Last week at the Deeper Learning Conference I was privileged to facilitate a discussion on agency-the dreams and dilemmas we face as educators. Because I chose to approach this session from a place of inquiry, I really wasn’t certain where it was going to lead. I guess in the back of my mind I figured we would perhaps talk strategies and resources, or maybe assessment tips or school-wide practices.  But equity some-how found its way into the conversation…

What I deeply appreciated about my time engaging in dialogue with 15 colleagues on Friday was the vulnerability and honesty that permeated our conversations; The struggles we face with agency-understanding it, fostering it, assessing it. As we wrestled with these challenges we acknowledged that context matters, and I am grateful for the few participants that ultimately grounded our inquiry in the intersection of agency and equity.

In my experience it is clear that challenges related to agency are amplified in schools that serve marginalized student populations. Students appear to lack persistence in their classes and agency in the academic system.  Similarly, teachers often lack persistence, confidence and ultimately efficacy with these same students.  The cycle is a vicious one that pains me to watch. And now that I have a name for what I see-Agency, or lack thereof-it is impossible to not see what I am capable of seeing and naming. As I stand in the crosswalk of this intersection of agency and equity,  here are my fierce wonderings:

• How can we honor the perseverance that students bring to school, but doesn’t seem to transfer to school? What would a place of learning and love look like that took real-world grit and built off that in school? This I’m sure would be “deeper learning”.
• How can we teach students to take that agency that burns within them for survival, and harness it to thrive in the academic world? How can we help them navigate that experience in a larger system? (mind you my head is still spinning from my Deep Dive 2 days prior about this system and who holds the power within that system)
• How can we identify and leverage “The Agency Base” in our students-particularly those from marginalized populations?
• When we say agency do we really mean “academic agency”? What does that mean for the agency outside of the institution we call school-is it a deficit?
• This all brings me back to this article sent my way from a colleague-still stewing on that one: http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/the-poverty-trap-slack-not-grit-creates-achievment/

In general I was struck by the frequent mention of agency and equity-independent of one another-at the Deeper Learning Conference over the course of the three days.  Ultimately I think we, as progressive educators, are trying to understanding what Deeper Learning looks like for ALL students. While we may not have the answers yet, it’s a dilemma I’m happy to be lost in for the moment…