Histomap

A process that enables group members see how we arrived at the current state. Adapted by Patty Butz from The Adaptive School by Bob Garmston and Bruce Wellman.

Histomap

 

Purpose:

·         To develop a shared perspective about what led to the current state of the curriculum-instruction-assessment system.

·         To orient new faculty and school leaders

·         To create a data display that helps us understand past patterns and gather lessons about what changes have worked and what failed – what “drivers” have created past successes

This “history map” will be a timeline of critical events in the life of the Curriculum Instruction and Assessment system. It is the story told by the current school leaders and their collective rememberings. Create the timeline on a large role of butcher paper and attach to a wall.

Steps:

1.     Review the purpose of the exercise.

2.    All team members write on the timeline, or “eras,” events, people, groups, initiatives, ideas, changes, internal or external forces that impacted the curriculum, instruction and or assessment in either a positive or negative way. Positives at the top of the chart; negatives at the bottom.

3.    What can we learn from the Histomap?

 

Debrief Dialogue

The debrief might include some of these questions:

·         Where was the “highest high” and the “lowest low”?

·         What “drivers” created successful change?

·         Where are the roots of our current challenges and opportunities?

·         What needs to be left behind? What needs to be brought forward?

·         What implications does the past have for how we move into the future?

 

Other Possible Applications:

When there is a split between “old guard” and “new guard.”

When a group is continually “stuck”

When a group must begin to radically redefine their preferred future