Promoting Student Agency during #COVID-19

Control is an interesting concept, isn’t it? Here we are in the midst of a global pandemic and we are struggling to find some sense and meaning in this crisis. This confusion is the “white noise” that runs in the background of our minds. Within a matter of months, our lives have been turned upside down. We are bearing witness to the failure of our paradigms but where there are children, there is hope. Personally, I find the opportunity that we still can teach in this crisis to be such a refreshing part of all of this. 

But it has made me more aware of the need to develop creative problem solving and imaginative thinking. We need humans who can think for themselves and not only have the intelligence but the empathy to find solutions that benefit all of us. Perhaps it is naive of me, but I believe that if we knew better, we do better.

So I think, more than ever, we have to change our mindset and instead of  “getting through this” challenge, we really “rise above and engage” in the meaningful work that we do every day with students. Resilience has to become our new normal. 

So I think the greatest gift we can get and we can give in this experience is agency. 

(That’s still such a funny-sounding word, isn’t it? Grammarly is always trying to get me to add “the” to it so that it reflects a collective noun vs. an attribute of an individual.)

So whether you are online or in a hybrid situation, we need to be thinking about how we can promote and empower students during these times. Whether our students are 3 years old or 13 years old, we need to provide them with the opportunity to be self-directed and self-regulated. They can’t be waiting for their teachers and parents to tell them what to think or when to think. Thinking and learning must just become like the air that surrounds them–ever-present. They need opportunities to make decisions for themselves and to provide direction in the learning.

So…

How are you using technology to promote student agency?

What structures are you using to promote self-navigation?

Do you give students permission and opportunities to “learn without you” and run a lesson (online or in-person)? 

Let’s give these questions some more airtime….

Technology to Promote Student Agency

The best part of this time is that there are so many apps that are available to promote new forms of learning. The only obstacle we have is our imagination. If you took out a pen right now and listed all the apps you are currently using and then started to brainstorm all the ways you could use it to turn over the learning to students, you could probably come up with a decent list. I’ve set my timer for 1 minute–here’s my list…..

• SeeSaw: 
  • The Choice Board
  • Student to student feedback in the comments
• Student Help Desk using Zoom/Google Meet/Microsoft Teams
•  Flip-Grid
  • Student-Led Book Clubs
  • Board: Student Help Desk with Math problems
  • Board: My home science experiments
• Padlet or Wakelet
  
  • I have a question….who has an answer… (Q and A forum)
  • Boards that allow students to do their own research and content curation 
  • Student “puzzlers” (riddles or games) or jokes
• Student-designed Google Site or Class Blog that they moderate
• Student-designed Bit-Emoji classroom with links to learning websites and books.

Okay, time is up! Hopefully, this 1-minute brainstorm sparks some ideas—What can you come up with?

Structures to Promote Self-Navigation

First of all, I think we need to think about what it means to “self-navigate”. What are the aspects that impact their ability to make decisions in order to direct their learning? I think these are the main ones:

• When they get to Learn: Their use and duration of time
• How they get to Learn: Choice of media
• What they get to Learn: Choice of activities in a content area
• Who they get to Learn with: Choice of learning partners

I think EVERY DAY students need the opportunity to make choices within one or more of these areas. The choices students make reflect the values that they have. As a teacher, I think this is critical information to have as. teacher because it provides insight into the student’s heart and mind, directly impacting their level of motivation.  I don’t care how animated and interesting your teaching style is, in the absence of motivation, learning can’t happen. We know that “thrill leads to skill”. Student choice stimulates engagement and develops stamina to get through challenges. 

Choice boards are definitely a vehicle that can address the How to Learn and the What to Learn but the structure of the Must-Do, May-Do Charts also guide students in their decision-making. But I would also challenge you to let your students create their own choice boards and present it as option to think about how they might design their own learning.

The When and Who of learning is something that could be really helpful if you do hybrid learning because instead of a fixed timetable of lessons, students could create their own learning schedule and you could provide “workshops” on learning topics that are assigned on an asynchronized platform. In that way, you can meet with smaller groups of students (mixing in-person and online students who video conference into these workshops). I think when students return to face-to-face instruction, transitioning back to fixed timetables is going to be really difficult. They may find the pace too slow or too fast. We need to think flexibly about time and allow students to structure their learning in such a way that accommodates their needs and preference.

Permission to Learn (without adults)

A couple of years ago I shared a post about What If Students Ran the School? (#SOL meets #EmpowerBook). I know that most of us predict that we would break into chaos or recreate the “Lord of the Flies”  if we give students the freedom to provide governance in how schools operate. But I think this is an excellent opportunity, particularly with online learning, to invite students into the planning and execution of learning. Moreover, we want students to go beyond the “checklist” approach to learning and be able to articulate the different ways that they can exercise their minds on any given day.  I can’t tell you specifically what to do as a classroom teacher, but I would suggest that you pose some open-ended questions like How might we learn …? or What if we ..? and allow students to fill in the blanks. I think this would be where you could start. Imagine how empowering this would be though if we co-designed learning with our students. 

Gosh, I think doing this would be a ton of fun! 

Your Turn

So as we consider the inflection point we are in education, we need to exercise our imagination and engage in experimentation so we can make learning a “team sport”, bringing students’ voices into our planning and providing them with choice into their learning. Although this post is hardly a blueprint or how-to guide, I do most certainly hope it expands some thinking into how we could use this time of crisis for an amazing transformation in student learning. 

Now it’s your turn–what are you going to do to promote student agency?