ToP® Book Charting

"Charting is a means of integrating active visual and kinesthetic capacities with the more passive auditory process of reading language.  By creating a rational and visual graphic of the whole of the written material being studied, the learner activates more of the brain in the inquiry process and amplifies the efficiency and effectiveness of learning."   --George Packard


What is book charting?

View charting instructions

View book charts

 

Note:  This page is an effort to organize materials to make it easier for members to find them.  It is a work in progress.  Please share your reactions and suggestions on the ToP Community Forum under ToP Cares forum (scroll down to 2013 Action Teams).  The charts we have are listed.  If you have copies of the older book charts (those unlisted here), please send them to Nileen Verbeten or Ester Mae Cox so we can add them.

 

What is Book charting?

(Note: The Technology of Participation (ToP®) methods were developed since the early 60’s by the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), often by global teams sharing and refining their processes.  This summary is provided by Cheryl Kartes, CTF, MN ToP Mentor Trainer. This method is taught in the Power of Image Shift course.)

Book Charting is a facilitated group study process that uses everyone’s input and insights to develop an “image” of the whole book. Developed by the ICA for in-depth study of books, these instructions provide a fast way to access the key ideas in a book, adapted initially by Dr. K. Elise Packard, from ICA’s more in-depth practice.

Participants are assigned a chapter/section to read and prepare a summary on a one-third or one-half vertical strip of poster paper using the Chapter Summary Instructions below. 

Participants then meet in a plenary session to report out chapter summaries and exchange their perspectives and opinions on the assigned reading.  Facilitated group discussions reflect on the themes within the book — drawing parallels from personal experience or other information sources — and reflect on the implications, or how to incorporate concepts/practices into their own work or organization. 

The process provides a dynamic and creative approach to internalizing information and is fun.  The number of participants required is typically a function of the number of chapters within a book.  If there are not enough participants for all of the chapters at a session, individuals will be assigned more than one chapter to summarize.

The Power of Image Shift Workbook lists many benefits of charting.  Some of them are:

  • A way of handling challenging or complex material
  • A means of holding for later reference a complete picture of material that has been covered, but is unable to be committed to memory due to time or complexity
  • A method that allows focus on a particular part of a written piece of material, but in relationship of that part to the whole
  • The means for a group to extend dialogue beyond the opinion of out outspoken person to create room for the participation of all team members in shaping the learning process
  • Rapid readers with the means to commit more information to creative use
  • Memory hooks on which to store useful information for rapid retrieval

 

Book charting is a tradition of ToP Network annual meetings.

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View Charting Instructions and Sample Documents

Four Level Charting Process – Jo Nelson, ICA-Canada - 2011        pdf

Sample Book Chart format – ICA- Canada          pdf

Charting Session Example and Worksheet – Larry Philbrook – ICA-Taiwan        pdf   /  powerpoint

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View Book Charts

2014 - Minneapolis

Speak Peace in a World of Conflict: What You Say Next Will Change Your World, by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D.  chart

 

2013 – Durham:

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, 2007, Chip Heath (Author), Dan Heath (Author)   pdf

Facilitating with Heart: Awakening Personal Transformation and Social Change, 2010, Martha Lasley (Author), Charting Leader, Cheryl Kartes

Leadership Mastery: How to Challenge Yourself and Others to Greatness, 2009, Dale Carnegie Training (Author)

 

2012 – Sacramento:

Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future, 2011, Margaret Weatley and Deborah Frieze     pdf    Also offered is a companion article entitled "Creativity Without Control"  pdf

Bending History: Vol II Societal Reformulation-toward a New Social Vehicle, 2011, John L Epps (Editor), M George Walters (Afterword), James Campbell (Foreword), Charting Leader: Cheryl Kartes     pdf

The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World (The Terry Lectures Series), Nancy Ellen Abrams (Author), Joel R. Primack (Author), Charting Leaders: Sheila Cooke and Christopher Cooke      pdf

 

2011 – San Antonio

Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business: Alfons Trompenaars, (Author), Charles Hampden-Turner (Author)     pdf

Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming, Paul Hawken   (Author)   pdf  /  Word

Process Design, A Practical Guide to What to do When and How for Facilitators, Consultants, Managers and Coaches: Making it Work, Dorothy Strachan (Author)     pdf

 

2010 -- Minneapolis

Five Minds for the Future, Howard Gardner (Author)    pdf

 

Older

Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future,  Peter M. Senge (Author), C. Otto Scharmer (Author), Joseph Jaworski (Author), Betty Sue Flowers (Author), Facilitated by The Pathstones Group      pdf     /     Word

 

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