Two individuals from The University of Texas at Dallas, senior lecturer Alexey Root and professor Tim Redman, will participate in a daylong Chess in Education workshop sponsored by the Texas Chess Association (TCA) on Saturday, March 17.  The workshop coincides with the Texas Scholastic Chess Championships, and both events will take place at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Dallas.

The workshop will highlight current thinking about chess in education, which encourages the growth of chess in K-12 schools.  Participants will learn about the benefits of chess in the classroom, especially for gifted-and-talented students.

Root, author of Children and Chess:  A Guide for Educators, will discuss her book and the online courses for educators offered by UT Dallas.  She will demonstrate how chess instruction tied to academic subject matter enhances the cognitive and affective functioning of gifted students.  Redman, editor of Chess and Education:  Selected Essays from the Koltanowski Conference and founder of the highly successful chess program at UT Dallas, will discuss approaches for educating and involving parents, the community and others in supporting chess instruction.

Other presenters include Leah Dagher, a fulltime chess instructor with the Houston Independent School District; Dr. Steve Lipschultz, president of Think Like a King school chess software system; Clemente Rendon, a former UT Dallas student and chess club president and now TCA vice president; Daa Mahowald, who has taught scholastic chess for more than 20 years; Jody Braswell, a third grade teacher for the Ector County Independent School District in Odessa, Texas; and Martha Jenkinson and Jeff Ashton — who was a member of the UT Dallas chess team — of the chess program at T.H. Rogers gifted-and-talented magnet school in Houston.

The workshop, which was organized by Root and Luis Salinas, assistant director of the chess program at UT Dallas, will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Registration is $15 in advance and $20 at the door.  For additional information, please contact Root at 940-484-2265 or alexey.root@gmail.com.

Contact Jenni Huffenberger, UT Dallas, (972) 883-4431, jennib@utdallas.edu