Supporting Strong and Struggling Writers across a Spectrum of Strengths

Nicole Sieben

In response to specific questions from the call for manuscripts
for this issue, this article discusses ways
of approaching the classification of uniquely talented writers in our
classrooms across a continuum of strengths in order to build student agency in
our classrooms and communities. Sieben explains the
Writing Hope Framework, used to frame the curricular agency approaches
suggested—specifically teaching and talking about writing and writers using a
Sliding Strengths Scale. This humanizing approach to teaching writing can build
agency in students and teachers.

Amplifying Voice, Facilitating Agency: Engaging Youth Participatory Action Research in an Urban Public High School

Molly Buckley-Marudas

Drawing on nearly 100 ninth graders’ engagement
with a YPAR project embedded in the curriculum of a Cleveland public school,
this work focuses on the ways in which youth-led research supports young people
to leverage their perspectives to generate new knowledge and use that knowledge
to address pressing community issues. In addition to enhancing agency and
deepening young people’s critical consciousness, youth-led action research
stands to revitalize common approaches to the time-honored high school research
paper.

The Trust Factor: Giving Students Agency in Peer Review Workshops

Chelsea LeBlanc

Trust plays a vital role in how much
responsibility students will take on in the classroom. In this article, LeBlanc
examines the problem with current approaches to peer review and student
hesitation in peer-review groups due to lack of trust. She presents a
redesigned approach to peer review that focuses on building trust and
confidence in student abilities and discusses the benefits of this redesign
that promote student autonomy in the classroom

From Passion to Action: How School Contributes to Student Agency

Anthony Celaya

This
article speaks to directly to ways teachers and schools can foster student
agency and the long-term effects of these practices on a recent high school
graduate. Practices that support agency incorporate relevant issues for
students. Teachers need to allow students to have critical conversations in
class. Schools must be sure to give all students opportunities to develop
agency, not just the “honors” students. These practices are crucial to
developing not just graduates, but citizens.

Collaboration and Co-Teaching in the ELA Classroom

Caitlin Barker and Ruth Koenigsbauer

Two
ELA teachers in an all-boys school discuss the ways they build decision-making
and self-awareness in their students by emphasizing choice in their curriculum.
Working to ensure their ELA study connects to the school's values and core
skills, the provide a study of one of their units—a 5-week study of Jason
Reynolds’s All American Boys.