See here for a printable version of the above graphic.

The graphic, created by Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey, is titled Crosswalk of the Elements of Learner Agency Across the Stages of Personalized Learning Environments. It is originally from their book, How to Personalize Learning. I think it nicely compliments Zaretta Hammond’s graphic from last week’s post.

Shifting to a learning space that is learner-centered or learner-driven is not always easy, and it is definitely something with which I struggled as a teacher. When we hear something to the effect of, “You need to move toward student agency,” we may be left wondering what this is and how to make it happen. But, when we look at the elements of student agency and think about how we might tackle 1-2 of them, the idea of student agency feels more concrete and obtainable.

This approach works with more than just student agency, as we can break down pretty much any teaching approach into elements. For example, if we are new to Writing Workshop, rather than trying to master it all in our first year, we can instead prioritize something like mini-lessons, while striving for proficiency with its other elements (conferring, mid-workshop teaching point, share, etc.).

As we promote student-driven experiences, how might we make our learning spaces and our school more about our students and less about us?