Theory and practice, especially in education and more particularly about the composition process, stand in a dialectical relationship to one another, otherwise practice gets gimmicky and theory becomes dogmatic. The role of theory is to define purposes, figure out why something works so it can be repeated, give perspective, and free teachers from an overdependence on preparation. A theory of imagination can help teachers in teaching critical and creative writing together, reading and writing together, and to understand what it means to speak of the composing process. Composing is forming, it is a continuum and students of composition need to be helped to turn on their minds throughout the process. A theory of imagination helps teachers invent assignments appropriate to one or another phase of the composing process. (TJ)