Writing Resources for Educators and Students
Writing transcends subject matter. Whether you’re studying history, science, divinity, or any other topic, writing is a means of developing and articulating your ideas. When you write using the Imaginative Storm method, you’re not just demonstrating what you know. You’re investigating what you don’t know and what you might want to know. You generate the questions you want to ask.
The Imaginative Storm method gives students a way to write with confidence and ease. It encourages an open mind-set, fosters originality and insight, and enables students to express themselves with passion and authenticity.
Among how-to-write books, Write What You Don’t Know is unique, in that it’s both inspirational and practical. You’ll discover that it’s a powerful tool for cross-curricular learning.
A ready-made creative writing class
For high school and college teachers
Our book Write What You Don’t Know is organized into 10 sessions, with an introduction and a finale. Feel free to use it as a plug-and-play curriculum which fits neatly into a semester. All we ask is that you credit the Imaginative Storm method and offer our book to your students.
We suggest you take our self-paced online course yourself to familiarize yourself with a style of presentation that supports the Imaginative Storm method.
If you are looking to create a longer curriculum, draw from our Daily and Weekly Prompts. You’ll find them on our YouTube channel @imaginativestorm, and on our Circle platform. You can also use Write What You Don’t Know as a source for essay topics and one-off writing prompts.
For homeschoolers
Both the book and online course Write What You Don’t Know are nonpolitical and nonreligious. The guiding principles are creativity, expansion of awareness, and increasing the depth of experience of life and the world.
Please note that the audio samples of other writers’ work (the Prompt Archive) in the original course is designed for adult independent writers. It includes adult themes and occasional direct language. The Prompt Archive is an online bonus rather than an integral part of the course, so you can skip the examples and still derive the full benefit of the Imaginative Storm method.
We are currently developing a specialized online course, Write What You Don’t Know: For Younger Writers. It will use the same prompts as our original course but will feature 18-to-25-year-old voices in the Prompt Archive.
For professional development
Our online self-paced course Write What You Don’t Know is an excellent way to re-energize yourself, re-ignite your enthusiasm for personal and intellectual discovery, and expand your horizons.
If you teach language arts, creative writing, psychology, or history, you’ll find ideas for essay topics and writing prompts—and news ways to engage your students in their own quest for knowledge.
A Certificate of Completion will be granted. We are currently pursuing academic accreditation.
Become an Imaginative Storm facilitator
Bring the Imaginative Storm to your community
It’s easy!
Step 1: Join us on Zoom for the Writing Prompt of the Week any Saturday or Thursday. After a few sessions, you’ll understand the method.
Step 2: Contact us for a free training. If you’d like a certificate that shows you are a certified teacher of this method, we’ll be happy to provide one.
Step 3: Announce your workshop! You’re good to go.
“I was so engaged in the process that I thought of nothing outside of here as I wrote. It was amazing.”
“I attended a creative writing workshop just last weekend. It was supposed to be really good but I got nothing from it. This was totally different and I loved it. It was easy. I got so much from Imaginative Storm and learned so much!”
Hear from our first certified facilitator
Sandi Dittmer of Wetumpka, Alabama, has led a number of Imaginative Storm workshops. The photo below shows her session with “the Shady Ladies”—35 women from Shades Valley Community Church women’s group, on a weekend retreat.
Sandi writes: “it was absolute joy! The ladies loved every step. They were deafeningly silent, laughing, crying, sharing, writing and creating for an hour and a half solid. Everyone had a great time, but I think I had the most fun!”
To read Sandi’s piece about teaching her first Imaginative Storm workshop, click here.
