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  3. Quick Start Guide: Creative Writing
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  2. Creative Writing
  3. Quick Start Guide: Creative Writing

Quick Start Guide: Creative Writing

Welcome

New? Find everything you need to know to get started with our Creative Writing program and get to work preparing for the Future Problem Solving competition season.

Program overview
Our Creative Writing program provides an opportunity to create an original story based on one of the competition season topics. Our real world issues engage and inspire learning.

Getting Started

  1. Get familiar with how Creative Writing works
  2. Learn about futures thinking
  3. Get familiar with the current season schedule 
  4. Review an example of student work with evaluation
  5. Develop your plan for coaching

1. How Creative Writing works

Our Creative Writing program provides an opportunity to create an original story based on one of the topics for the current competition season. Students write 1,500 words or less imagining the logical outcome of actions or events set at least 20 years in the future.

2. Futuristic narratives

Students learn to thoroughly research a real world issue and then imagine possible outcomes of future actions or events. Writers develop a creative, futuristic narrative to entertain and inform readers.

3. How the competition season works

Students pick one of the four annual problem topics on which to write a related short story.

FPS Creative Writing Season at a Glance Schedule

Review the season topics

The website Topics Center is your one-stop shop for current and past topics information and links to topic-specific resources. Find everything you need on each topic page:

Review the available competition season topics materials

Review your local FPS calendar

4. What student work looks like

Students write 1,500 words or less imagining the logical outcome of actions or events set at least 20 years in the future. These examples include sample student work and evaluation highlights.

Coaching tool tip
Our Creative Writing champions publication offers new coaches a wealth of resources to use as a mock competition or practice. What’s inside:
– Program introduction: Instructions, how to’s, student tips, and helpful resources links
– What an evaluator looks for: Scoring breakdown and scoring rubric
– Topic introductions: 6 world finals topic overviews with links to additional topic resources
– Future scene: 6 Creative Writing competition future scenes by topic
– Meet the winners: Photos and biographical information
– Student examples: Student work submissions
– Evaluation examples: Side-by-side display of scores for all evaluations and curated comments from evaluators
Learn more

5. Top tools for coaching

This Resources Library has free tools to help students get started with planning their stories. Use these tools to give your students a strong base as they research their topics and organize their findings.

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April Michele

April Michele Bio

Executive Director

A seasoned educator, April Michele has served as the Executive Director since 2018 and been with Future Problem Solving more than a decade. Her background in advanced curriculum strategies and highly engaging learning techniques translates well in the development of materials, publications, training, and marketing for the organization and its global network. April’s expertise includes pedagogy and strategies for critical and creative thinking and providing quality educational services for students and adults worldwide.

Prior to joining Future Problem Solving, April taught elementary and middle grades, spending most of her classroom career in Gifted Education. She earned the National Board Certification (NBPTS) as a Middle Childhood/Generalist and later served as a National Board Assessor for the certification of others. She was trained and applied the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) in Humanities, which helped widen the educational scope and boundaries beyond the U.S. In addition, April facilitated the Theory and Development of Creativity course for state level certification of teachers. She has also collaborated on a variety of special projects through the Department of Education.

A graduate of the University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s in Elementary Education and the University of South Florida with a master’s in Gifted Education, April’s passion is providing a challenging curriculum for 21st century students so they are equipped with the problem solving and ethical leadership skills they need to thrive in the future. As a board member in her local Rotary Club, she facilitates problem solving in leadership at the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). She is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute and earned her certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Edyth Bush Institute at Rollins College.