5 Ways to Promote Student Agency in the Elementary Classroom

Student agency is a buzz phrase right now. Indeed, children come to school full of interests, passions, and curiosity to find out more. I define agentic classrooms as those in which students have the power to choose, decide, and act upon their learning. But what does it really mean to develop student agency through the learning opportunities we provide? 

Working with elementary learners, I’ve found five simple actions particularly useful. 

1. Build connection and belonging

Underpinning an agentic classroom is the teacher-student relationship, which can provide a platform for developing practices that allow students to be autonomous. 

Listen deeply when children speak. Learn about their lives outside of school. Be prepared, and find time to discuss issues as they arise, no matter how big or small. Feel confident saying, “I don’t know,” and take the time to find an answer or direction from school leadership. 

Librarians and student support services can help you navigate complex discussions with students. Being authentic with children will allow them to see you as an adult who is there to support and nurture them and to co-construct learning rather than impart knowledge. 

Building strong connections with students supports belonging and community, necessary for students to become agentic learners.

2. Intentionally develop students’ skills

Teach students to be metacognitive learners. Give them opportunities to try out different ways to learn. For example, one student may prefer to learn in a creative manner whereas another student may benefit from more scaffolding. Their preferences may differ depending on what content or task the child is tackling. 

Students will need to explore different approaches so they’re equipped when deciding what to apply to their own learning. Directly teach and model how to plan for, and reflect on, learning. Follow up by providing space for reflection, so that students can identify what benefits and supports optimal learning for them.

Embed metacognitive practices when honing students’ agentic skills in a subject you feel comfortable with. Begin by designing different learning engagements for one concept or skill. For example, students might achieve the same learning goal through partner work, independent research, or working with another adult in the room. 

Signpost nonnegotiables that the student will engage with, like attending a direct-instruction lecture or skill-specific lesson. Then, have students plan when, where, with whom, and how they will learn. At the end of the session, reflect with your students, and use these reflections to tweak the next session.

Once you incorporate agentic practices in one subject, move toward infusing them throughout the day. Integrate interdisciplinary units with agentic practices, provide blank timetables, create a diverse range of learning engagements, and enjoy seeing your students develop into agentic learners.

3. Use the walls to make thinking and learning visible

Using classroom wall space to display your students’ thinking and learning will lead to a strengthening of agentic practices, as students will have visual reminders of all that they have done. This also creates a vibrant setting where your classroom becomes immersed in learning.

Involve students in displaying the arc of their learning, and encourage them to display it everywhere. For example, photographs linking to the unit of study can be used to spark discussion. Ask your students to write down their thinking and place it on the walls, next to the photographs. 

One way I use photographs is to preassess understanding and to provoke questions from my students. Share your students’ preassessment thinking visually, and include unit-specific questions and vocabulary as well. Display student questions with pride—and once the question is answered, put up the answer! Use this wall space to scaffold and springboard ideas.

Photographs can also be used as a tool to uncover student voice and inform your next steps in teaching and learning. Print photographs of your students engaged in learning, and provide the opportunity for them to write a comment, question, or reflection. Be sure to display these! Next, reflect on what your students share in these comments. Take this information into consideration when planning what teaching and learning they need next.

4. Position students as experts

Students will have plenty of expertise to share with other students. The development of digital literacy skills is an example of one subject area where students may be experts. Have students share their skills and support other students by offering workshops to each other. Your students will love being responsible for running a session, and you might consider attending it yourself. 

Draw upon the wider community in your school to engage with and deepen knowledge of specific content. Parents and older students can be a great resource and will bring a lens to learning that differs from yours. Students will flourish and rise to learning from different experts in their area of study.

5. Model and Invite Student Innovation

When learners have chances to play, explore, and problem-solve, they build agency. At the end of a unit, provide time for students to consolidate and transfer their understanding by applying it and creating their own ideas. 

For example, following the unit on the use of natural resources, my students accurately designed ways that others could use natural resources sustainably. You’ll need to scaffold what innovation means and how students approach it. A good range of case studies can support this understanding; we looked at product innovations that supported sustainable practices such as compostable running shoes made of plant-based materials. You might consider using case studies of other students’ work, as it will help children see what skills are needed for their own innovation.

Other Important Principles

To create a learning environment that supports the development of agentic learners, I keep some additional ideas in mind:

• Create a classroom that belongs to everyone; collaboration among students and teachers is a must.
• Develop metacognition in students.

• Jump in and monitor: As a teacher, use your professionalism to know how to balance teacher-directed learning and student agency.
• Remember that these practices will quickly become routine.