Tips for Getting Started with Copywork; Scheduling it and executing it

There are many ways to schedule/carryout your copywork sessions. Here are just a few ideas:

 

Duration

·        Make your sessions short.  Assign a time limit, say 5 or 15 minutes. You do not have to have student complete the copywork in one session (if it is a long passage). Making student sit and finish the assignment and it takes hours is probably not really conducive.

 

Frequency

·        You can do copywork daily; or however many times a week you wish

 

 

Passage Selection

·        Preselecting passages as well as concepts you wish to focus on will probably make it easier to “pull off.”

·        If student shows resistance, you might let him/her select from a group of passages or let him choose the topic.

·        You might choose just one copywork selection per week, or choose a different one each day.

You can vary the content:

·        Work on one theme the entire week with a different passage each day

·        Work on one theme per week, with the same selection for the duration of the week

·        You can select a different daily theme or content area.

o       Example: Sundays – Science content; Mondays – Ahadith; Tuesdays – Literature; Wednesdays – Poems; Thursdays – Quraan, etc.  For students copying words, you might try having them copy food labels/packaging for variety.

 

Execution

·        Have student correct his work with the model

·        Supervise younger students

·        Use in conjunction with dictation if you wish

·        Younger students might like to write on a whiteboard or in a medium such as rice or sand.