask this of someone
else, but how much of this is chess and how much do you think
could be your personality? Was there some special rapport that
also contributed?
Al: Honestly, it has to be a mix. There are certain students
that every teacher relates to better. I liked almost every student
I worked with. I mean, they were delightful. They would come to
school a half hour early to practice chess. They attended every
lesson. When there were tournaments, they would spend the whole
day from nine in the morning to five at night at a tournament.
They got their parents involved. Parents who had never come to
school before were showing up. The parents would go to tournaments,
and some would come and sit in the back and watch lessons. The
students also got their brothers and sisters involved. It was
very effective in working with the students from the bilingual
classes, who were very shy. They became very self confident.
I just called one of the girls up the other day and asked what
she was doing for the summer, and this shy little girl who would
hardly talk at the beginning of the year said she goes to the
park every day to play chess with the men. So it had a very positive
effect on so many students.
Ed: What about socialization with each other? Did it take
the children a while?
Al: The idea that they competed against other schools
was, I thought, very important, because they had a strong camaraderie
amongst themselves. I taught second, third, and fourth graders.
They functioned very well together in a group. Sometimes I would
mix the three grades and they all worked together very well.
It was a very nice thing to see - how they had lessons together,
and how they helped each other. They never had any rivalry amongst
themselves. At the end of the year, when we competed in tournaments,
sometimes they had to play amongst themselves when each won all
of their games in the division. Then they didn't really want to
play each other, because there was so much friendship. In a couple
of the games they sort of decided to have a draw.
Ed: (Joking) Sounds like Russian collusion.
Al: (Laughs) I know.
Click here to hear part 4 of the
interview
Ed: So there was a great deal of team spirit. I think that
sort of reflects in the results, because P.S. 291 was always at
the top of the result charts in the tournaments that I followed.
Al: They just got stronger throughout the year. The last
tournament they were in was the District 10 tournament,
and I think I brought 17-19 students, and every one of them won
a trophy.
Ed: What's on the agenda for next year? Will many of the
students be back in the chess program?
Al:Unfortunately, I lose the fourth graders. Some of them are trying
to transfer to other schools where there are other teachers in
the program that Sunil (NSCF Director Sunil Weeramantry) supports,
like Mike McDermott and Felix Lopez. Others are trying to transfer
to P.S. 15, which is part of the P.S. 291 complex; there are
three schools located in that building. They can come either during
lunch or after school to practice. The second and third graders
who worked with me will continue to work in the advanced group,
and then I'll start with some new students.
Ed: How did you get involved with the NSCF program?
Al: When I sold my business last May, I had nothing to
do until September, so I called up a chess club and said I was
interested in joining. They asked me my background and I said
I was a teacher. They asked me if I had ever heard of Sunil. At
that time I hadn't, and they said he might be interested in using
me. I called him up, spoke to him, and he told me to join the
club, enter some tournaments and get a rating, which I did. Then
I went to watch him teach a lesson, and that was, I think, my
inspiration. I mean I had played chess my whole life, a couple
of times a year with a friend, and I went to watch him teach,
I guess it was 5th or 6th grade students, and I sat in the back,
and I couldn't believe there was so much involved in the teaching
of this game. I sat in the back, and I couldn't believe that this
was what can go on, what can actually be learned from it. That
was my impetus - I said "I could develop a whole program
out of this." Well, that was how it came about.
Ed: I know the experience - I've had the same experience
with Sunil.
Al: Yes, it's amazing. I never knew that there are
rook and pawn endings, and just such simple basic things that
I never knew. I started to study, and I guess because I was learning
it, it was sort of easy for me to teach it. So I spent the whole
summer playing and studying, and every day when I got home from
teaching I guess I was spending at least three hours reading
books and studying and practicing, in order to have interesting
lessons to bring back to the school every day.
Ed: Hard work, isn't it?
Al: (Laughs) Very. It was very hard work. And then for
Sunil, I went to teach three classes after school. I went to New
Rochelle, Bronxville, and Purchase.
Click here to hear part 5 of the
interview
Ed: Getting back to the students, you've talked about some
successes in improvement in attitude in the students. What about
academic improvements?
Al: Okay. I guess the biggest challenge that I had was
entering as a new teacher - and none of the teachers knew me -
and here each teacher was asked to give me a few of their students
every day for 45 or 50 minutes. Every teacher is responsible for
the reading and math scores of their students, and here they were
being asked to send a student out to, let's say, play
chess. So this was the barrier that I had to overcome. Actually,
they didn't play chess during school, it was always lessons. They
could play before school, or at lunch time, or after school. If
the lesson ended and there was a few minutes, they could play
then, or if all their work was completed they would be allowed
to play on Friday. It was still a barrier to work with, and some
of the teachers either were reluctant or I did not get any students
from them. Any barriers there were (disappeared by the end of
the year) - one teacher in particular came up to me at the end
of the year and said "I just want to let you know, at the
beginning of the year I had a problem sending students to you.
At the end of the year any of the students that went to you did
the best in the reading and math scores." So that was the
final tribute to the program. There was a big improvement in
the reading and math scores of the students who participated during
the year.
Ed: That's great. Do you have any theory about what is happening
there? Is it the general erudition (that's involved in learning
chess)? Is it the changing attitude toward studies? Are there
specific skills being learned?
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Al: There were many things that helped to improve their
attitude in school and their reading scores. The first thing was
that none of the teachers in school played chess, and here the
students were coming in and I had a statue in my room of the thinker,
and when they entered my room the first time I would tell them
that's who they will become. Then we would go over all the reasons why they study chess. They will learn how to concentrate; they will learn how to plan ahead; they will learn that they are responsible for every decision that they make. Every decision that they make is reflected on the chess board. And when they become responsible
for their decisions - this is very important for the children
that have the behavior problems or a learning disability - they
see that relationship, that they are the ones who are responsible,
no one else. And they make a very big commitment coming into
my room. I explain that the work that they'll be doing is much
more difficult than the work in the regular classroom, and if
they feel that they do not want to keep up with it, or can't keep
up with it, then it's best that they don't enter the program.
The students that stayed in the whole year did tremendous amounts
of work and study. They did a lot of reading. We stressed reading
during the medieval period, we studied medieval times, about the
year 1000 to 1600. Then we studied the top chess masters from
Ruy Lopez up to Steinitz - that's where we ended. Next year we'll
start with Lasker and get up to Kasparov.
Ed: So you have these tie-in programs. That's a wonderful
idea. Traditonal academics with a chess orientation.
Al: Right. Over the summer I'm planning the program for
next year. I'm going to start with the origin of chess around
the year 600, and spend a lot more time on the middle ages. That's
what I'm doing over the summer every day, my research.
Ed: You said you were writing a book - is that it?
Al: That's it. Teaching chess in the elementary schools,
starting with how chess began. I run right through the renaissance
and up to the present. It's very involved, and there's a lot of
history, a lot of geography. A lot more than I ever realized went
into it.
Ed: Sounds good. If there's anything I can do to help you
to make it a best seller, let me know, you've got me.
Al: (Laughs) I sure will.
Ed: Good, We'll work on that, and who knows? It's a very
important topic, education is a hot topic, and you've got fantastic
results there.
Al: It's keeping me very busy.
Ed: Is there anything else you'd like to share before we
sign off?
Al: One other interesting thing was, I had some parents
who called me up and said for years they would have to force their
kids to go to school every day, and (this year) they wouldn't
even eat breakfast - they would just run to get to school as fast
as they could in the morning. So that was a very nice change.
And one of the teachers told me that when a student was taking
the final test at the end of the year, he would sit there, go
through the problems, rule out a few, and said he was going to
take it just like he was playing a chess match, and whenever he
figured out an answer he'd say "checkmate!" He scored
very high on that science test that he took that way.
Ed: That's great. Nothing like motivation. That business
about the parents, that can bring tears to your eyes, when they
see that kind of a change.
Al: The parents were great. And I had four teachers who
came almost every day and would sit in the back of the room and
watch the lesson. Then they thought of playing themselves. The
four of them got to be pretty good players, and they played with
the students all the time. It was very good getting four teachers
involved.
Ed: Well, that's quite a story.
Thanks a lot, and good luck with your research.
Al: Okay, thanks a lot.
P.S. 291: Interview with 
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