What is student agency? - Center for Inspired Teaching

March 23, 2016

This piece – written by Aleta Margolis, Inspired Teaching’s Executive Director – appeared in Inspired Teaching’s March newsletter. For more insights like these sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to Hooray For Monday.

“What is student agency? Why is it important?” Recently, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation hosted a #WhatIsSchool Twitter chat, which focused on strategies to develop student agency in the classroom. Like the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Inspired Teaching believes that developing students’ ownership over their learning is crucial in teaching them to become creative, critical thinkers. At Inspired Teaching, we think about student agency all the time: what it means, what it looks like, how to cultivate it, and how to encourage teachers to embrace it in their classroom practice. Distilling our thoughts on this complex topic into 140 characters was an excellent exercise, and now I’m happy to illustrate our Tweets with stories from the classrooms of Inspired Teachers.

What is student agency? Why is it important? Student agency builds the critical thinking and problem solving skills students need to thrive. It is important because students engaged actively in their education build deeper understanding of content. Our 20th anniversary “teacher feature” series, recently highlighted Mr. Abdu’l-Karim Ewing-Boyd, an alumnus of the 2006 Inspired Teaching Institute and an educator at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School. In describing his experience with Inspired Teaching, he said our training helped him recognize the importance of engaging every student and enabling the class to connect lessons to their own lives. As he stated:

“If what you’re learning doesn’t relate to who you are, then there’s no place for you to store that information. There’s no way to understand it. That’s neurologically proven… And in terms of basic human respect – if there’s no effort on the part of the teacher to make what you’re doing relevant to students, then you’re not recognizing students as people. They’re just a set of checkboxes to you.”

The Inspired Teaching Institute pushes teachers out of their comfort zones so they can see how they learn best – and we all learn best when we are engaged as individuals.

What skills do students need to take ownership of their learning? Every student has the skills; it’s the teacher’s responsibility to find a way to reach every student. At Inspired Teaching, we believe and our instructional model recognizes that every student has the potential to build the skills they need to thrive. To build these skills – which include confidence, self-advocacy, perseverance, risk-taking, creativity, and curiosity – teachers must create a classroom environment that helps students understand their social-emotional needs as well as their academic work. The walls of Inspired Teaching classrooms are papered with student ideas, from a class-generated set of norms and expectations to an “emotions continuum” that allows students to share their feelings and learn about those of their classmates. With this continuum tool, students practice self-regulation and move their placeholder from one emotion to another depending on how they are feeling throughout the day. Straightforward yet deeply thoughtful structures like this ensure that students feel in control of their emotions and their ability to learn, and teachers are better able to reach each individual student and support his or her growth.

How can student input opportunities be turned into leadership opportunities? Student as Expert – student voice and ideas should be abundant in every lesson. When students are given the opportunity to provide meaningful input, they learn leadership skills like active listening, the ability to give and receive feedback, and how to pose creative solutions to complex challenges. This month, Real World History alum Zawadi Carroll describes how, after a semester in college, she returned for an interschool seminar on the works of Ta-Nehisi Coates – this time as a facilitator rather than as a participant. She wrote of her experience:

“Everyone’s voice mattered. This facilitation not only allowed me to share some of my thoughts, but also allowed me to learn from my peers. By the end of our discussion I had received almost more than I’d given. My mind was filled with new insights and information. This was the kind of mind I would need to succeed in college.”

Ts are afraid to “relinquish control” of the c/room. What should/shouldn’t Ss have control over? Teachers should teach students how to think; students should have control of what they think. Inspired Teachers teach students how to think, instead of doing the thinking for them. As Instigators of Thought, they avoid spoon-feeding information to students, giving excessive instructions, or supplying answers. At the most recent DC Public Schools’ professional development day, our SCALE teacher leaders taught their K-12 how to unleash the potential of students and deepen their understanding of content by utilizing students’ imaginations. Teachers were taught a lesson on fossils, which could be used to assess and build on students’ prior knowledge through a process that encourages learners to create, reason, and share their work with confidence.

I see the shift towards student-centered learning taking place every day. By participating in conversations like #Whatisschool, I hope more and more educators, administrators, parents, and students recognize the potential of enabling student agency – and that they understand that it is necessary for students to thrive. Help Inspired Teaching ensure that student voices are heard in all classrooms throughout the District. Learn more about opportunities for prospective lead and master teachers at the Inspired Teaching Demonstration School; for DC charter school teachers to participate in BLISS and SCALE; and for prospective new teachers to join future cohorts of Inspired Teaching Fellows. The conversation does not end here.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.