…with Gary Moss

Archive for July, 2009

How many people inhabit the planet today? That’s the number of styles there are to learn things.

When the local public school teacher stands in front of the class of 30+ students and delivers a lesson, the odds are high that some of the kids didn’t get it the first time. It is the teachers’ mission to discover the way each student learns and help each in their own way.

Good teaching is not easy.

Too often, presenters, who call themselves teachers, serve up a lesson with all the necessary information on a silver platter, and expect the students to figure out how to ingest it. Presenting is only one piece of the equation.

If you speak Russian and I present my lecture in English there will be little learned. Even if I lecture in Russian there is no automatic guarantee that the lesson will be comprehended.

If a teacher is being effective there will be teaching then testing, teaching then asking, teaching then validating.

Most first time learners don’t get the full lesson in one or even a few tries. Skiing, geometry, painting with watercolors, working at a job, playing competitive scrabble all require some amount of time to learn the skills and apply them. It takes time to get up to speed.

Don’t go to a Barber College if you plan to be an auto mechanic. Don’t ask scrabble advice from a newbie if you have intentions on taking a giant leap ahead in the ranks.

With an MA in Education and more than 20 years as a sanctioned scrabble club director I have the tools and know how to help you achieve your scrabble goals. Enrollment for August 2009 into my online class, SCRABBLE 101 is now available. CLICK HERE to learn more.

For kids of all ages: 9 to 90.

Just what is transformation?

Take 13 minutes to find out. CLICK HERE!

If you are moved, watch this again . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and then go play some scrabble.

Most often, when we are stuck, it is because we are limited by our own vision of things.

This concept is a recurring theme in many of my blogs, just in other words. For many of us, once we learn something, we become attached to the method and to the result of that acquired knowledge. We become duped into thinking that knowledge is truth and that knowledge is forever.

If that’s how you think, I’m sorry to have to burst your bubble. A good deal of what you learned and believed is not true or real. It may have been true and real when you learned it; but today is a different day and a different time. You are free to cling to the past. Many people cling to the past because it is comfortable.

A world of constant change and uncertainty can be maddening.

Do you remember when people thought the Earth was flat?
Do you remember when people thought the Sun revolved around the Earth?
Do you remember when people believed smoking had no serious health consequences?
Do you remember when people of color were property?
Do you remember when it was foolish to think that man could fly?
Your first computer (more than 5 years old) is practically useless.
Last year’s TV is obsolete.
Those 8 Track Tapes?

Is it possible that some of your current beliefs may only be convenient for today?

If you were to see the scrabble board differently, what would it look like?

On Monday afternoons I frequent a scrabble club that draws 30+ people each week. Most of the players are seniors. Most of the players are casual players; they come to socialize and enjoy some cookies while playing with words. They play words like ‘house’, ‘family’, ‘fireman’, and ‘hope’. If I play ‘dhuti’ I am chided and suddenly unwelcome. They know what they know, and they don’t want to be pressured to know any more than that; these are their golden years and reserved for comfort without challenge.

They live in a world where less than 5% of the words in the dictionary make up their total knowledge, as if the other 95% doesn’t even exist.

There are one or two persons in that Monday set of players who are different. One 92 year young women just published another of her books and is already writing another. An 88 year old gentleman is developing his skill at using the clock and studying some of the word stems.

There are only a few, a small 2%, who are willing to imagine and see things differently. The two-percenters are the ones who took us to the moon, developed nuclear power, and can squeeze 100 miles out of a gallon of gasoline.

A lesser player will look at the rack ‘A’ ‘E’ ‘E’ ‘I’ ‘N’ ‘S’ ‘T’ and play ‘eat’ or ‘site’ or ‘stain’ for 6 – 12 points.

Another player who took the time to learn ‘satine’ + ‘e’ will see things differently and play the word ‘etesian’ and earn a 50 point bonus.

It all depends on how you look at things.

Are You Looking?

Many people waste a lot of time in a state of confusion. Some of those people give up and walk away because their pride and stubbornness won’t allow them to ask questions. Generally, they don’t want to look bad or feel foolish.

I see this all the time. Club #350 players are all striving to improve their word power. Hence, many words played during a session are outside the range of common words that appear in the daily newspapers. Passersby will glance at our boards, appear to be puzzled, and then scurry away. Sometimes they’ll stop and comment, “That’s not a REAL word.”

We don’t know what we don’t know.

Men, in general, have the reputation for not stopping to ask directions. Some men would rather spend an extra hour or more driving around, searching for their destination, than stopping and asking for directions. What is that? Male pride? Male stubbornness? I guess that’s why some woman invented the GPS navigation system.

Men don’t hold an exclusive lock on ‘misunderstanding’. I’ve eaten a few meals prepared by queens of the kitchen who insisted that they knew the recipe, and how to prepare the ingredients. I’ve choked down my share of things.

But I am here today to give you permission and encourage you to ask questions when you don’t understand. But, only ask those question to someone who is knowledgeable.

There is nothing worse than receiving bad answers from novices when there are experts available to provide better information. Would you go to a hair salon to purchase a hammer?

In today’s computerized world with all of its search engines, the answers are all at hand. In today’s world of specialization, there are experts available to you on most any subject.

There is someone out there who can help you clear up any misunderstandings that plague you.

To become a better scrabble player, call on me, take my eclass SCRABBLE 101, CLICK HERE.

Enjoy a day filled with answers and confidence.

Which are you, an ‘annual’ or a ‘perennial’ ?

Annuals complete their life cycles in a single year. They don’t regenerate themselves. They must be replanted every season when you want them in your garden.

Perennials tend to come back every spring.

Scrabble players can be classified as ‘annuals’ or ‘perennials’ according to their style of play, their study habits, and the lists of words they focus on during their pursuit of word knowledge.

The ‘annuals’ bursts onto the scene and are very flashy. They always show up because someone or something else brought them. They are very colorful and charming. They are always looking at their watches and answering their cell phones. When they stop to talk with you they are always looking over your shoulder for someone more interesting, or higher rated, who might walk in the door. If fact, they see themselves as the most beautiful and smartest flowers in the room. They strictly learn words like ‘aboideau’, ‘ouistiti’, ‘filariid’, and ‘unununium’; words that will leave you with your jaw on the floor. But they usually don’t know all the 2′s and 3′s. The annuals don’t bother developing a study plan and only learn some of the words played against them; they don’t care since they will be gone at the end of the year.

The ‘perennial’ is a whole different kind of flower. Perennials get real comfortable in their own soil. They are not afraid of getting their roots dirty. They know that they will be on the scene for many seasons. Perennials develop deep and sincere relationships with everyone in their neighborhood, both giving and receiving. They start at the beginning and are methodical in their studies. They understand that everything must have a strong foundation to thrive. They learn some flashy words along the way, but their focus is on stems, anagrams, and hooks. They are loyal to the garden and are even welcoming to the annuals who come and go.

Club #350 welcomes annuals and perennials to play at it’s sessions and tournaments. It has been my observation that annuals are capable of winning now and then, but most of the names on the Honor Roll and on the Checks (cash prizes) go to the perennials.

To that end, as a diehard educator, I devote vast amounts of time and energy to develop and produce learning tools, like the BOOKMARK SERIES, available to help every annual and perennial achieve their scrabble goals. Click on BOOKMARKS and check them out.

BLOOM MORE THAN ONCE.

If you are not an avid scrabble player or a word aficionado you may think me to be a bit daft. But regardless, I was playing a scrabble game this week when my opponent played the word ‘hermit’. Before she placed it down on the board she hesitated and seemed to be struggling. Players sometimes do that when they are not certain that their play is a legal word. But in this instance, as soon as I saw the word, I was puzzled by her earlier behavior. It wasn’t until after the game had ended that I was able to find out the details about her struggle. To the left of the ‘h’ in ‘hermit’ was a DWS and there was room after the word for another tile or two. She told me that she was afraid that I might alter ‘hermit’ with a ‘t’ on the DWS and an ‘E’ at the end, making ‘thermite’. Wow! I had never considered that. It reminded me of the same lesson that I teach in SCRABBLE 101, about seeing the possibilities. That supplied me with enough joy to last an entire day. And I am re-experiencing that joy as I recount the story to you.

I am sure that you find your own joy in the things that you do in life. Joy sits ready and waiting for us to find it and enjoy it.

Some of my greatest joys from scrabble come from learning words and then recalling them in key game situations: having the word ‘feature’ and hooking it below ‘howf,’ creating ‘howff’ (he never saw that coming); all the esses were gone when I played ‘cold’ under the center TWS. (I hoped that my opponent didn’t know the ‘a’ hook forming ‘acold,’ as I sat with the last ‘a’ on my rack.)

Planning and strategizing my way to victory at the scrabble board provides me a natural high. I become equally enthusiastic when my opponent make a sensational move against me. I’m not saying that I like to lose. And I become annoyed and irritable when I lose to opponents who get all the good stuff and play predictable, easy bingos. But if you play lavalava or tsktsks against me, I will surely stand and applaud you on the spot. (And I will share in your joy.)

Have a joyous scrabble day today.

One of the most frustrating parts of the game of scrabble, for me is ‘words’ that I see often stick in my memory. What’s so wrong with that, I hear you thinking? Nothing is wrong with that when it is a legal word. But the bad stuff sometimes sticks too.

Does that happen to you?

A devilish practice of the dictionary committee, in my opinion, is when they revise our word list, in addition to adding entries, they subtract others. The add-ons are much easier to learn than those which are eliminated. The entry ‘da’ has been out since OSPD2 and yet many people continue to play it. I found the former entry ‘emf’ very useful, but it too is no longer acceptable.

As director of scrabble Club #350, I sometimes find myself watching others play when the number of players is odd. I’ll see one player put down a plausible, yet phoney, word and the opponent says, “Nice play,” and the game moves forward. I’m not sure how those visions influence my memory.

Players who are visual learners, and know it, generally shun looking at phoney words. They want no part of those words seeping into their unconscious.

Are there some phonies that you play repeatedly?

One of the concepts for new players to understand is ‘what is a word’ when playing scrabble. There are many more ‘words’ that exist beyond the 155,000+ that are included in the OWL2.

I tell players that competitive scrabble is a function of memory, as pertains to a specific set of words in the OWL2, as designated by a committee. Don’t waste your time arguing that word you played is ‘real’ and in CHAMBERs. If a word not in the OWL2, it is a phoney when you are playing at CLUB #350.

Be careful out there.

The national scrabble community, generally, and the southern California scrabble community, specifically, are very special. They are made up of people who care about each other as much as caring about the game that they love to play.

Last week, July 6th, when 14 year old Ruben Radlauer decided that he wanted to attend and compete in the NASPA National Scrabble Tournament, in Dayton, Ohio (August 1 – 5), he learned that he was ineligible. Even though Ruben had played and shared honors in the 2009 National School Scrabble Tournament, he had never played in an NSA or NASPA sanctioned tournament. That was one of the prerequisites for competing in Dayton.

Bob Vanech is the father of Tristan Vanech; Tristan is Ruben’s good friend and was his teammate at the recent 2009 National School Scrabble Tournament. When Bob learned of the technicality that was blocking Ruben from going to compete in Dayton, he didn’t sit back moaning; he took action.

Through a series of phone calls to NASPA leaders, Bob learned that Ruben had until July 15 to qualify. When Bob looked at the Official Tournament Calendar, he learned that there weren’t any local tournaments listed where Ruben might play, in order to qualify.

Bob didn’t give up; instead he took a next step, even though he was busy with his own work. He posted an email to the club directors in southern California.

I receive and read Bob’s post. It described Ruben’s plight. At first, I didn’t know if I could legally put together an event, so I called NASPA officials. I learned that a ‘club tournament’ did not require posting information on the Official Tournament Calendar, thus, I could conduct a spontaneous tournament and if Ruben played in it, that would qualify him to play in Dayton.

I called Bob and suggested I hold a club tournament on Sunday, July 12, at CLUB #350 in Aliso Viejo, at The Neighborhood Cup. He was delighted.

I posted an email to my readership, and within hours had responses from other players who wanted to come and be a part of the event. I contacted the proprietors of The Neighborhood Cup and sought their cooperation for a few minor needs; they were happy to help.

Pictured above are the players who came to help make it possible for Ruben to play in Dayton. We all feel great about being a part of this. (left to right: (back) Kevin Rickhoff, Bob Vanech, Dan Radlauer, Donna Dwaileebe, Beverly Moutet (front) Laura Rickhoff, Tristan Vanech, and Ruben Radlauer) photo taken by Jim Cassidy

Scrabble Players Are The Bomb!

You’ve got to start somewhere. Agreed? If you don’t like the number 5, choose 4 or 9 or 3 instead. You get the point. Nothing different will happen until you decide to begin to do something.

Now, if you decide to take my advice, which 5 words are you going to choose to commit to memory? Would the first 5 words in the dictionary be the best place to begin? How about the last 5 words in the dictionary?

How about 5 new words at random? ( Close your eyes; open the dictionary without looking; put your finger on the page; and that is one of the words you will learn.)

Are you kidding? What would the value be to learn a word like kvass? Sure it is good. But there is a very low probability that you would have the k, v, a, s, s on the same rack, and it is not even a bingo (a 7 letter word). That process is extremely inefficient.

The most productive words to learn are those that have letters with a high probability of showing up together on your rack. The mathematicians who love scrabble figured it out for us years ago. They call the letter clusters, ’stems’. A stem is a given set of letters, that, when one additional letter is added, creates a set of real words. . . . or not.

The 6 letter ’stem’ with the highest probability is ‘S’ ‘A’ ‘T’ ‘I’ ‘N’ ‘E’. (Satine is not a word.) The exciting thing about ’s-a-t-i-n-e’ is that when you add another ‘a’ and shuffle the letters around, you can find two ‘legal words’: entasia and taenias.

It doesn’t matter that you don’t know what they mean. If you are that curious, pause at this point and go look them up.

The point being that they are words and now you know them. Hopefully, when you play them against an opponent, your opponent won’t know them and will challenge you. Guess who will win that challenge?

s-a-t-i-n-e + b = banties and basinet

s-a-t-i-n-e + c = acetins and cineast

etc., etc., etc

s-a-t-i-n-e does not make a 7 letter word with ‘j’, ‘q’, or ‘y’

all other letters in the alphabet can create one or more 7 letter words with s-a-t-i-n-e.

s-a-t-i-n-e + n = (9 different words; how many do you know?)

This is the kind of thing that I will teach you if/when you take my online scrabble class, SCRABBLE 101.

You don’t want to spend money to take a Scrabble 101 class? You think you can do it all on your own? Okay, you still may want to invest a little cash to obtain some of the stems, on laminated bookmarks.

BOOKMARKS

With me or without me, to be a highly competitive player, you need to build your word power.

A smart scrabble player has more than one way to win the game. I meet a lot of people who claim to be unbeatable at home among family and friends. They claim to have a good vocabulary; and many of them do. It is true that to be a scrabble guru a player must have an great arsenal of words.

But, would you believe it if I told you that the best players, ahead of the teachers and librarians and editors, are the mathematicians? That’s correct. They see the game and the board from a different perspective that gives them an advantage. While the wordsmith is searching for words, the mathematician is computing probabilities. One of these skills without a smidgeon of the other will never get you to the winner’s circle.

These two skills are not the only skills necessary to achieve consistent winning streaks. What do you know about hooks, tracking, and the rules? Do you know the Official Rules of the game? Can you play your entire portion of the game in 25 minutes or less? Can you score the game accurately, so as not to short change yourself of a few important points?

Scrabble 101 has been molding newbies to the game into fierce competitors, for more than 12 years. This online class is not for the timid. It requires a six week commitment from YOU, doing everything that it takes.

I take my scrabble very seriously. I expect the same of my students. Do not waste your money and our time, taking the class, if you are not committed to moving up in the ranks. I will teach you scrabble skills that will also benefit other important parts of your life too.