I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of student agency recently. Not too long ago I read this article and this article and I’ve been able to make lots of connections between the ways in which we champion student leadership on our campus and how that provides our students agency, or the capacity to make meaningful decisions about their life.
Tom Vander Ark explains agency as the capacity and propensity to take purposeful initiative—the opposite of helplessness. Young people with high levels of agency do not respond passively to their circumstances; they tend to seek meaning and act with purpose to achieve the conditions they desire in their own and others’ lives.
The idea that we want our students to take purposeful initiative is huge. The work that we do on our campus around the 7 habits and the ways in which we are using leadership notebooks speaks to this very idea. To say that honing this skill among young people ages 4-11 can be challenging is putting it lightly. Finding the balance between being a directed learner and a self directed learner isn’t something that happens overnight and it should be a school’s mission to ensure that the students that leave their learning institution are well equipped to do both. Time and place, right? I’m not sure which is more difficult, helping students recognize the places that require them to take initiative, or helping them grow their sense of purpose.
We want to grow kids that are sound academically, but also realize the power they have with the decisions they make. We want our students to celebrate the idea that school isn’t something that is done to them, it’s a vehicle that they should use to accomplish their goals. I’m not sure when it happens, but at some point, if we are doing it right, students should understand that their success in the future has lots to do with the decisions they make about how they will spend their time in school in the present.
The second semester is upon us! I look forward to sharing all the adventures, challenges, and celebrations that come with it.
#conditproud
Dan
Dan @ Condit 