March To Agency
Week 3 & Week 4 (Spring Break Edition!)
"Agency doesn't reside with students, and it doesn't reside with teachers. Agency sits in the culture of the school and is owned by all stakeholders."
Bring In The Band!
"How are we fashioning experiences of students agency when adult agency newly developing?"
In other words, how are we marching to agency when the drum majors are still figuring out the music? Many of you have at least a few days break next week, and I would challenge you to make a point to reflect on these questions:
- Among my teaching team, who do I feel is exhibiting adult agency? What are they doing that makes me think about them?
- What does adult agency look like on my leadership team? How am I empowering - and modeling for - my teaching team what agency looks like at my school?
In our final Week 5 newsletter, we'll think about capturing those micro-moments of student agency as well as "macro-structures" that exist class- or building-wide that purposely expose students to character behavior strengths.
Tip To Capturing Agency "Micro-Moments"
Below is a linked article about the power and positive purpose of classroom observation! It's worth a read if you've been thinking about observations serving a developmental versus evaluative nature.
Remind Me, What Is The March To Agency?
It's pretty simple: As you conduct classroom walkthroughs or observations this month, take a video camera, audio recording device, or just good ol' pen and paper with you.
When you see "micro-moments" of agency taking form, capture the interaction.
Remind Me, Why Are We Marching To Agency?
As we learn more about what agency is - a combination of demonstrating growth mindset and taking ownership for learning, we want to know what agency looks like in our classrooms. We also believe that sharing experiences is a powerful way to learn from others in our network.
Remind Me, How Do We March To Agency?
There are even more ways!
It's an easy four-step process:
- Be on the lookout for teachers having agency micro-moments with their students. You may have teachers who pass up potential micro-moments; share what you know about them with that teacher with the goal to capture and share one by the end of the month.
- Capture 2 to 5 minute videos, audio recordings, or written accounts (thanks, Beth!) of any micro-moments or potential micro-moments as you conduct walkthroughs and observations this month. Be sure you're able to capture the audio as well as the video, and as a friendly reminder, please follow your media release policy.
- Upload videos to your YouTube channel. Each New Tech Network account has a YouTube account associated with it. Make sure you're logged into Echo, pull up YouTube, and click the "Upload" button.
- Forward your video link to cwhitesell@newtechnetwork.org. My additional contact information is below.
Set a goal to find, capture, and share micro-moments this month! No contribution is too small! You may shoot to capture one micro-moment this month, one per week, or even one per teacher!
Contact Me
Cody Whitesell
School Development Coach
Email: cwhitesell@newtechnetwork.org
Website: newtechnetwork.org
Location: 1250 Main Street, Napa, CA, United States
Phone: (347) 349-0140
Twitter: @cody_whitesell