Christi Coomes Self Agency Blog #3

Students, in general, have a difficult time with self agency because they have never had the opportunity to be agents for their own learning. However, students who are academically gifted are better at being an agent for their own learning because they have been doing it their whole life. When they were small, their parents would have had to answer the "why" and "how" questions or watch their children build elaborate creations from their own imagination. Gifted students wonder all the time about the "what ifs" , trying to puzzle out the world around them. Naturally, this wonder carries on to the academic world. I began to see this self agency when I implemented the compacting unit. I did not have to encourage them to do their work. They felt liberated to work as they needed. Also, the Genius Hour incentative encouraged them to complete the necessary tasks to work on topics of their interest.

So what about the general population of students in regard to self agency? All children start out interested in the world around them. So somewhere along the path from infancy to middle school, these students took a different path. One of the ways I try to promote self agency is to answer a student's question with another question instead of just giving an answer or process. I may ask the student what have you tried already. What do you already know about the task? What is confusing you about the task or skill? I really like the circular questioning technique because it makes students reflect on their own knowledge. Also, I liked the protocol of having students draw a circle and place what they know for certain in the center of the circle, what they don't know outside the circle, and what is somewhat clear near the edge of the circle. It requires students to reflect on the learning process. Hence, they begin to realize that they can figure out how to ask questions that will help them learn; instead of just quitting and saying "I don't get it".