Increase Agency with Learner-Designed Schedules
A key tenant of the learner-centered education movement is learner agency, or “a learner’s capacity to take purposeful initiative in the matter of their own learning journey.” In my fourth year at Embark, I live and breathe this joyous reality every day in my work with learners. This fall, we have been fortunate to have visitors from across the country, including Teach for America, Education Reimagined, The Reinvention Lab, and Getting Smart. These visits caused me to take a step back and reflect. What are the structures, tools, and daily practices we intentionally engage in to make learner agency a reality? As is so often the case, I knew the best place to find answers was from our learners themselves. So, armed with a pen and paper, I set out and asked a variety of our learners, What makes you feel most in control of your learning at Embark?
“By crafting their schedules, learners develop the skills necessary to take active control of all aspects of their learning.”
Unsurprisingly, they had opinions at the ready. Seventh-grader Chiara said, “I have the freedom to do things and go places without having to ask an adult.” While Ruby chimed in that, “I get to set my priorities based on what is best for my learning.” Eighth-grade learner Maverick was most pleased that he got “to be creative in all of my learning.” And Maura proudly proclaimed, “My educators trust me, and I trust them, which makes learning so much easier!” Not to be overshadowed by older students, sixth graders Cruzer and Walden responded respectively with, “I plan my week...I know what to expect, and I feel prepared,” and “I can structure my day, including free time for things I want and need to do.” These were all great sentiments, and the words I most frequently heard were, “I get to make my schedule!”
Intentional design
While learners are in charge of their schedules, that doesn't mean that educators are not deeply involved in planning and facilitating their learning. Embark educators develop the necessary underlying structures - some of which are described below - so that learners can successfully exercise autonomy over their learning.
Learners start each week by scheduling their time and learning priorities. This work begins when learners open their Google calendars and see numerous calendar invites from their educators, many of which overlap. This can feel overwhelming, even for adults, but students know that their naming norms exist to help them manage their time.
First, learners must accept all invitations marked as mandatory (M). These are usually when direct instruction, movement, or off-campus learning occurs. Next, learners select the choice (C) invitations that best fit in and around their mandatory events. Choice invitations often indicate a small group lesson, targeted skill instruction, or required group collaboration times. At this point, learners add certain events and meetings to their schedules based on what best works for them. For example, a learner may be asked to schedule:
A 30-minute shift working behind the bar at Pinwheel Coffee, one of the small businesses in which Embark is embedded,
A 15-minute one-on-one conference with their advisor,
An hour of independent reading time, and
At least two hours of collaborative time with their current project group.
Learners look at the calendars of the shops, peers, and educators to see how to best fit these appointments into their week. Learners will often leave optional (O) invitations, most likely office hour support times offered by their educators, unanswered, waiting to see whether or not they need support on any given assignment. When learners have completed all these steps, their weekly calendar is full of lessons, meetings, and conferences. Then, learners assess their “blank” or unscheduled time at the start of each day, using this time to complete any independent work or assignments that might come up.
Following a waterfall of steps outlined by their educators, Embark learners use Google calendar to schedule their learning each week - including setting aside time to read!
Far-reaching results
Having adolescent learners successfully demonstrate agency by working through this scheduling procedure each week is amazing, but it is not our end goal. Rather, it is a powerful and concrete tool to build learner agency throughout our learning environment. By crafting their schedules, learners develop the skills necessary to take active control of all aspects of their learning. They choose how to use their time. They learn when, how, where, and with whom they work most successfully. Because they drive their schedules, learners also feel comfortable advocating for their learning needs and asking for educator and peer support in other areas. They even feel comfortable contacting local community partners and businesses when it will support their learning.
We have also seen this agency extend beyond our school day's bounds. Learners have formed clubs, from Dungeons and Dragons to a Running Group. They schedule their club meetings, often using the same Google calendar, set their agendas, and determine their norms of engagement. Learners have also created their own on-campus businesses, presenting business plans and philanthropic strategies to adults for approval before opening their doors. (Yes, these businesses usually involve the sale of candy, chips, or soda, but they are impressive nonetheless.) All without much if any adult oversight.
“My educators trust me, and I trust them, which makes learning so much easier! ”
Learners’ agency skills transfer to their home lives as well. Parents often report that their kids are better self-starters at home - helping siblings with homework, cooking family dinners, and engaging in meaningful conversations. After his sixth-grade year, Josh astonished his parents when he was accepted as the youngest camp counselor ever at a local day camp. According to his mom, “much older teens have been counselors, and camp leaders said that Josh is one of the best. Picture this, twelve five and six-year-olds at their first activity, introducing themselves and selecting a group name. Josh jumped in and led them with some pretty kick-ass facilitation…and managed a situation where no one knew each other. That is not an easy situation to manage, and boy, did those kids have ideas!! But he was masterful.”
As these examples illustrate, Embark’s scheduling practice is not designed as an end in itself. Yes, it helps organize our learners’ days, and we have found it an essential part of Embark’s embedded learning and learner-centered environment. But at its core, scheduling is simply a means to help learners develop true agency skills. Agency that they can apply to most any situation in life.