Budner, Miriam

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Project 1: Inviting Stories to School

When stories come alive for children, they get invested in making their own. In this workshop, students will dictate or write stories about whatever is important to them at that moment. Prompts or exercises will be provided for those who hesitate, but often, by the end of the residency, all are brimming over with stories and the desire to get them on paper. Each day, students will act out a couple of each other's stories so the writer can see what is alive and where the flat places are, so the actors can experience story-making kinesthetically, and so all the students can appreciate each others' labors, and enjoy some stories. By the last day of the residency, each student will have revised and finished at least one story. I will "publish" a small, illustrated anthology for each student to take home. This workshop is adaptable for any grade level.

Project 2: Where Do Sentences Start and End?

Through story writing, movement and performance, students will explore (and possibly master) the art of beginning and ending full sentences. Each day, students will use their own and others' writing as material for examining what comprises a complete written thought. For instance, after a warm-up writing exercise, I will write up on the board a sample piece lacking any punctuation. I will read it out loud, then ask a few students to act out the absurdity and confusion. Then, as a class, we will punctuate the story using simple movements such as standing up and sitting down. Then new actors will perform the revised version, and the whole class will witness the importance of properly marking openings and closings of thoughts. Having experientially investigated that day's punctuation focus, students will revise their own exercises. This workshop is intended for younger students.

About Miriam:

During the past ten years, Miriam Budner has taught writing in colleges, public schools, nursing homes and continuing education programs in New York, Washington and Tokyo. She earned her MFA in Fiction Writing at Sarah Lawrence College, and has won various and grants and fellowships for her writing, which has been appeared in journals such as Maydele, Printed Matter, Downtown Brooklyn, The Missing Spoke Anthology, Aceldama, South Road and Bridges.