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 Post subject: Favorite Teaching Experiences
Post #1 Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 10:41 pm 
Lives in sente
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Last night I got a chance to teach go to a new player. Afterwards, he asked me a few times if he did better or worse than the average new player. I told him I had played worse, but to be honest, he was about average. I've probably taught over 100 people how to play go and it has started to blend together over time. But there have been some exceptional new players - both good and bad. And I know I'm not the only one with stories to tell.

So to those who have taught go many times before or perhaps just a handful of times, what are your favorite experiences? Which of your students stand out from the crowd?

My star students:
My favorite new players are two women I taught at our university.

The first was a fellow student. She had never even heard of go before but was curious because she saw me playing the game. I taught her how to play and she then played a game with one of my friends on a 9x9 board. Later, she wanted to play a game with me on the full sized board - already unusual as most newcomers are intimidated by the big board. She started off slowly, playing odd moves that you would expect from a beginner. Perhaps 30 moves in she made a move that struck me as interesting. I asked her "Why did you play this move?" Her response was "Well, I wanted to keep my stones together and keep yours apart." I was dumbfounded, as was my friend who had played the earlier game with her. Neither of us had told her that was an object of the game, nor did it come up in any discussions of strategy. Even though it was only her first time on the 19x19 board and her second game ever, she somehow already understood this fundamental. I've talked to 15 kyus who didn't understand this. Her move wasn't quite the right move, but it was close. I was very sad that this occurred at the end of the semester before she graduated, otherwise our club might have had a fantastic new player.

The second was a math professor. She attended an event at our university called Global Games and, while she had heard of go, she had never played it. I taught her the rules. She asked a bit about the strategy. I explained the basics of corner-sides-center using the territory illustration, but not much else. We then began a 13x13 game. During that game, she took an appropriate amount of time on each move - thinking harder in more complicated situations unlike most beginners who think equally on every move. She actually kept up fairly well, playing a reasonable strategy unlike the over-concentrated or overly-thin games most newbies play. I asked her twice if she had ever played before, and once asked if she had ever seen the game played, but she told me she hadn't - her play seemed too good for a true beginner. As the middle-game ended I was able to pull ahead convincingly. Finally, as we approached endgame, she noted aloud that I controlled more of the board. I agreed with her assessment (I was probably about 30 points ahead). She said, "Well, I don't think there's anything else I can do" and resigned. This makes her the only new player I've ever seen or played with to reasonably resign without a large kill being involved. Truly a unique case.

One bad apple:
The worst student I ever taught was one of my friends. I played 3 games with him, and his strategy did evolve, but it did so in a frustrating manner. He would ask me what he could do better and then would follow my advice as minimally as possible. When I told him he needed to play more efficiently and place his stones farther apart, he did so, but barely. When I told him he needed to play against me and not just build something for himself he threw in a shoulder hit and then played like before.

This is not a problem in-and-of itself - you can play go however you like - but it was annoying since he said he wanted to get better and asked me how to improve only to basically ignore what I said in favor of a strategy that I demonstrated could not work.

I do not remember the exact moves of any but the first game, but the games went something like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Game 1
$$ -------------------
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . , . 7 5 3 1 . |
$$ |. . 6 . . . . . . |
$$ |. . . . , . . . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . , 2 . . 4 . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ -------------------[/go]


Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Game 2
$$ -------------------
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . 3 . 5 . 1 . . |
$$ |. 7 . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . . . , . 6 . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . 2 . . . 4 . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ -------------------[/go]


Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Game 3
$$ -------------------
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . 3 . . . , . . |
$$ |. 9 . . . . 1 . . |
$$ |. 7 . . , . . . . |
$$ |. 5 . . 8 . . . . |
$$ |. 6 2 . . . 4 . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ |. . . . . . . . . |
$$ -------------------[/go]

_________________
"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."

-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

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 Post subject: Re: Favorite Teaching Experiences
Post #2 Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 12:26 pm 
Oza

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I really enjoy teaching beginners, but I don't often recall specific situations either good or bad.

The ones who "get it", we tend to move on from capture go rather quickly, or we'll skip it altogether. They'll ask questions. And they don't over-think or over analyze.

For the others, no amount of instruction is going to help them in spite of any questions they may ask. I can only be satisfied that I've introduced the game to them, and it may mean more to them in the future - I hope.

But the ones that really impress me are the ones in between. They don't quite seem to "get it" (they do, but not like the geniuses who eventually surpass me), yet they are so persistent and keep coming back for more. They try so hard. And they do eventually get better. But they really love the game.

I do remember a co-worker who took 4 stones from me on a 13x13 a few years back. We played all the time, and he always lost, but he wouldn't increase his handicap (it was probably close enough anyway). And at the time, I was probably increasing in skill at about the same rate as he was anyway. But he just kept coming back for more. He's my case-study for someone who improves, yet still loses every game :) (really messes with the math for rating algorithms)

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 Post subject: Re: Favorite Teaching Experiences
Post #3 Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 4:00 pm 
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This was the guy's second game. He is black.

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