Colortron 3000Our resident mad scientist, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Spells, has finally perfected his revolutionary shrink ray, enabling us to bring the engaging, irreverent writing programs usually found at our North Philly lab directly into your classroom!

We’ve developed a variety of writing experiences that are sure to delight and inspire your students in their writing endeavors. All programs result in the publication of student work in a class anthology, digital novel, or animated film, and are free of charge for public and charter schools.

The Science of Experimental Writing (year-round, grades 3–8), our core classroom program, takes students on an imaginative journey through the creative writing process. Incorporating group games, creative thinking, imaginative props, and interaction with dedicated volunteers, our lessons are designed to reinforce core writing concepts such as character development, strong plotting, and revision using non-traditional techniques that engage even the most resistant, struggling writers.

Write Your Own Adventure (year-round, grades 3–8) is a two-session creative writing workshop in which students work as a class, in groups, and individually to write a collaborative choose-your-own-adventure- style story, which is published online as an interactive digital book! The branched structure of this collaborative story allows reluctant and underperforming writers to gradually gain confidence in their ideas before being faced with working independently to write their own endings.

Frankenstories (year-round, grades 3–8), adapted from the first visit of our flagship Science of Experimental Writing program, is a two-session creative writing workshop that uses crowd-sourced storytelling as a vehicle to provide reluctant writers a strong foundation on which to build a story and to make revision less intimidating for all students.

The Dream Studio (Jan/Feb, grades 2–12, limited availability) is a five-session interdisciplinary workshop inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech that serves as the perfect tie-in to MLK Day and Black History Month celebrations. Students will share their own hopes and aspirations in writing, then learn how to translate their favorites into short animation sequences for a collaborative film project.

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Fill Out Our In-School Program Interest Form for Your Classroom or School