About

Etiquette and formal manners have always been an interest of mine. Contrary to casually winging it, predetermining what to do and say keeps stress and misunderstandings at bay. My love of formal rules and reading Judith Martin, especially as I was attending many weddings, was a fitting precursor to the beginning of the etiquette program for the all-girls cluster, in which I taught.

There were many good girls in the cluster, but I could see that they needed to learn some straightforward facts on etiquette. I began to teach them etiquette rules. They loved it, their parents encouraged me, and my etiquette teaching became more formal as the girls asked me “the right way” to do or say things. I took a look at what I thought were the components of a person leading a gracious life: someone who writes letters to out of town loved ones; someone who sends out birthday notes and letters to the same; someone who gives dinner parties as a way of keeping in touch with friends; someone who volunteers her time; and someone who is civic-minded – with the added fun of dressing up, acting modest, speaking formally, going to the theater, and using good table manners. With hard work, my brainchild became a reality!

etiquette…is not just about which fork to pick up. It is about teaching all who participate that gracious living is accessible to anyone who seeks it.

I created a 16-week program which fits well over the course of an academic school year. Allowing for vacations and three-day weekends, I came up with a 16-week semester of club meetings and off campus events. While I worked to fashion interesting yet pertinent lessons, I devoted an hour after school for prepared etiquette lessons for girls who were willing to put their etiquette knowledge to use. Other teachers took note of my effort and my etiquette club, loved what I was doing, and one teacher even used my lessons and scripts to teach them after school to her students. This enthusiastic response encouraged me to seek grants for the nonprofit that I had created. Businesses and foundations were happy to award grants and in-kind materials and expertise once they saw my program. After my lessons evolved to a full, mature curriculum, teachers, and sometimes funders, kept asking me to extend my program to boys, then to younger children.

To this day, I have former, now grown-up students approach me with what a good English teacher I was. And they always bring up how I changed their lives with “The Etiquette Club: Literacy and Leadership through Gracious Living.” It was indeed the knowledge of what gracious living was and that it was available to anyone who wanted to live a gracious life.

The curricula come as a teacher’s guide and student workbook and are structured to include in-class lessons and activities, out on the town activities, Power Point presentations, in-class presentations by club members and invited guests. Each curriculum is written for 16 weeks of lessons with club meetings 3 times a week. In addition to those 48 lessons, there are alternative lessons so you have more to choose from.

This program is flexible enough for any organization to use all or as many lessons as your time and budget permit. The teen curricula are structured around four units: Your Best Self, Social Leadership, Social Literacy, and The Social Graces. The coed units are structured around four units: Putting Your Best Self Forward, Developing Responsibility, Social Letters and The Social Graces. Teen Etiquette: Lessons in Gracious Living, Teen Etiquette: Lessons in Grooming a Gentleman and The Charming Child are not just about which fork to pick up. It is about teaching all who participate that gracious living is accessible to anyone who seeks it.

Etiquette and formal manners have always been an interest of mine. Contrary to casually winging it, predetermining what to do and say keeps stress and misunderstandings at bay. My love of formal rules and reading Judith Martin, especially as I was attending many weddings, was a fitting precursor to the beginning of the etiquette program for the all-girls cluster, in which I taught.

There were many good girls in the cluster, but I could see that they needed to learn some straightforward facts on etiquette. I began to teach them etiquette rules. They loved it, their parents encouraged me, and my etiquette teaching became more formal as the girls asked me “the right way” to do or say things. I took a look at what I thought were the components of a person leading a gracious life: someone who writes letters to out of town loved ones; someone who sends out birthday notes and letters to the same; someone who gives dinner parties as a way of keeping in touch with friends; someone who volunteers her time; and someone who is civic-minded – with the added fun of dressing up, acting modest, speaking formally, going to the theater, and using good table manners. With hard work, my brainchild became a reality!

I created a 16-week program which fits well over the course of an academic school year. Allowing for vacations and three-day weekends, I came up with a 16-week semester of club meetings and off campus events. While I worked to fashion interesting yet pertinent lessons, I devoted an hour after school for prepared etiquette lessons for girls who were willing to put their etiquette knowledge to use. Other teachers took note of my effort and my etiquette club, loved what I was doing, and one teacher even used my lessons and scripts to teach them after school to her students. This enthusiastic response encouraged me to seek grants for the nonprofit that I had created. Businesses and foundations were happy to award grants and in-kind materials and expertise once they saw my program. After my lessons evolved to a full, mature curriculum, teachers, and sometimes funders, kept asking me to extend my program to boys, then to younger children.

To this day, I have former, now grown-up students approach me with what a good English teacher I was. And they always bring up how I changed their lives with “The Etiquette Club: Literacy and Leadership through Gracious Living.” It was indeed the knowledge of what gracious living was and that it was available to anyone who wanted to live a gracious life.