Tag: Student-Centered Learning

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April 28, 2022 8:00 am

Four Ways We Design for Students

We know your students are always at the center of your lesson planning. They’re at the heart of ours, too.

Trusting us with your students — and keeping their best interests at heart — is a privilege that we don’t take lightly. You want to know that when students log in to one of our programs, they’re receiving the absolute best instruction and an equitable user experience. Most of all, you want to know that it works.  

We share each educator’s mission to foster student growth. 

Still, when we say we create dynamic, student-centered digital curricula, what exactly do we mean? Here are four ways we design for students: it starts with research (efficacy and foundational), we take the time to talk to students and teachers like you and incorporate feedback, we prioritize equity, and we’re always searching for ways to better engage students in their learning. This way, when you’re using one of our programs, you can focus on what you do best: connecting with students and, you know, teaching.

1. It starts with a strong foundation in research

Our research team at Imagine Learning geeks out on a wide body of peer-reviewed research. So, you can know that when students complete lessons, they’re going to receive instruction steeped in what works. Two types of research are incorporated: foundational (what we build our products on), and efficacy (how we measure the effectiveness of what we’ve created).

Foundational Research  

Imagine Learning incorporates well-accepted research into its work at every opportunity, drawing from a wide range of inquiry and analysis to inform the instructional design of our solutions and ignite learning breakthroughs. 

Let’s take a quick look at how this works for one of our products, Imagine Math. We know conceptual understanding is critical for math success… but what method of instruction supports this best? Dr. Heather West, the Principal Foundational Research Specialist at Imagine Learning shares, “To effectively support students’ conceptual understanding of mathematics, it is important that we draw on research to determine what students need to learn to master grade-level content and how to best teach these concepts. Our Imagine Math lessons incorporate the concrete-representational-abstract framework to help students make meaning of the concept, make connections across representations, and understand the underlying concepts behind the procedures.”  

Additionally, research has found that students who are intrinsically motivated perform at higher levels (Lemos & Verissimo, 2014; Skaalvik et al., 2015), are more inclined to persevere when faced with challenges (Huang, 2011), and develop a deeper understanding of content (Zainuddin et al., 2020). Therefore, Imagine Math aims to intrinsically motivate students by incorporating real-world situations that are interesting and relatable. These lessons also encourage choice and promote self-directed learning by encouraging them to choose from a variety of reward environments and skills-based games. 

Discover how we translate critical research into smart instructional design for all or our products to propel learning outcomes for students.  

Efficacy Research 

We continuously measure the impact our programs have on student success and school communities. “Our evaluative studies,” said Andrew Berrett, PhD, Director of Efficacy Research at Imagine Learning, “are designed to meet the level of research rigor required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (2016) in demonstrating evidence of effectiveness for a diverse population of students across the nation. Insights obtained from these studies are used to inform the instructional design of our solutions and ignite learning breakthroughs.”

Here are a few recent examples:  

Credit Recovery Students Using Edgenuity Recover 26 Percent More Credits and Graduate at a Higher Rate than Their Peers: A research brief showing how Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District students enrolled in Imagine Edgenuity’s online English I, English II, Algebra I, U.S. History, and Biology credit recovery courses obtained more credits and achieved higher course grades than an equivalent group of students enrolled in a face-to-face credit recovery course. 

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Language & Literacy for Improving Reading Skills: An independent research study that shows how fourth- and fifth-grade students who used Imagine Language & Literacy showed significantly more growth in reading skills than comparable students who did not use Imagine Learning. 

You can browse the entire library of efficacy research here. 

2. The most important feedback comes from students (and teachers!) 

Real students give us real feedback, and their reactions and opinions are integrated into design choices such as minimizing distractions on the page, the addition of micro-celebrations and opportunities to motivate students, and more. 

Once we’ve got a prototype of a desired program, or updates to an existing one, Imagine Learning’s Product Experience Design team form a test group of students (and educators!) that use the product for a set amount of time. There are two main questions the team asks when doing user research. First, can they design for specific students’ needs and wants? Empathy is the keyword here. Our products should be designed with empathy for what both educators and students want and need.  

The second question they keep in mind is, do our ideas translate into something meaningful for students and teachers?  

“We want to test specific aspects of our designs or ideas and understand whether or not they actually work for users,” said Imagine Learning user experience researcher, Michael Richard. “I think it’s the Hippocratic oath — which is ‘do no harm.’ If you are trying to build something new and exciting and interesting, you also have to evaluate whether or not students and instructors are able to effectively accomplish the tasks that you think are critical. Because you can make something beautiful but if nobody understands how to use it, that’s kind of a huge problem.” 

3. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are important

Diversity and inclusivity strengthen our team, enrich our lives, and help us better serve our students with materials in which they not only see themselves reflected but also learn about diverse people, cultures, experiences, and perspectives. Our materials fit into practices like Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Teaching and Universal Design for Learning – where each student’s unique learning journey is valued.  

Here are the principles we follow when creating content:  

Inclusion: Create content reflective of our users so that students see themselves, their family members, and their communities in the content. 

Representation: Show people and groups the way they want to be shown via terminology, visual and cultural representations, and more.  

Perspective: Include more diversity of perspectives to create more complete and accurate materials, including centering of viewpoints outside of the dominant culture.   

Accuracy: Be fact-based, provide context, and talk about impacts.  

A quick example of this can be found in Imagine Math, which promotes learning through lovable characters, songs, and stories. The characters are intentionally designed to be culturally inclusive and to inspire students to dream big. STEM-driven careers are highlighted throughout the narrative; Ruby wants to be an engineer when she grows up, Maya is a scientist in the making, Oliver likes to build robots, and Sophia is on her way to becoming a doctor. The narration fosters feelings of relatedness and inclusivity between students and Imagine Math’s friendly characters.

Another example of diversity in our products can be found in Imagine Español, a K-5 Spanish Language Arts curriculum:

4. We engage students with relevant content

At Imagine Learning, we are focused on constantly updating our content to make it more relevant and engaging for students. For example, we’ve added new video content to Imagine Edgenuity this year that features student actors talking to and explaining key concepts to students.

Imagine Edgenuity — Integers and the Number Line Math Lesson

Using a real-life example, students are led through a small exploration of how integers impact their lives. Through this video they learn examples and non-examples of integers and can apply it to the learning that lies ahead.

Additionally, Imagine MyPath K–12 is a supplemental curriculum that utilizes Smart Sequencer™ technology to prioritize essential skills and create individual learning paths (ILPs) in reading and mathematics. However, if a fifth-grade student is reading at a first-grade level, they do not receive the same examples and instruction as a first-grade student would. A student’s chronological grade determines their experience in the program and the presentation of information, but their skill level determines the types of questions presented, humanizing their experience.
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Designing for students is our commitment not just to the younger generations, but to educators like you as well. With a well-crafted curriculum, you don’t have to search endlessly on the internet for relevant materials. You can focus on what matters most: your students.  

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March 22, 2022 8:00 am

Humanizing Personalized Learning with Paul Emerich France

“The key to personalized learning is seeing and honoring the humanity in every student.”

Personalized learning is in high demand as schools navigate the uncertainties of a pandemic. While web-based, adaptive tools allow us to individualize learning for students, we can’t forget the need to humanize models for personalization and center students in our instruction. 

In a webinar on March 3rd, Paul Emerich France elaborated on four pillars of the Humanized Personalization Equity Framework, and teachers left with tangible steps they could implement the next day to humanize personalization in their classrooms.

High School student sits at desk playing with a pencil

Center Humanity

“Make space in your teaching for identity work, storytelling, and discussions of belonging.” 

Paul emphasized the importance of exploring identity, not just as a beginning of the year “get-to-know-you” activity. Revisit the topic of identity throughout the year because “when students know and see one another, we create cultures of belonging which are critical to equity work.” 

Redefine Success 

“Humanize assessment through qualitative assessment, interactive portfolios, and journaling.” 

While learner agency is key to the success of personalized learning, he cautioned that it’s not a “free-for-all.” Teachers should focus on actions and activities that cultivate agency, like validating students’ journeys and promoting student self-evaluation. 

Using a simple structure focusing on celebrations, challenges, and next steps, teachers can use qualitative assessments to get an understanding of the whole picture of a students’ learning journey. Though these assessments are qualitative, Paul emphasized that they should still be standards-aligned.  

Teach in Three Dimensions 

“Make learning personal in whole-group, small-group, and individualized settings.” 

Paul touted the workshop model’s opportunities for both convergence and divergence as a prime learning model to incorporate all three dimensions. Convergence allows for interpersonal connection, he said, while “divergence allows for both learner- and teacher-driven personalization.” 

The Three Dimensions: 

1. Shaping the collective conscious

“Personalized learning can happen in the whole group with the right techniques.” 

  • Short mini lessons 
  • Universal content 
  • Competencies and habits 
  • Encouraging student voice 

2. Small groups and partnerships 

“Small groups and partnerships allow for building a collective consciousness in smaller, more intimate settings.” 

  • Leverage formative data to make flexible groupings 
  • Mix heterogeneous and homogeneous groupings 
  • Make all learning a conversation 

3. Nurturing the inner dialogue 

“Individualization can occur in the classroom, just not necessarily in the way you might think.” 

  • Conference efficiently by providing one compliment and one suggestion
  • Document conferences in student journals using sticky notes 

Prioritize Connection 

“Keep students connected to one another through complex instruction and EdTech Minimalism.” 

Complex instruction is composed of three elements: multiple-ability curriculum, human-centered instructional strategies, and culturally aware pedagogy. Paul showed an example of an open-ended math activity and provided a downloadable resource to plan for a similarly complex activity. 

In order to practice EdTech Minimalism, Paul suggested asking yourself these four questions when planning to incorporate technology into instruction: 

  • Will the technology minimize the complexity of personalization?
  • Will the technology maximize individual power and potential?
  • Will the technology reimagine learning?
  • Will the technology preserve or enhance human connection? 

Reflecting on these answers helps us to see the difference between humanized and dehumanized personalization. Humanized personalization is powered by humans, while dehumanized personalization is powered by technology. Humanized personalization connects learners, while dehumanized personalization isolates them. By working toward always centering students in instruction, we are on the path toward humanizing personalized learning. 

Free Resources

Download Paul’s Identity Unit and Planning for Complex Instruction guide.  

Watch the webinar recording:

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February 15, 2022 8:00 am

Building Agency in the Student-Centered Classroom

Foster independence both inside and outside the classroom by encouraging students to take control of their own learning.

A classroom of students raising their hands

In an effort to increase engagement and promote student agency in their classrooms, teachers are encouraged to provide options, or “voice and choice,” to their students. A “choose your own adventure” learning model, if you will.  

This is all very exciting, but, as a former educator, I understand the sheer panic that comes with handing over the reins to your students. 

I know you know what I’m talking about. You’d been planning a unit for months, but nothing was clicking. Then, in the middle of the night (or while washing your hair in the shower), it hits you — the perfect culminating project. Equal parts engaging, rigorous, and (most importantly) student-centered, it will be the piece de resistance of your unit. With excitement, you create the project instructions, giving students just enough information that they know what is expected, but not so much that you stifle creativity. Perfect! 

Now I’m sure you already know where I’m going with this, but suffice to say, the roll-out and end results don’t go quite as planned. First, you’re peppered with questions like, “Is this for a grade?” and “What are we supposed to do?” Then, once you’ve answered those by reiterating the open-ended nature of the project, you look around at your students and see stares as blank as their Google docs. The project then becomes onerous, with you explaining and re-explaining the goals daily. And then when it’s time to review the projects, you think back to that initial spark of excitement when creating it and can’t help but wonder what you did wrong in the execution. Some students totally got it! But the majority did not. 

You conclude that the project was too open-ended. Student-centered is great in theory (and you absolutely want your students to be independent thinkers), but you need to give more thorough, step-by-step instructions with examples from now on.

For a classroom to be truly student-centered, for the projects and the choice boards to have their desired effects, students need to have self-regulatory skills — in other words, they need to have agency. Some students walk into your classroom with this already, but most don’t. The students who “have it” are the ones who make us believe this is an innate personality trait. While some people may be “born with it,” that doesn’t mean the rest of us are out of luck. Self-regulation and agency can be taught. 

Before we get to that, we need to examine what we’re asking students to do. Are we requiring agency from our students with the assignments we give them? Or are we providing them with step-by-step instructions and exact criteria for the final product? Dent and Koenka found in their 2016 study that “highly structured tasks provide more detailed requirements, have a clearer linear procedure, involve more identifiable answers, and often include more precise assessment criteria. Taken together, these features may require less self-regulation of learning because a strategic plan, subgoals, and way to monitor performance are already embedded within the task structure.” 

So, by reverting to painstakingly detailed instructions with step-by-step teacher support, we are not fostering autonomy. Instead, we are promoting the idea that students need us to tell them how and what to learn. But the whole point of agency is that students can thrive when we are not there to guide them. 

During the transition from in-person to virtual learning, teachers became acutely aware of the results of this handholding. No longer in the same physical space, it was nearly (or completely) impossible to cajole reluctant students into completing their work. Students you’d normally be able to win over with “cringy” teacher humor and help along could now turn off their cameras and walk away from their computers. 

It comes as no surprise that one of teachers’ chief complaints after a year of distance learning was the lack of accountability. 

“Students are not as honest or engaged remotely. Many cheat because they can. Some pretend to be in class and aren’t. There is less accountability now, which only hurts them.” 

But what do we mean when we talk about accountability?

Based on this quote, we can put together a working definition of accountability, or at least how this particular teacher sees it — present, engaged, and possessing academic integrity. But virtual instruction adds another layer to this. Students must motivate themselves to be all of those things. They need to self-regulate — accountability is just another term for agency.  

The initial transition to online learning was so sudden that teachers were forced to try to fit the lessons they had planned into a virtual model. What the Christensen Institute found in their study was that “online learning used only to support conventional instruction made teachers’ jobs more complicated.” 

Everyone had to pivot, but it seemed like the teachers who managed to truly embrace online learning for the personalization it offers students shifted out of panic mode more quickly. Implementing things like choice boards, playlists, and drop-in office hours, students were not always working on the same thing at the same time. When they let go of the need for all students to be on the same page and learning in the same way, they saw an increase in engagement. Students became invested in their learning when it was at their pace. 

So, it seems that giving students voice and choice in their learning does welcome a larger number of students into the group that has “it.” But there are still many students who need more than six different formative assessment options to regulate their own learning. 

How do we support student agency? 

Dent and Koenka note that “for students in elementary and secondary school, academic performance is significantly correlated with both the cognitive strategies and metacognitive processes of self-regulated learning.” 

Cognitive strategies are the skills we are already helping students to develop — setting goals, creating assignment plans and outlines. These are tools students can use to monitor their progress. But that is where the tough part comes in: they still need help with the monitoring piece. “While cognitive strategies help students learn, metacognitive processes ensure that they have done so” (Dent & Koenka). 

You might be thinking that you’re pretty sure your credential program didn’t cover how to teach metacognition. But actually, there are some strategies you are probably already using in your teaching that can help support students’ metacognitive skills. 

1. Model your thinking 

Now, not the kind of modeling where you plan it out ahead of time to be exactly what you want to show students. The kind of modeling that promotes metacognitive development is when you authentically demonstrate your thought process — the successes, struggles, and everything in between. Show students not only that you get stuck on a word or a problem, but the way in which you work yourself to an understanding. 

2. Reflect on learning 

“Reflecting on experiences (whether behavioral or academic) helps students move forward from a setback and furthers their growth toward student agency. Encourage students to reflect on their learning experience by simply asking the question, ‘What did I learn from this?’ after completing each lesson, unit, and project. Doing this will help students start to gain a sense of awareness so they can make appropriate changes in their lives and learning to achieve better outcomes.”

3. “I don’t know, let’s look that up” 

As teachers, we often feel self-imposed pressure to always have an answer when a student asks a question. Even if you tell yourself you are going to be forthcoming with what you don’t know, it’s hard to get past the impulse to have a response. But by showing your students that you know the gaps in your knowledge (and you have the tools to fill them), you are teaching them that they can do the same. 

The ability to monitor comprehension, or “self-check,” could be the key to student agency. Dent and Koenka observed that “students who are more vigilant for gaps in their knowledge of learning material should perform better on academic tasks requiring it.” 

So, if we want students to embrace the open-ended projects and move along on their self-paced checklists, let’s show them it’s okay to not understand. In fact, let’s celebrate that awareness as the first step on the path toward autonomous learning.  

About the Author — Ally Jones

Ally Jones is a California credentialed educator who specialized in teaching English language learners at the secondary level. Outside of education, she is passionate about fitness, literature, and taking care of the planet for her son’s generation.  

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June 10, 2020 8:00 am

Understanding the Mindset of a Struggling Student

When we see failures and frustrations as opportunities, and reinforce the principles of self-efficacy, we can better support our struggling students.

Working with struggling students requires mounds of patience and a steady course of perseverance and sometimes creativity. Most learning isn’t easy; it’s hard, messy work, and as educators, we deal with the downsides and difficulties of learning every day, especially now. But we also see our student’s failures and frustrations as opportunities, and we can help by understanding the mindset of a struggling student, and by reinforcing the principles of self-efficacy.

What is self-efficacy? The definition is straightforward: “a person’s perception that he or she has the skill and capability to undertake a particular task.” If students believe they can succeed, they can. Yet, many students come to our classes lacking this belief, and with no growth mindset. Retired Penn State Professor Dr. Mary Ellen Weimer has several ideas to keep in mind when working with struggling learners.

teacher at desk

Understanding the Mindset of a Struggling Student

They lack confidence. A student’s self-esteem has a direct effect on their academic performance. Students who struggle with confidence may believe there is no point in trying, and that where they are now is where they will always be. When asked to write a paper or work through a challenging math concept, they are often convinced they’ll do poorly before they even begin. When teachers ask if they need help with a difficult assignment, they may say no, or not respond at all. We can help these students by praising small steps in the right direction. Let them know what you like about their work in specific terms: “You’re on the right track with that equation. You got this.” And try to show them tangible proof of their growth by comparing early classwork to what they are doing now, which can help build self-efficacy in a concrete way.

They fear failure. When given a rigorous task, students can be too afraid of making a mistake to try. They can take failure personally, lacking the understanding that failure is a part of the learning process. Creating autonomy with these students is still possible, though; take, for example, The University of Montana’s Best Fail Ever campaign. The University aimed to “increase students’ resilience and convey the message that it is okay to fail sometimes.” Here, students became more comfortable with acknowledging their self-efficacy by sharing their own “best fail ever” stories publicly across campus. Programs like this demonstrate to students that failure can be a path to growth. When teachers find ways to alleviate students’ anxiety of failure, students are more likely to focus on learning.

They are easily distracted. Life is always distracting, and students (and adults) are dealing with more distractions than ever now. Often, students struggle with separating their study time from their lives, and that became more difficult as schools closed, forcing learning to take place at home. According to Dr. Weimer, “these students are easily distracted by their work, their friends, their social life, and even perhaps responsibilities at home. They respond to what’s pressing at the moment, and that’s often not studying, which can be done at the last minute with the phone on and with text messages coming in.” However, research has continually demonstrated that doing too much at once can be overstimulating for the brain. According to John Sweller’s cognitive load theory, “working memory has a very limited capacity. When too much information is presented at once, we feel overwhelmed, and much of that information is lost.” As educators, we can help redirect our student’s cognitive capacity to the right place by providing students with proactive tips on how to be productive when doing school work.

They’re in the course to get the grade, and learning is not the primary objective. Often, students will choose to do the minimum. They are often satisfied with less than their best—if the course is a requirement, and the content is not interesting to them, they see no reason to put forth much effort. They may view assignments as things to complete as quickly as possible. They can prefer easy learning. According to Dr. Weimer, “they don’t want courses or assignments that tax their ‘mental muscles’ too much.” These students prefer specific directions with little room for interpretation or critical thinking. They would rather work on worksheets than answer open-ended questions, and they steer clear of assignments where they could be wrong and it might be their fault.

As educators, we often have to find unconventional ways to reach kids that lack a desire to learn and may not see the potential for their future that comes with authentic learning. If we focus on showing students how achievements can benefit their lives, we can instill hope.
teacher icon

How Can Teachers Help Students Become Better Learners?

By understanding the mindset of a struggling student, educators can become more aware of how to help all students become better learners. The tips below offer a good starting point for all educators:

  • Help students develop metacognitive awareness (or being aware of how you learn/creating autonomy).
  • Cultivate your love of learning by sharing past experiences and values with your students.
  • Strive to make the material relevant to applicable real-world scenarios.
  • Provide regular, ongoing in-class review and teacher feedback.
  • Expect failure and frustration, be prepared with plenty of patience.

School psychologist Dr. Allen Mendler wrote, “hope must precede responsibility because kids who lack hope have no reason to act in responsible kinds of ways. There’s no reason to be motivated unless [the student] is hopeful that this particular class is somehow going to improve [his or her] life; that coming to this school is better than not coming.” As educators, it is our job to help give students—especially struggling students and especially now—this hope that learning is the key to a better future. And giving that hope starts with understanding the mindset of a struggling student.

Sources

Bartimote-Augglick, K., Bridegmen, a., Walker, R., Sharma, M., & Smith, L. (2016). The Study Evaluation and Improvement of University Student Self-efficacy. Studies in Higher Education, 14(11), 1918–1942.

Brooks, a. (2019, February 25). 7 Tips to Create the Perfect Study Environment for You. Rasmussen College Life Blog. Source

John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory. (2019, January 14). Exploring Your Mind. Source

Mendler, a. (N.d.). Motivating Students Who Don’t Care. Ascd. Source

Ni, C. (2019). Designing for Learning Growth: Encouraging Metacognitive Practice to Support Growth Mindsets in Students [unpublished Master’s Thesis]. Carnegie Mellon University School of Design. Source

Saks, N. (2016, October 4). ‘Best Fail Ever’ Asks Student to Talk Failure and Resilience. Montana Public Radio. Source

Shore, K. (N.d.). Classroom Problem Solver: the Student With Low Self Esteem. Education World. Source

Weimer, M. (2018). What Are Five Methods to Help Students Become More Effective Learners? Source

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March 24, 2020 8:00 am

Setting Online Learning Goals with Students

Figuring out learning goals can help to both offer internal motivation to students and show students the value of learning (because who hasn’t heard the question, “When am I ever going to use this?”).

Happy student on laptop listening on headphones

Regardless of how a student learns — in a traditional setting, online, by doing—a great first step for ensuring success is setting learning goals.

Because everyone is different, figuring out learning goals can help to both offer internal motivation to students and show students the value of learning (because who hasn’t heard the question, “When am I ever going to use this?”).

When learning is self-directed, setting goals is even more important because students have to rely more on themselves to ensure they’re learning.

For every student who chunks out the work involved in a semester-long project, 10 more students wait until the week before the project is due to start it. (Guilty!)

And because online learning is often more self-directed, setting online learning goals can be critical to student success.

How to help students set good goals for their online learning?

It’s not that different than it is for traditional learning. It starts with offering guidance, monitoring progress, reflecting, and celebrating achievements.

To start, make sure students know what a goal is and what it means to have one (or more).

This is particularly important for younger students.

If a student doesn’t understand what a goal is, they’ll struggle to work toward meeting it and being successful.

Fortunately, goal-setting is a skill, which means it can be taught, so start by teaching your students about goals, the same way you might teach reading or math.

No matter their age, your students will have already met some goals, so look for examples from their own lives that you can use to explain goals and goal-setting.

Next, teach students how to set good goals.

There’s a world of difference between easy, “gimme” goals and impossible-to-achieve goals, so make sure students understand this. Students should be setting online learning goals that offer some degree of challenge, but aren’t impossible to meet.

One way to help ensure students are setting good goals is to have one main end goal with several progress-related goals that they’ll meet throughout the process of meeting the main one.

And consider teaching students about SMART goals, which can help them create clear and reasonable goals.

Once goals are set, monitor and document the process of meeting them.

It’s possible goals will need to change after students have begun working toward meeting them, so it’s best for both student and teacher to monitor progress.

This way, goal adjustments can be made if needed so students can still be successful even if something has changed.

If students are not meeting goals, reflect on possible reasons for that.

This could be happening for a number of reasons. Maybe the student is struggling to understand a concept and can’t move forward without assistance.

Or they don’t understand the expectations placed on them for online learning.

Whatever the case may be, there’s a reason why they’re not meeting their goals, so do some digging to figure that out.

And as students meet goals, celebrate!

Though most experts would agree that the feeling of accomplishment is more valuable than a tangible reward, there’s nothing wrong with strategically rewarding students with praise and/or goods.

This can be especially useful for younger students, and when larger goals are met.

Utilizing classroom webpages and social media accounts, you can create a tracking system, like a chart with stickers, so that students can see their progress. And since celebrating achievements virtually requires some creativity, we’ve shared some tips for doing so.

At the end of the day, it’s most important that students understand why and how to set goals, as well as how to monitor progress toward achieving those goals.

Making progress toward meeting goals is really important, so if goals aren’t met, make sure students understand that they have not failed, and that making progress is its own goal. 

To start, make sure students know what a goal is and what it means to have one (or more).

This is particularly important for younger students. If a student doesn’t understand what a goal is, they’ll struggle to work toward meeting it and being successful. Fortunately, goal-setting is a skill, which means it can be taught, so start by teaching your students about goals, the same way you might teach reading or math.

No matter their age, your students will have already met some goals, so look for examples from their own lives that you can use to explain goals and goal-setting.

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February 18, 2020 8:00 am

Why Student Agency Matters

Agency is both a skill and a mindset that involves goal setting and self-reflection. As teachers, we can build agency through our interactions and relationships with our students.

Student in classroom resting on a stack of books

Student agency — what is it?

Surprisingly, there is no one definition for this term, but we can liken student agency to students having the “it factor”: they have “it,” they know how to be successful, and they go after “it.”

In essence;

Student agency requires students to take responsibility for their learning. Although not a new concept, the term is evolving simply because students and the learning process are also always evolving. Students with agency know how to work hard and focus.

They take an interest in learning, work through any difficulties along the way, and in the end, do not give up.

As educators, we often measure our success by watching our students leave school with the ability to accomplish their goals and be successful in life. We aspire for all our students to be successful, but we also know that some students are easier to work with than others.

These particular students often have an ingrained sense of agency and can work through difficulties on their own. Sometimes we even see ourselves in these students. They can mimic our feelings (as teachers) about learning and achievement.

But what about meeting the needs of our struggling students?

Research suggests that agency is such a fundamental human desire that people only lose agency when they’re unable to make relevant connections to the activity, task, person, etc.

In other words:

Agency, in the most literal sense, is about relationships with others. We already know the importance of making connections in the classroom to pique student interest, but isn’t it more than that?

An in-depth study of the psychology of coping researched stress and resilience during adolescence and children’s ability to self-regulate. This study discovered that a child’s ways of dealing with challenges fit into one of the following categories:

  • problem-solving
  • support seeking
  • distraction
  • escape
  • opposition
  • withdrawal

In simple terms, this means that some students handle their issues better than others. As educators, we need to remember that students who lack agency can doubt themselves and their abilities, and that behavioral responses such as withdrawing, appearing apathetic, and even acting out are coping mechanisms to regulate emotions.

In school, these students are often slumped over in the back of the classroom, refusing to participate and unable to concentrate.

Sadly, they often also participate in self-talk in which they reinforce their feelings of incompetence.

How Can I Help Increase Student Agency?

There is hope for students like this. As teachers, we can build agency through our interactions and relationships with our students. One way to do this is with conversation.

A few well-placed words can work wonders on a student’s self-esteem, and lead to increased agency. For tips on how to do this with ease, check out this list of 101 ways to say good job.

Another way to build agency is to teach students how to reflect using metacognition.

Reflecting on experiences (whether behavioral or academic) helps students move forward from a setback and furthers their growth toward student agency. Encourage students to reflect on their learning experience by simply asking the question, “What did I learn from this?” after completing each lesson, unit, and project.

Doing this will help students start to gain a sense of awareness so they can make appropriate changes in their lives and learning to achieve better outcomes.

Additionally:

There are lots of questions you can ask your students to help in building agency, including the following:

  • How did you figure that out?
  • What problems did you come across today?
  • How are you planning to go about this?
  • Which part are you sure about?
  • Which part are you not sure about?

Agency is both a skill and a mindset that involves goal setting and self-reflection.

By understanding our students better, we can help them build a growth mindset and, in turn, build their confidence. When students believe they can succeed, they are less likely to feel helpless in times of struggle.

As educators, we can help our students develop these lifelong skills that will propel them into successful futures

SOURCES

101 WAYS TO SAY “GOOD JOB.” CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION PUTNAM COUNTY. RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://PUTNAM.CCE.CORNELL.EDU/RESOURCES/101-WAYS-TO-SAY-GOOD-JOB

BROOKMAN-BYRNE, A. (2018, JUNE 22). THINKING ABOUT THINKING: WHAT IS METACOGNITION AND HOW CAN IT HELP STUDENTS LEARN? BOLD. RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS://BOLD.EXPERT/THINKING-ABOUT-THINKING/

DARLING-HAMMOND, L., AUSTIN, K., CHEUNG, M., & MARTIN, D (N.D.). ACTIVITIES FOR METACOGNITION. DEPAUL TEACHING COMMONS. RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS://RESOURCES.DEPAUL.EDU/TEACHING-COMMONS/TEACHING-GUIDES/LEARNING-ACTIVITIES/PAGES/ACTIVITIES-FOR-METACOGNITION.ASPX

JOHNSTON, P. H. (2004). CHOICE WORDS: HOW OUR LANGUAGE AFFECTS CHILDREN’S LEARNING. PORTLAND, ME: STENHOUSE PUBLISHERS. RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS://WWW.STENHOUSE.COM/CONTENT/CHOICE-WORDS

SKINNER, E. A., & ZIMMER-GEMBECK, M. J. (2007). THE DEVELOPMENT OF COPING (PP. 120–144). PORTLAND, OR: PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY. RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS://WWW.ANNUALREVIEWS.ORG/DOI/ABS/10.1146/ANNUREV.PSYCH.58.110405.085705