The Checker King

I am presently teaching 8th grade English at Albritton JHS on Fort Bragg in North Carolina. I started teaching in my own classroom in 1979, at Welch JHS in Welch, WV. The three years I spent there will remain in my memory forever.

I taught 7-9th grade Remedial reading in a school with no textbooks - just supplementary materials. This was my first full-time teaching experience. The students in my class had reading levels from Pre-Primer stage to 6th grade. I had my work cut out for me.

There is one student who stands out more than most. "John" was the best checker player I had ever encountered. He could barely read on that Pre-Primer level at age 14, but he could play a mean game of checkers. He absolutely hated to be beaten - especially by me. I realized I could use this to my advantage.

I made up some checkerboards that had reading skills on each square. I inserted challenges like; "Give me a word with a short 'a' sound", "Which word has a long 'e' sound - 'bet', 'beet', or 'bat,'" and so on. The rule was that before John could make a move, he had to perform the task. He had problems at first, and I would beat him every time. Eventually, John got to where he could perform the tasks, and was back to winning. I would let him keep those tasks he mastered on the boards for a while so he could beat me. Then I would replace those with harder skills.

I am proud to say that after two years with me, John was able to read on a third grade level. We played checkers like this at least twice a week. I will always remember the checker king, and I hope that he has continued to be a successful reader.

I am Native American - Cherokee. I was born and raised in New York. I received both my BA in Secondary Education with a major in English, and MS in Reading Education at SUNY Oswego.

I taught Remedial Reading, grades 7-9, in Welch, WV from 1979-82. I taught one year of freshman English at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina 1982-83. I have been teaching 8th grade English/Reading at Albritton JHS on Fort Bragg in NC since 1983. I enjoy reading and writing poetry and short stories in my spare time.