“An implication for teaching is that understanding individual students’ life histories and goals through tools such as lunchtime focus groups, unit evaluations, and teacher action research are important aspects of cultivating classroom agency” (Basu, 2007, p. 275)

I really liked this piece in talking about student agency and how it develops in and through the classroom. What I found interesting is the interplay between the agency that develops in the students themselves tied with the role of the teacher. Basu (2007) defines agency as “a young person’s desire for or action toward changes that can range from the personal to the global and contain an element of identifying and transforming historically oppressive and marginalizing power structures” (p. 254).

Simply, it is a desire on the student’s part to take control of his/her responsibilities and use the classroom as an outlet for action, whether that is making a change in the world, or making a personal change. Thus, it is the student’s own willingness to make this change and take the steps to do so. However, the teacher’s role is not exonerated from this, as described by the quote. The role of the teacher is to create and foster a learning environment within the classroom that promotes this agency and pushes students in the direction of wanting to be responsible for their learning and using it to make a change. In order to do so, teachers need to take into account the goals, backgrounds, interests, etc. of the students, which they can learn by creating and fostering a relationship with his/her students. As the quote mentions, this may be done through focus groups, small interviews during lunch, etc. Creating and nurturing a safe and productive classroom environment, which takes into account all student’s needs, creates a space in which students feel safe enough to take on a more prominent role, one where they develop their own agency, and express their ideas, wants, and goals so that we may help them reach them.