Hold your workshop(s).
Remember that one of the biggest challenges for people with IDD is finding community and filling the hours of the day with something challenging and meaningful. This is an opportunity for them to do just that. The purpose of this workshop is to develop a relationship with storytellers, understand what they are capable of, make sure every party is informed on what this event is and most importantly, draft out the story they will perform.
Set your workshop schedule. We suggest you choose one of the following formats: an all-day, one-day workshop in preparation for the event; or a 3-day workshop over the span of three weeks.
The following outlines are just suggestions – you can alter to make the schedule work for you and your participants.
Day-of logistics
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Food & drink
In any case, be sure you encourage participants to bring food and drink. You should have water and snacks available.
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Bathroom & water
Make sure when everyone arrives they know where the water and bathroom are.
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Accessible space
And be sure your workshop space is accessible.
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Partnering helps
Partnering with a program will help you find a space that works for your storytellers.
Before you begin, tell participants & guardians
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Time commitment
Time commitment and specific dates storytellers need to be available.
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Location
Location of workshop and show.
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Expectations
Expectations – that each participant will be writing/creating a story and workshopping it out loud, then performing that story on stage.
Option 1 Workshop schedule, one all-day session This works best on a Saturday, since it will be all day. But if you are partnering with an M-F program, you might do it on a weekday.
Morning
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Gather
Gather, casual chatter and settling in.
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Introduce yourself and the project
Introduce yourself and the project; take questions.
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Have the participants introduce themselves.
Take your time, encourage them to interact with one another.
- Stretch break
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Writing exercise / six word memoirs
This is a writing exercise that most people can do pretty easily, though you’ll want to offer a bunch of examples first.
Explanation of assignment (10 minutes) – “Today we will do a writing assignment to get you thinking about what to write for the public storytelling event. We are writing 6-word memoirs. This is exactly what it sounds like, using six words to explain a part of your life. Here are some examples…”
You can come up with your own examples! Here are a few:
Examples
- “My name is Amy Nicole Silverman.”
- “I love to hang with friends.”
- “Loves poodles, hates poop, cuddle cuddle.”
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What’s a story?
Talk about what makes a good story – what do they think? Do they have favorite movies or books? Explain what makes those stories work. Bring some examples to read aloud; you can also show them videos of past WORDSLAW events.
Have everyone get out writing tools (computer/tablet/paper and pen) and give them the prompt for the show. Then ask them to write three memories that come up when they hear that prompt. Ask them to write down the memories one by one. (10 minutes)
Ask for volunteers to share their memories.
- Noon – lunch
Afternoon
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Identify the idea.
Have them revisit the memories they wrote down. They will choose one to expand.
Talk through their ideas and about have the group ask them questions that might help further develop the stories.
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Write!
Have them start writing their story. Everyone will be different – you might need to sit with some participants to get the story out. Others will write easily. And you’ll have some in between.
- Stretch break
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Workshop.
Have each person read their story aloud for the group. Offer advice.
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Revise.
Give them time to revise. You’ll want to work one on one with participants who need it.
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Workshop again.
Read aloud to the group one more time.
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Wrap up.
Ask them about the experience. The idea is to have the stories complete by day’s end but if that doesn’t happen, you can arrange one on one meetings to finish. Make sure they are comfortable, answer questions, talk about rehearsals if need be.
Option 2 Workshop schedule, three two-hour sessions These workshops should be scheduled for 2 hours so you have plenty of time for warm ups, breaks, chatting, getting acquainted. You can do them once a week, three days in a row – whatever works for you.
Week one
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Introductions
You will begin by introducing yourself/selves and going through the rundown of what will happen over the next six weeks and what participants can expect. Take lots of questions.
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Participants introduce themselves
Then you will have the participants introduce themselves – give everyone a turn but keep it pretty loose. This is your opportunity to get to know them.
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Writing exercise: six word memoirs
Finally, you will give them a super easy in class writing assignment. One idea is a 6 word memoir. That’s one that most people can do pretty easily, though you’ll want to offer a bunch of examples first.
Explanation of assignment (10 minutes) – “Today we will do a writing assignment to get you thinking about what to write for the public storytelling event. We are writing 6-word memoirs. This is exactly what it sounds like, using six words to explain a part of your life. Here are some examples…”
You can come up with your own examples! Here are a few:
Examples
- “My name is Amy Nicole Silverman.”
- “I love to hang with friends.”
- “Loves poodles, hates poop, cuddle cuddle.”
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Share
Give them 5-10 minutes to work on them, then have them read a couple of favorites out loud to the group.
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Brainstorm
Talk about what makes a good story, read or show videos of some examples. Give the students a word – keep it simple, something like SCHOOL or TELEVISION – and ask them to write down a couple memories or thoughts that come to mind when they hear that word. Give them 10 minutes to work on it and go around the room to make sure they are comfortable.
Talk about what that was like and have them share examples.
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Brainstorm again
Give the storytellers the word that is the theme for your event. You can pick something very general like BIRTHDAY or LOVE, or you can pick a word that dovetails with your reporting – like HOME or WORK.
Have them write down memories again, and share some of them with the group.
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Wrap up
Go over what the show will look like, in detail. Answer questions. Tell them to be thinking about their word!
Week two
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Quick intros
Again, do quick introductions and clearly explain that this week you will be working on shaping their stories.
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Brainstorm more
Give them the word from last week again, and ask them again to jot down some memories/thoughts to add to what they had the last week.
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Land on one story
Go around the room and help each storyteller (with the help of the others) land on one story. The best stories are very simple and have a beginning, middle and end. That’s hard to explain in theory – best to explain as they talk about their ideas.
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Write
Make sure you build in plenty of breaks and one-on-one conversations – you can pull each storyteller out of the room to go over their story together.
Some of the storytellers will write a complete story off the bat. Others might struggle and need more assistance getting the words on the page. You could have them record voice memos, if that works best for them. Get creative!
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Workshop
Have each student present their story to the group. Some won’t be complete – that’s ok, be encouraging! Offer constructive suggestions and encourage others to do the same.
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Note
These stories don’t have to be long! A couple paragraphs is fine. Most important – give them a limit of 500 words.
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Wrap up
Time for questions, you can talk again about the event. You might want to schedule some one-on-one sessions before the next workshop, if some are really feeling challenged/concerned.
Week three
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Quick intros
Quick introductions, talk about the event and answer questions.
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Workshop those stories!
Talk about the rules of workshopping – that you start with the positive, then move on to constructive criticism. Spend quite a bit of time on each story and finding ways to help polish/finish it while making sure it stays in the writer’s voice!
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One on one sessions
You might not need to meet with everyone and times will vary.
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Workshop again!
Have each storyteller read their story again, in case there are big changes but most important so they can practice!
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Wrap up
Answer questions about the event, be sure everyone has promotional materials and encourage them to keep practicing.
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Note
No matter what the format of your workshop is, make sure each storyteller has a clean, easy to read (big font) printed script. Be sure you have a copy as well.
For both workshopping and the show, identify an ADA compliant space and be sure you can accommodate the needs of your storytellers and the community. For example, if you have a storyteller who uses American Sign Language, you’ll need to budget for an interpreter for your workshop(s). If not, you can just have an ASL interpreter at the show. If you are looking for an interpreter, the National Association for the Deaf has resources in your state. A different form of accommodation can come in the form of a Plain Language translation. You should consider hiring a translator to ensure your promotional materials and stories about your event are easy to understand for members of the IDD community. Rebecca Monteleone has provided translations for several journalism projects.