Slides used for the USBE Masterclass held in Salt Lake City, March 2024. This masterclass used a variety of activities to engage participants in unpacking the contents of the book: Agency By Design: An Educator's Handbook.

1. Inspiring the next
generation of
leaders, thinkers
and problem-
solvers
derek@futuremakers.nz
@dwenmoth
www.futuremakers.nz
http://www.futuremakers.nz/blog
Cognitive Rigor Through
Learner Agency
USBE Masterclass
Wednesday 6 March, 2024

2. Goals for today
What we’d like to achieve…
… The concept of learner agency and how this is expressed in
classrooms and in approaches to teaching and learning.
Understand
... How a ‘shift in ownership’ of learning contributes to deeper and
more powerful, learner-centred learning.
Know
... Focus on the competencies that are required and can be
developed in an approach that promotes learner agency.
Do

3. SESSION ONE
Understanding Agency
and putting learners at
the centre

4. 1. List the things you
know about agency
and learner-centred
learning?
2. List the things you’d
like to know as a
result of
participating in this
masterclass?
People illustrations by Storysetv
Some questions to get us started...

5. What does the term ‘agency’ mean for you?
• “The power to act”
• “Sense of ownership”
• “Executing and controlling one’s own actions”
• “Self-efficacy”
• “Personalisation”
• “Self management”, “Self-direction”
• “to have choices and the ability to act on those
choices”
“The capacity to behave as purposeful,
reflective, responsible social beings, actively
seeking to achieve goals that have been
understood and endorsed” (OECD)
People illustrations by Storyset

6. Agency & Responsibility
Responsible for self:
- Self management
- Self directedness
- Wellbeing/resilience
Responsible for others:
- Empathy
- Team
- Collaboration
Responsible for the
environment:
- Sustainability
- Cybersafety
People illustrations by Storyset

7. SESSION TWO
Shifting the Ownership of
Learning

8. What makes learning engaging for learners?
Washor, E and Mohkowski, C (2013) Leaving to learn
Do my teachers really know about me and
my interests and talents?
Do I find what the school is
teaching relevant to my culture
and interests?
Do I have opportunities to apply what I am learning in real
world settings and contexts?
Do I feel appropriately challenged in
my learning?
Can I pursue my learning out of the
standard sequence?
Do I have sufficient time to
learn at my own pace?
Do I have real choice about what,
where and how I learn?
Do I have opportunities to explore
and make mistakes?
Do I have opportunities to engage deeply in my learning and
to practice the skills I need to learn?
People illustrations by Storyset

9. Who owns the learning?...
Who decides...
1. The purpose of the learning?
2. What is being learned
3. How it is being learned
4. Who the learning occurs with?
5. Where the learning occurs?
6. How feedback and support is provided?
7. How progressions and next steps in learning occur?
8. How success is measured?
9. Who participates in measuring the success?
10. How progress is monitored, recorded and reported?
People illustrations by Storyset

10. SESSION THREE
Creating the conditions
for agency to thrive

12. ACTIVITY:
Assessing the conditions
Read each statement and rate it from
1-5 based on the extent to which the
full statement reflects what is true of
what occurs regularly in your
classroom or context.
1 = not at all true
2 = rarely true
3 = sometimes true
4 = often true
5 = consistently true

13. ACTIVITY
• Enter your scores
from the previous
page
• Add the two
together
• Identify the area
that could be a start
point for your work
on agency

15. ACTIVITY: Our Approach to Course Design
• Groups of 4-6
• Cut the five elements out
• Lay them out in the sequence
you’d use when designing a
course or lesson for your
students
• How might this be different for
a learner-centred approach?

16. https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-guides/foundations-course-design/theory-practice/teacher-centered-vs-student-centered

17. https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-guides/foundations-course-design/theory-practice/teacher-centered-vs-student-centered

19. ACTIVITY (Curriculum)
1. Read through the teacher statements and
identify examples from your own practice that
could be used as evidence of this. Share these
with your colleague/group.
2. Where might you look to doing things
differently to increase the level of agentic
behaviour in your classroom/school?
3. Read through the Student statements. Which
of these could you be confident in being
expressed by the students in your
school/class?
4. What might need to change in your
school/class to enable more of this to happen?
5. Identify 2-3 specific actions you could follow
up now to increase the way agentic learning is
being fostered in your classroom/school.

20. ACTIVITY
Assessing your
progess
(Curriculum)
1. Read across all indicator statements on the rubric, and highlight the words, sentences or whole statements that
you feel describe the current approach to curriculum development in your school/classroom.
2. For each of the pieces you’ve highlighted, think of the evidence you could point to or provide from what is
happening in your classroom/school to support your decision.
3. Look for where most of your highlights are clustered and put a circle around the progression heading at the top of
that column.
4. Now look to the column to the right and consider the progression implicit in the indicator statements, and note
some specific things you could do as your ‘next steps’ to increase the level of agency in terms of curriculum
design.

21. Meet Zoe
• Imagine being able to produce
detailed topic/lesson/unit plans that
are individualised to address the
specific needs and interests of each
student?
• Imagine you could do this quickly
and easily for each student in your
class.
https://playground.schooljoy.com/student-demo/profile/1680/overview

22. https://playground.schooljoy.com/student-demo/profile/1680/overview

23. SESSION FOUR
Observing the
Characteristics of agency
in action

25. Spectrum of Student Voice Oriented Activity
https://studentsatthecenterhub.org/resource/three-ways-student-voice-can-elevate-motivation-and-engagement/

26. ACTIVITY (Learner Driven Learning)
1. Read through the teacher statements and
identify examples from your own practice that
could be used as evidence of this. Share these
with your colleague/group.
2. Where might you look to doing things
differently to increase the level of agentic
behaviour in your classroom/school?
3. Read through the Student statements. Which
of these could you be confident in being
expressed by the students in your
school/class?
4. What might need to change in your
school/class to enable more of this to happen?
5. Identify 2-3 specific actions you could follow
up now to increase the way agentic learning is
being fostered in your classroom/school.

27. ACTIVITY
Assessing your
progess
(Learner Driven
Learning)
1. Read across all indicator statements on the rubric, and highlight the words, sentences or whole statements that
you feel describe the current level of learner driven learning in your school/classroom.
2. For each of the pieces you’ve highlighted, think of the evidence you could point to or provide from what is
happening in your classroom/school to support your decision.
3. Look for where most of your highlights are clustered and put a circle around the progression heading at the top of
that column.
4. Now look to the column to the right and consider the progression implicit in the indicator statements, and note
some specific things you could do as your ‘next steps’ to increase the level of learner driven learning in your
school or classroom context.

28. Use the QR code below to access a
series of slides with ideas that are being
used by other schools and teachers to
promote learner driven learning.
https://tinyurl.com/99hrz3yd

29. SESSION FIVE
Agency By Design :
Sustaining agentic practice
in our classrooms and
schools.

30. Project web page
Organised based on the hubs
that the students can choose
to participate in to pursue
their passion or interest.
Each project is designed to
have an impact on the world
in which they live.
https://www.ashs.school.nz/

31. Skills and Dispositions
https://www.ashs.school.nz/

32. Agile Methodology
https://www.ashs.school.nz/

33. Reflection Time
1 thing that has resonated with you
1 question you have
1 action you are considering taking

34. Thank You
derek@futuremakers.nz
@dwenmoth
www.futuremakers.nz
http://futuremakers.nz/blog