In a time when we’re all overwhelmed with information, the storyboard methodology provides a structure that helps us streamline our ideas and focus on what truly matters to both us and our audience.
Many of them used the storyboard methodology to frame their thinking—and the results were impressive. Dr. Maureen Ruby has been incorporating this approach into her doctoral classes for several years to help students develop a systemic way of thinking about curriculum, leadership, and even their dissertations.
In a time when we’re all overwhelmed with information, the storyboard methodology provides a structure that helps us streamline our ideas and focus on what truly matters to both us and our audience. As we walked through the gallery of examples at the symposium, we repeatedly heard presenters say that some of the storyboard elements sharpened their thinking in unexpected ways.
Real-World Examples of Storyboard Success
A few notable examples stood out to us:
- A teacher developing a future firefighter curriculum for girls used the storyboard’s learning targets to encourage anticipatory thinking. By asking her students, “What questions do you have?” and “What are you worried about?”, she created a continuum of learning that allowed the girls to see the big picture and understand how they would apply what they were learning. The storyboard’s clarity gave the students the confidence to take risks in a new class.
- Another presenter used the storyboard to clarify teacher emotional regulation based on the MindUP program. She found that the storyboard helped her take an existing program and reformat it into manageable chunks that were easier for both students and faculty to understand. She commented on how the storyboard would be a helpful tool for training other teachers and for presenting key ideas to parents, so they could support the strategies at home.
- An instructional coach created an elementary math curriculum storyboard and praised its ability to be more teacher and student-friendly. She explained that it was a welcome alternative to “pages and pages” of traditional curriculum. The storyboard was also written in “student-facing language,” so a fourth grader could easily understand it. The coach could imagine strengthening instructional practices by using the storyboard to give teachers a “big picture” before diving into the details of a lesson.
- One doctoral student even used the method to plan her doctoral thesis. She started by asking the essential questions that would focus her research. She explained that “knowing the essential question” and having it as a constant reference point is the heart of effective research. The storyboard helped her take a multitude of ideas and streamline them into a coherent plan, and she was excited for the next steps in her story.
The storyboard methodology provides a flexible framework that can be applied across different educational contexts, from curriculum design to research planning.
What other applications do you see for the storyboard methodology? Share your thoughts in the comments!