A well-designed storyboard gives the brain something to hook new learning onto. That’s not just good design. It’s good cognitive science.
Picture a tapestry mid-weave. Vertical threads running through time — history, science, the arts, mathematics — and crossing threads of equity, ecology, and human connection pulling the whole thing together into something coherent and beautiful.
That’s the image Riane Eisler uses in Tomorrow’s Children to describe what integrated curriculum could look like. She calls the structure the “loom” — a framework that holds everything together so that content isn’t just covered, it’s connected.
It’s a compelling image. But most of us have worked with curriculum that looks less like a tapestry and more like a pile of thread. There’s a lot of it. It’s technically all connected. But no one can quite see the pattern.
That’s the bloat problem. And it’s real.
Streamlining isn’t about cutting for the sake of cutting. It’s about stepping back and asking: what is the narrative arc here? What do students actually need to encounter — and in what sequence — for the story to make sense? When we take an editorial stance on our curriculum, we’re making deliberate decisions about what to consolidate, what to emphasize, and what to let go. We’re making the big picture visible.
The Curriculum Storyboard is the tool that makes that possible. Not a long document. A clear, concise overview — with images, synopses, essential questions — that gives teachers, students, and families the frame before they’re inside the weave.
A well-designed storyboard gives the brain something to hook new learning onto. That’s not just good design. It’s good cognitive science.
This is work I do with schools all the time — facilitating the conversations that help teams distinguish what’s essential from what’s accumulated out of habit. If your curriculum feels like an overwhelming loom with too many threads, I’d love to help you find the pattern.