C8: Agency Drives Inquiry

by Lu Gerlach

From a quick glance, it can be difficult to determine where agency begins and inquiry ends, since they are so intertwined in purpose.  As you dig deeper, you see their unique roles in developing student ownership of the learning process. 

Agency is the lens in how we see our students… capable young people who can design their learning course.  It frames everything we think and do in our classrooms.  ​

​Inquiry is the manifestation of agency in the learning and teaching.  It requires students to take the lead in guiding the questioning and thinking, which can lead to a sea of possibilities. 

Agency and inquiry cannot exist alone.  They are intertwined with the same purpose in allowing the learner to create their own meaning of the experience.  Now, we are taking this journey through the unchartered waters of agency and action. 

Ready to take a dip?

​Think of a time in that you felt truly rewarded by the learning experience.  More than likely, you were afforded quite a bit of agency to craft the outcome based on your learning style and you were given opportunities to test it our in your own way.  This is agency. 
 
Agency has three different components that work in tandem to support and lift our learners: voice, choice, and ownership.  ​

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​To gauge the level of agency in your classroom right now, let’s do a quick exercise. 

Voice

• Who has the loudest voice in the classroom?
• Who is doing most of the talking?
• Who controls what is being talking about?

Choice

• Who decides what activities and materials being used?
• Who determines the number of choices?
• Who controls the grouping of students?

Ownership

• Who gets to share their ideas?  Is it the louder students?
• Who controls where the learning is going?
• Who decides the desired outcomes?

 
If your name popped up most of the time, then your classroom is more teacher-driven than student-driven.  This is okay.  We all start somewhere. Here is a visual that helped me to grasp the big ideas about agency.   

​Do you see something that you can implement in your classroom right away?  This is the first step in bringing more agency into your classroom.  Next time, we’ll go more in depth into three parts of agency and how each component can guide our teaching practice.