How to Teach a Kid’s Cursive Writing Workshop
Updated: Nov 13, 2018
Steps I Took to Teach a Kid's Cursive Writing Workshop
So I am going to be teaching my very first kids #cursivewriting workshop. It's my very first workshop and although I've been asked on numerous occasions to offer a modern calligraphy class, I thought I'd use the kiddos as my guinea pigs. Lol. Just kidding. Sort of. And because I've never done anything like this before I thought it may be helpful for someone out there if I documented the steps I took while prepping for the class.
So the first thing you're going to want to do is find a venue. I knew I was going to keep this class small so it wouldn't be overwhelming and I could give the kids as much support as they needed. I chose to keep it to eight students so I can see how I manage that group size. I don't know about you but I've been in the classroom before when my kids have the parents in to host holiday crafts and other such things - and oh man! My hat goes off to the Teachers out there. My head was spinning after half an hour with a group of 16 kids. Soooo needless to say, I'm starting small.
Book the venue and decide how long you want the class to run. Planning for the class to run 2 hours, will give my students a chance to really dig into the basic foundations and also give the parents a chance to at least run an errand and get something done while they wait.
After securing the venue and date, you need to get the word out. This can be done through word of mouth or social, but I recommend setting up an event either through Facebook or an Event site such as Event Brite. I used Event Brite and it's really easy to set up your event, share the link with your audience and even connect it to PayPal so you can collect the class fees easily and it will also keep track of your attendees and seat availability.
Now it's time to SHARE! Share, share, share! Share your event link so people can find it and know what you're up to! Full transparency - I had NO class materials or curriculum prepared. Nada. I just knew, after having this idea in my head, for literally months and months, that I wanted to teach a class. I knew if I waited until I had everything ready - that it just wouldn't happen. So by booking the venue, it lit the fire I needed to put all the other pieces into place to pull it all together.
And something so great happened when I shared that link! There was interest! Which I didn't really have a doubt about, because I knew if it was something that I saw value in (teaching kids what I consider is an art form - and that is no longer taught in our schools here), that there must be other folks out there that would see the value in it too! And my suspicion was happily confirmed and I near sold out within the first 2 days of making my event registration live! Yay!
Ok. Now you've got students. Now this workshop is really happening. Fire lit. Commitment made. Now you need your lesson plan and #cursivewritingworksheets! Get to work!
There are lots and lots of resources out there for teaching kids cursive, but seeing that I myself am a calligrapher, of course I wanted to create my own sheets and even my own Cursive workbook that the kids can then take home with them at the end of the #workshop.
I was sort of dreading putting a plan together, but when I went to start laying out practice pages, I realized that I was actually REALLY enjoying the process of it. Because it's my own, I can put in exactly which exercises I want and tailor it as I wish. I'm so happy to now have this workbook as a resource for other teachers and parents too!
In addition to creating a lesson plan + workbook, I needed to have an easel or board I could use for teaching at my venue. I wanted something compact and lightweight and I found this dandy Tabletop Easel that will do the job perfectly and also got these bright flip chart markers.
And if you're at home and your kids are using ipads, there's some great free or inexpensive apps that are great for practicing cursive writing:
Everything I'm doing is a journey of learning. I'm just learning like crazy as I go and I'm having a blast doing something I love. If you've been thinking about putting on your own workshop, you should totally do it. Don't wait. Get out of your comfort zone!