While student agency is considered an important aspect of classroom learning, opportunities to support and promote agency can be easily missed. This book addresses the inner dimensions of student agency to show what it is, why it is needed, and how it can be translated into instructional practices. In Part I, Locating Student Agency, Vaughn offers a model of agency that can become a core remedy for educators looking for new and better ways to support the learning of historically marginalized students. Part II, Growing Student Agency, illuminates opportunities during instruction where teachers can build upon student contributions. The book includes the voices of teachers who have transformed their classrooms, as well as compelling case stories rich with ideas that teachers can adopt in their own instruction. Student Agency in the Classroom will provide educators at every level, and across all disciplines, with the underlying research and theoretical rationale for this key educational force, along with the practical means to incorporate it into instruction and curriculum.Book Features:A comprehensive framework that outlines three core dimensions needed to cultivate student agency: dispositional, motivational, and positional.Detailed strategies and ideas for creating a culture of agency in the classroom and schoolwide.A collaborative way of thinking about how teachers, teacher educators, and school leaders can promote and cultivate agency.The author's experience as a classroom teacher, professional developer, and researcher.Classroom vignettes, teacher interviews, and conversations with students. Extension sections and discussion questions at the end of chapters.
Margaret Vaughn is an associate professor of literacy and curriculum and instruction at Washington State University. She is the recipient of multiple national awards for her research on teacher practice, schooling, and equitable learning environments.
ContentsForeword Anne Haas Dyson ixAcknowledgments xiiiIntroduction 1An Orientation Toward the Nature of Learning 4 The Social Context 4 Overview of This Book 7 PART I: LOCATING STUDENT AGENCY 111. What Is Student Agency? 13Extension 21 The Case of Quin 22 2. Purpose and Intentionality 23Purpose 24 Intentionality 28 Use of Tools: Self-Directed Symbolization and Improvisation 31 Extension 35 3. Perception and Persistence 37Perception 37 Persistence 39 Extension 45 4. Interaction and Negotiation 47Interaction 47 Negotiation 49 Extension 55 PART II: GROWING STUDENT AGENCY 575. How Students Experience and Talk About Agency 59What Do Students Have to Say About Agency? 61 Voice and Choice 62 Extension 70 6. How Teachers Implement and Talk About Agency 72Opportunities for Voice and Choice 74 Necessity of Agency 75 Flexibility and Supports 79 Extension 84 7. Teaching for Student Agency 85What Does Agency Look Like in the Classroom? 88 Instructional Practices 94 Extension 96 8. Cultivating a Culture of Agency 97The Classroom Teacher 98 The Student 100 The Principal 101 Developing Core Beliefs 103 Enacting Behaviors 104 Interactions and Connections 105 Reflection and Action 105 Extension 106 9. A Look to the Future 107Where to From Here? 109 Conclusion 112 References 113Index 125About the Author 130