The Case for Learner Agency
In engaging students by making content relevant, teachers must be willing to give up a little control and give students the option to pull their own interests into the curriculum. In the ECI 525 course of the Social Studies NLGL program, we were given the opportunity to choose interests, and demonstrate our knowledge of these compelling issues creatively. Most importantly, we reflected on the pedagogical implications involving implementation of sound as source. Some examples that are seen below are a blog I have completed on historical ephemera, and a soundscape done on the Wright Brothers. While we help students develop on weaknesses, we must encourage them and give them the opportunity to demonstrate their strengths.
One important thing to stress when engaging in learner agency, is that teacher direction is still present. The students will still be doing higher level, critical thinking, analysis, and demonstrating creativty, but in their own creative process. I have found that implementing this strategy in my classroom has produced results of content mastery and high engagement. When approached correctly, learner agency is a creative and effective tool in maximizing content relevance in the Social Studies classroom.
In engaging students by making content relevant, teachers must be willing to give up a little control and give students the option to pull their own interests into the curriculum. In the ECI 525 course of the Social Studies NLGL program, we were given the opportunity to choose interests, and demonstrate our knowledge of these compelling issues creatively. Most importantly, we reflected on the pedagogical implications involving implementation of sound as source. Some examples that are seen below are a blog I have completed on historical ephemera, and a soundscape done on the Wright Brothers. While we help students develop on weaknesses, we must encourage them and give them the opportunity to demonstrate their strengths.
One important thing to stress when engaging in learner agency, is that teacher direction is still present. The students will still be doing higher level, critical thinking, analysis, and demonstrating creativty, but in their own creative process. I have found that implementing this strategy in my classroom has produced results of content mastery and high engagement. When approached correctly, learner agency is a creative and effective tool in maximizing content relevance in the Social Studies classroom.
Please click the button to access my post done on historical ephemera and the history of the development of craft beer and its industry in the United States. This project exemplifies learner agency as I was able to take something that I am interested in, craft beer, and connect it to the content area. Obviously, while craft beer industry was age appropriate for a graduate student, in the high school level there would be an expectation set of teacher monitoring.
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The file above is a soundscape that I completed in the NLGL program for Social Studies. The essence of the soundscape is a creative approach to creating a historical narrative. The soundscape and its pedagogical approach reflection is in the document below. This assignment really forced me to think outside of the box. My experiences as a student and a learner in this program help shape my expectations for my students in my own classroom. It was difficult, and out of my comfort zone, but sometimes that is when true learning can be maximized.
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