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I’ve decided to experiment and add a monthly feature, which I may or may not increase to a weekly or bi-weekly one.

I’ll be featuring a word that is used a fair amount in education, and sometimes used in way that I, at least, don’t necessarily feel is accurate – or, perhaps, is more nuanced than commonly believed.

Today’s word is “agency.”

The word “agency” comes from the Latin “agentia,” which means “effective, powerful” and “agere,” meaning “to set in motion, drive forward.”

Educators often talk about “student agency,” which is often defined as the ability to be proactive in responding to your circumstances.

Sometimes teachers talk about “giving” students agency, which I think indicates not a full understand of what agency actually means.

It’s similar to why I don’t like the word “empowerment” – we don’t “give” anyone power. Instead, we can help create the conditions where they take it and support them as they do so.

Psychiatrist Dr. William Glasser, in his,  identified power as one of five basic human needs, and that students’ need for it was a primary reason for many classroom management challenges.

There are lots of ways we can create those conditions, including through providing many opportunities for choice, by having students teach each other, though student leadership teams who teachers meet regularly with to evaluate how the class is going.

You can learn more ideas at The Best Resources On Student Agency & How To Encourage It.

I think one aspect of student agency that is often overlooked, though, is recognition by teachers that as our students grow older, there may very well be individual and institutional forces that really won’t want them to have agency.  So, I think it’s critical that we also prepare our students with knowledge, tools and skills to be prepared for that day.

That would mean making sure they understood how labor unions work, how to participate in public life and how to influence change.

I eager to hear feedback on this post and this series.  AI bots discovered the comment section of this blog, so I’ve had to turn them off.  But I’m easily accessible on most social media platforms.