CHAPTER 19
THE HISTORY WALL: An Evolving Review of Classroom Learning
One 2nd-grade teacher, a student in the Design-Based Learning Certificate Program at Cal Poly Pomona, had offered her portable classroom as a weekly meeting place for her cohort group of K–12 teachers. One evening's topic was the History Wall. I was introducing the teachers in the program to ways to use classroom walls to engage students in an ongoing review of their yearlong participation in Design-Based Learning by displaying a record of their Design Challenges and academic experiences that would evolve monthly.
The History Wall does for teachers what the City does for students: it displays the parts that make up a contextual whole.
The bulletin boards in this teacher's portable classroom were tightly bordered with scalloped paper, the kind sold by the yard for teachers to use to decorate their classrooms. She invited a discussion about ways her classroom walls could capture her students' learning experiences as they built their tabletop City, governed it and the classroom, and learned the grade-level curriculum through Guided Lessons.
To begin the discussion, I asked everyone for out-of-the-box thinking and had them look around the classroom for examples of traditional in-the-box thinking as well. They all noticed the meticulously framed bulletin boards, but didn't see the tiny stick figure pinned below one scalloped border until one of the teachers pointed it out. She laughed, saying that the figure was out-of-the-box and looked as if it were about to enter the constricted space of the bulletin board. A lively exchange took place about why the figure was outside the frame, why it was so small, and what message was being sent to students.
The teacher's response was that she had no idea why she put it there, but once it was pointed out, she and the other teachers reflected on the secondary messages being communicated. They were surprised by how many they came up with: kids may feel disconnected from their work, kids are too small to be part of the display, a stick figure is not stable or very important, the figure was outside the box because there was not enough room for kids, tiny people can go outside the box, but not real people.
As a rule, formal teacher training describes the walls of the classroom as a place to “advertise” learning with slogans and posters, display student work, or to remind students of their times tables, the alphabet, Periodic Table, etc. Sometimes, the display is done just to make the room look “pretty.”
In my Design-Based Learning methodology, everything in the classroom, from the arrangement of furniture to what is on the walls, can serve as a tool for promoting problem seeking and problem solving. Developing a History Wall gives teachers deliberate reasons for what is displayed, reducing the time-consuming, random use of classroom walls. The cumulative process of making a History Wall takes the pressure off the teacher, as the classroom walls are always ready for review and presentation by students to administrators, parents on Back-to-School-Night, and to any other visitors.
A History Wall display developed by a teacher with student input enables students to see that their life in the classroom is history. A timeline on the walls as an ongoing review of the progression of their academic achievements makes students' classroom life visible. It teaches students that just as history books are written by those who decide what historic events to include and how much space is devoted to those events—they can be decision-makers, too.
My vision for the History Wall display of a Design-Based Learning, integrated curriculum in the classroom crystallized in 1971 when renowned designers Ray and Charles Eames gave me space in their office for the making of a film about my methodology. At that time, the Eameses were preparing an exhibition about Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and the founding of America. Commissioned by the U.S. government for the Bicentennial, their exhibit was to travel worldwide. It included artifacts on a timeline with horizontal, color-coded channels that represented different categories and topics related to the lives of these two Founding Fathers. This floor-to-ceiling exhibit featured the major events and artifacts associated with the founding of our country, the significant people of the time, and the related events that occurred concurrently all over the world.
Inspired by the Eames exhibition, the classroom History Wall evolved as I worked with teachers to change what is ordinarily seen on classroom walls by determining a comprehensive way to display a timeline of students’ classroom life and learning. No two History Walls are the same. Teachers decide the criteria for having work placed on the History Wall. They decide how the History Wall is organized to show time, different topics and categories, how revisions are shown, when, why, and how much student work goes up on the History Wall, and when it is to be changed.
Not every teacher has the time to involve students in deciding the how and why of displaying a timeline of their experiences in the classroom, but explaining to students the reasons for the display promotes a student-centered classroom. This engagement in decision-making may not work for very young students. Teachers with rotating single subject classes can develop a portable History Wall to use as a review with students.
The portable History Wall (above) shows Guided Lessons resulting from one Design Challenge in Janice Sandberg’s 3rd-grade multiple-subject class at Washington Accelerated Elementary School in Pasadena, CA. To make her revolving, portable History Wall, Janice, a graduate of the Design-Based Learning master’s degree program at Cal Poly, Pomona, developed the Criteria List below.
| DON'T WANTS | NEEDS |
| Commercial Displays | Never-Before-Seen History Wall |
| Only Two-Dimensional Displays | Three-dimensional artifacts of student work in rotation |
| Random Order | Sequence showing evolution of Design Challenges |
| Only High Achievers Work | Criteria Lists for each Design Challenge |
| Samples of students' initial and revised versions of 3D artifacts for each Design Challenge | |
| Samples of Guided Lessons with color-coded subjects in separate channels | |
| Sample booklets that contain every student's written work about each Design Challenge | |
| Achievements and Assessments |
THE HISTORY WALL IN THE CLASSROOM
Examples from the Design-Based Learning Master's Degree Program at Cal Poly, Pomona
2nd Grade
Marta Rosales, a 2nd-grade teacher at James Madison Elementary School in the Pasadena Unified School District, developed a collective History Wall as her students built their Magic Land City. She divided her classroom walls into 11 sequential sections representing the Magic Land Story as a timeline showing each Design Challenge and specific, standards-driven Guided Lessons.
“My History Wall and Long-Range Planning Boards served as a giant, visual pacing guide. To build suspense and anticipation, I revealed the Design Challenge titles named on my Long-Range Planning Boards to my students one at a time, and they enjoyed predicting what would happen next. The History Wall became a record-keeping document reflecting their progress through activities and expressions of critical thinking. Teaching my students to check the History Wall regularly gave them a constant review of their learning. For me, the History Wall became a tool for holding myself accountable, because it visually displayed the essence of what I was teaching every day.
“Parents' support of Magic Land grew during the year. At Open House, parents noted in particular that I had taught their children to articulate, rationalize, and explain their Design Challenges and Guided Lessons displayed on the History Wall. They were impressed by the level of academic vocabulary that their children had acquired and used on a daily basis during the year.
The History Wall informed parents, administrators, students—and me—about what the methodology of Design-Based Learning achieved in my classroom. It assured me that I was teaching the required curriculum in-depth and I felt comfortable about Backwards Thinking™.”
High School (Chemistry)
“My History Wall took up most of the available wall space in the classroom,” wrote Ganesha High School Chemistry teacher Temy Taylor, whose 10th–12th graders spent a semester building their Atomic City to learn chemistry. “At first, I felt that developing a History Wall display would take up more of my time than it was worth, until I saw what a significant impact it had on my students. The History Wall not only provided a review of the students' work throughout the school year, it was also a visual celebration. They retold their Atomic City story to each other and pointed with pride to their work on display. The History Wall became a powerful record of student progress in the classroom throughout the school year, showcasing where they had started and the steps they took along the way as they learned the Chemistry curriculum.”
Middle School (English as a Second Language [ESL])
Annette M. Dellemonico taught ESL at the Intermediate-Advanced (ESL 3) and Advanced (ESL 4) levels at Sepulveda Middle School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. “Each time a class completed a Design Challenge as they built their Paradise Hills City, and finished their Guided Lessons that connected the Design Challenge to their standards–based curriculum,” she wrote, “my students put together a poster. By the end of the school year, there were 11 posters that illustrated each of my 11 Design Challenges with pictures of students working, pictures of their projects, narratives, work samples, and captions. Together, these 11 posters became my History Wall. As I developed the History Wall, the purpose of recording history became understandable to my students because they had a personal experience with documenting their own history. I taught them that history is written to remember experiences and to share knowledge and discoveries for those who come after us.”
Middle School (Integrated Mathematics)
Robin Talbot, a teacher of Integrated Mathematics at Warner Middle School in the Westminster Unified School District, described the History Wall as “a visual reminder of the work done following each Design Challenge for my students' Biome City. During my first year of applying the Design-Based Learning methodology, I didn't start the History Wall until late in the year when I gave my students a Never-Before-Seen Festival Design Challenge. Not having visual reminders earlier in the year made a review of what was done previously somewhat difficult. My students were very clear about what they did in each Design Challenge, but they were less clear about the Guided Lessons connected to the Design Challenge.
“To maintain a stronger connection between the Design Challenges and the Guided Lessons in the second school year, I planned a History Wall and started it with the first Design Challenge. The Biome City class was just one of four classes that I taught. The amount of wall space devoted to a yearlong display of students' work in that class was minimal, so for my History Wall, I used the cabinets in the back of the classroom. With each new Design Challenge, I posted student work from the Guided Lessons along with their statements of the Math content. They read the History Wall as a reminder of the standards I taught and the work they did learning those standards. Having a History Wall in my classroom gave me insight about what to include or revise for the following school year—kind of a pre-plan for the next year.”
10th Grade (English Language Arts)
10th-grade English Language Arts teacher Janet Perez at Ganesha High School in the Pomona Unified School District, wrote: “My History Wall gave all of my students, not just ‘the best,’ a look back at the progress of their work over the course of the whole school year.” Janet's History Wall covered an entire classroom wall. It was seen and discussed by the students, parents, and administrators to recall and examine student achievements. The History Wall was both descriptive and visual, documenting students' learning through photographs and thinking maps. Janet displayed student work from each of her 10 Design Challenges, by having students vote on the 5 to 10 most descriptive pieces of their work from each Design Challenge, then photographing their choices and putting them on the History Wall.
3rd Grade (English Language Learners [ELL] and Gifted and Talented Education [GATE])
“My History Wall was a visible timeline of what took place when students created their Island Adventure City,” wrote Safini Lin Convey, a 3rd-grade ELL and GATE teacher at Mt. Washington Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
“Each Design Challenge was successively posted and recorded with student work, revealing both their learning process and final products: photographs of students working on three-dimensional solutions, Guided Lessons and samples of their writing, geographical maps, graphs, science models, Math worksheets, and thinking maps. I taught both my ELL and my GATE students how to describe what was on the History Wall and how to prepare a tour for visitors.
“The day the principal came to visit, I had three students give her a tour of the History Wall. I didn't know what to expect of my 3rd graders, but they were so into it and she was so interested, that the tour went on for 30 minutes. Afterward, the principal commented: ‘Each Design Challenge asked students to use their imagination while using critical-thinking skills to stay within certain assigned parameters. The students clearly understood their Design Challenge tasks as they worked within their own ability level to create Never-Before-Seen artifacts. The students were able to retain information as they enthusiastically explained their Design Challenges in depth. The level of critical thinking in these Never-Before-Seen creations is clear with the consistent use of Criteria Lists so that students self-monitor their work. They showed evidence of metacognition as they explained their learning in terms of both processes and products.’ ”
Middle School (Spanish Language)
“Creating a History Wall that displayed what I taught was new for me, as I usually had student work displayed randomly all over the classroom,” said middle school Spanish teacher Martha Jimenez-Corsi. “I developed Spanishtopia City to sustain my students' interest in learning Spanish and to teach critical thinking skills. After each Design Challenge and its Guided Lessons, I had students select the assignments and the sequence they wanted to display on the History Wall. I noticed that they analyzed their work carefully before deciding what to display. My students even began bringing visitors into the classroom to see the History Wall and show off what they had done.
“Spanishtopia was well-received in all three middle schools where I taught. When administrators conducted random visits and observed the building and revision of the students' Spanishtopia Cities and the History Wall displays in each of my classrooms, my students acted as tour guides. They explained how the History Wall with my Long-Range Planning Boards displayed the curricular sequence for the course and the administrators easily saw the evidence that my Design Challenges and Guided Lessons were indeed teaching students the required Spanish curriculum.”
2nd Grade
Joseph Lechner, a 2nd-grade teacher at Orangewood Elementary School in the West Covina Unified School District, graduated from the master's program in 2017.
“My History Wall was a living structure that celebrated my students' learning as they built their small Cloud City of the Future. It was ever-changing, displaying their artifacts, writing, and other representations of their learning, as I facilitated discussions with my students about what to add or remove. For example, my 2015–2016 students chose to display the Never-Before-Seen Creatures' Driver's Licenses that they made during a Guided Lesson after they built Never-Before-Seen Carriers and Pathways. My 2016–2017 students chose to display the land deeds that they wrote after building a Never-Before-Seen Way to Divide Land.
“The sampling of permanent and temporary items on display showed the progression of my Design-Based Learning curriculum throughout the school year. Having students choose what to display on the History Wall was another way to promote a student-centered classroom. It increased student engagement, participation, and ownership.
“My Criteria Lists, which I taught my students to refer to for self-assessment, were a permanent component of my History Wall. They were a visual set of directions for each of my Design Challenges. Other permanent components of my History Wall included the city map that represented the residential area around the school and the students' vision for Cloud City, a display shelf where completed artifacts were showcased (until they were approved by the Cloud City government to become part of the landsite), and a Committee Job Board, posting students' assigned committees and job responsibilities in the classroom and in Cloud City.
“When students took their individual Cloud City land parcels to their desks to make design changes, I repeatedly had them refer to the city map on the wall with its simple number grid to reassemble their City. I required that they apply Math skills to find the location of their land parcels so they could accurately put the City back together. I placed the display shelf at an appropriate height for students to have convenient access to their artifacts as I taught Guided Lessons and as they subsequently revised what they built for each Design Challenge. I used the Committee Job Board (a white board) as a changing list of students' jobs to teach about division of labor in a democratic society. I had students write their own job descriptions and I called regular, time-limited ‘town meetings’ to remind them of what their jobs entailed and to discuss how any problems that arose might be handled. I taught the students to refer to the Committee Job Board to find the appropriate person to talk to when there was a problem. For example, when some students weren't clearing their desks at the end of the day, their peers consulted the Building Inspector/Desk Monitor, who posted a reminder on the bulletin board.
“A variety of Cloud City-related student writing included a Never-Before-Seen Creature Biography, Shelter, and Timeline. At the end of the academic year, students placed their writings in sequence, and created a stand-alone book called, The Adventures of Creatures in Cloud City. My History Wall became a fundamental part of my teaching. Starting with empty walls, I added one of my Long-Range Planning Boards to the History Wall each month, along with student work. By the time my students completed all 10 of my Design Challenges (around June), my Long-Range Planning Boards were the centerpiece of the History Wall. This highly visible display of my strategic plan for the academic year informed and reassured my students, their parents, and my administrators that hands-on learning is serious learning.”
The Committee Job Board on Joseph Lechner's History Wall displays the results of his Never-Before-Seen Leadership Design Challenge. It names the Mayor and City Council members of the student-built Cloud City, and lists committees with students' parallel roles in Cloud City and in the classroom. The Post-It Note colors identify each committee and area of responsibility. The Committee Job Board was accessible by students for daily use and revision as Joseph changed their committee jobs and leadership positions throughout the school year.
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A comprehensive Design-Based Learning classroom is student-centered and encompasses these major academic goals of the K–12 curriculum: Knowledge, Critical and Creative Thinking, Cultural and Democratic Understanding (Civic Values), Skills Attainment, and Social Participation. Teachers are facilitators of a dual world: the student-built and student-governed City and the student-governed classroom. Students are taught how to communicate, collaborate, and self-advocate. Teachers share with students the Design Challenges and Guided Lessons that are in store for them during the school year and use the classroom walls as a display of the history of students' learning.