What would you like to know?

Teaching
1

Dear OGS,

First and foremost, please forgive the pretentious title. I didn’t know exactly what to put there. Now, on to business.

In my other threads I’ve been gaining a bunch of insight on various things and trying to further my craft of teaching go to some of my students (I’m a small-school music teacher). I’m going to have some free time this summer as well as toward the end of the school year to do some writing on how to teach go to beginners in a new and comprehensive way. At first I was thinking about making it a blog-esque thread in the forums here to catalog my experiences, but I think that the west really needs something more holistic to look to for bringing up the next generation of go players.

That’s why I think, I think, I’m going to try and write a book covering everything from teaching beginner children to teaching beginner adults to starting a go club, etc. The primary objective would be to promote good go pedagogy (teaching methods). While I’m not claiming to be outstanding, I feel that there’s not enough literature on the subject in the west and I want to take a stab at it. If I were to write such a book, what kind of things would you like to get out of it? I’d love to get as much feedback as possible to help as many people out as I can.

I’d also love to collaborate with other go teachers across the world to see what they do that is successful in their experience. I’m open to learning as much as I am teaching. It’s a never-ending cycle, after all. :wink: Spread this around because I’m feeling inspired by this amazing community and want to give back.

In good shape,
AlexSmiles

Edit: I’m sorry for posting so much in the past few days. I know you’re all probably getting tired of seeing me at the top of the list! To quote Mean Girls, “I just have a lot of feelings.”

4 Likes
2

I think the blogger BenGoZen has a very nice article about “teaching” (introducing) go to new players:

1 Like
3

Wow, I really enjoyed that, @yebellz! I agree with everything BenGoZen has to say there. I’d like to go into a lot more depth about the ins and outs of exactly what he outlines here for a good portion of the book. :slight_smile:

4

I would certainly be interested in hearing your thoughts. I wouldn’t worry about posting too much. We all come here for Go related conversation. The more, the better :wink:. I recently gathered this list of links, pertaining to one of my favorite Go personalities. Of particular interest, is Mr. Bradley’s book about teaching Go to children. In case you are unfamiliar with his work, here are some links. Just info on the topic, versus targeted information on the methodology and theory behind how to teach properly.

Milton N. Bradley is a big believer that children should play Go and that it helps teach them crucial skills that will help them be more successful in life. Here are several resources so you can explore his work:
 
→ Goodreads.com Author Page
→ Go For Kids by M. Bradley
→ Milt’s Go Page
     ○ The Legend Of The Mysterious Stranger
     ○ Go In Japanese Education
     ○ Why Every Child Should Learn Go
     ○ Go And The Gifted Child
     ○ There Is No Satisfactory Alternative To Go
     ○ The South Huntington After School Go Program
     ○ Teaching The New “R” of Reasoning

4 Likes