The Language to Develop Agency: Amping Up Agency Blog Series

In 2004, I was a first-year teacher when I first read Peter H. Johnston’s book, Choice Words. In it, Johnston asserts:

Teachers’ conversations with children help the children build the bridges between action and consequence that develop their sense of agency. They show children how, by acting strategically, they accomplish things, and at the same time, that they are the kind of person who accomplishes things.

(Johnston, 2004, 29)

I am fortunate to have found his book when I did since it helped me understand that if I wanted my students to work harder, then they’d need to feel competent, engaged, and powerful about their abilities as learners. Research shows that kids are more successful when praised for working hard rather than being told they’re smart.

The writing workshop offers multiple points to build students’ agency. Minilessons are a natural place to do this with the entire class. Some students develop agency more effectively in small groups and one-to-one writing conferences since we tailor our language to them. Personalized messages positively impact a child’s ability to imagine new possibilities.

Below, I outline phrases teachers can use with students to build agency intentionally, many inspired by the fourth chapter of Choice Words.  

CONFERRING

This is my favorite time to increase agency since we’re sitting alongside a child, having a writer-to-writer conversation. Here are some phrases to employ to help a young writer build agency.

SMALL GROUP WORK AND REFLECTION/SHARE

Small group work and the end of workshop reflection/share time build agency since students can process their thinking about their writing with the teacher and their peers. Here are some essential phrases you can use to help build agency:

You may download both of these images as a PDF (below).

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Additional Resources

There is a lot of other language that can be used to cultivate students’ agency. In “I’m the Kind of Kid Who…” Invitations That Support Learner Identity and Agency, Debbie Miller and Emily Callahan offer this to readers:

Read an excerpt from Miller and Callahan’s book about the intentional use of language, which you may download below. 

Check out Responsive Classroom’s articles on teacher language if you’re looking for more support on using language that increases student agency – or you just want to work on your language in general.

We’ve written about the power of language on the TWTBlog for years. Here are a few of those pieces:

• A Few Questions for Peter H. Johnston by Stacey Shubitz
• Interrogating Our Feedback: Resetting Our Workshop Practices by Betsy Hubbard
• Language Awareness In Classrooms: Teaching Writing with a Social Justice Lens by Beth Moore
• Praising Kids. Talking to Kids. Questioning Kids. by Stacey Shubitz
• The Power of Language by Stacey Shubitz
• The Power of Language Revisited by Lanny Ball

It takes time and reflection to implement language changes. If you’re looking to infuse your teacher talk with language that nourishes students’ agency, try adding just one new phrase a week to your vocabulary. As you do, you’ll find yourself making these phrases your own so that you’ll utilize them for school years to come.

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Throughout the week, we’d love to hear your thoughts. We even have a book giveaway for those of you who share comments! 

• This giveaway is for a copy of Engaging Literate Minds: Developing Children’s Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Lives, K–3 by Peter H. Johnston, Kathy Champeau, Andrea Hartwig, Sarah Helmer, Merry Komar, Tara Krueger, and Laurie McCarthy. Many thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for donating a copy for one reader.
• For a chance to win this copy of Engaging Literate Minds, please comment on any of our blog series posts by Noon EST on Sunday, February 12. Leah Koch will use a random number generator to pick the winner whose name will be announced in the blog series wrap-up post on Monday, February 13. You must have a U.S. mailing address to enter the giveaway.
• Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so Leah can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Stenhouse will ship the book to you. 
• If you are the book winner, Leah will email you the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS – AMPING UP AGENCY BLOG SERIES. Please respond to her e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. Unfortunately, a new winner will be chosen if a response isn’t received within five days of the giveaway announcement.