Activity 1: (5 minutes) BE A MR. JENSEN

Watch the video, “Be a Mr. Jensen,” by Clint Pulver. Invite educators to reflect on and discuss the following questions. Have a discussion:

• Before Mr. Jensen, how was Clint feeling in school?
• What effect did Mr. Jensen have on Clint?
• How can individual needs and talents improve a school setting?

Activity 2: (15 minutes) AGENCY DISCUSSION

Read the definitions and discuss the quotes.

• Agency is “the state of being active, usually in the service of a goal, or of having the power and capability to produce an effect or exert influence.” (APA Dictionary of Psychology)
• “Sense of agency refers to the feeling of control over actions and their consequences.” (James W. Moore, Goldsmiths University of London)

Quotes about agency:

• “Children and adults alike need to experience how rewarding it is to work at the edge of their abilities. Resilience is the product of agency: knowing that what you do can make a difference. Many of us remember what playing team sports, singing in the school choir, or playing in the marching band meant to us, especially if we had coaches or directors who believed in us, pushed us to excel, and taught us we could be better than we thought was possible. The children we reach need this experience. Athletics, playing music, dancing, and theatrical performances all promote agency and community.” (Bessel A. Van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma)
• “I am so tired—so tired of being whirled on through all these phases of my life, in which nothing abides by me, no creature, no place; it is like the circle in which the victims of earthly passion eddy continually.” (Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South)
• “To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.” (Robert Louis Stevenson)
• “The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours. It is an amazing journey and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.” (Bob Moawad)
• “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind. But you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” (Jim Rohn)
• “The moment you accept responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you gain the power to change anything in your life.” (Hal Elrod)
• “The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.” (Anne Frank)

Pass out the Analyze the Quote handout. Teachers will highlight parts of the quote that resonate with them, write questions, explain what they agree/disagree with, and summarize the quote in their own words.

Have a discussion:

• Why is exercising personal agency important for you?
• How can we use our agency at work?
• What inhibits the use of your agency at work?
• What empowers your agency at work?

Activity 3: (10 minutes) DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY

Our desire to exercise agency in unpredictable environments starts at a young age:

“A baby’s sensory world is an elaborate mess, and it is hard to know what is going on. In other words, the baby’s world is highly uncertain. But, the baby quickly starts to initiate their own causes, they can cry, and gurgle, and blow raspberries. These cases come with predictable effects. A large looming face will appear at some point that will give them something they will like, food, comfort, a smile, a soothing sound. The quicker these causal connections are learned, the quicker the baby can control their world, and that means that they are the masters of producing desirable outcomes almost at will. Things start to get a little more destabilizing for the baby when things change, and the effects (a caring face emerges) don’t always happen when the causes take place (a long wail). This is where some mental adjustment of acceptance is needed so that things don’t always happen as you want them to (i.e., learning not to be selfish), or when you want them too (i.e., learning to be patient).” (Magda Osman, PhD)

Though much older, adults also have a human need to assert themselves:

“We express our need to reassert ourselves when we feel that our freedoms have been threatened, or lost, or when our options are curtailed, or when we face outcomes that we feel we had no choice over.” (Magda Osman, PhD)

“Whatever our threshold for threats to our agency and control, when that threshold is exceeded, we react, and sometimes in ways that society might be deemed as disproportionate to the original infringement.” (Magda Osman, PhD)

Have a discussion:

• How does uncertainty manifest itself in education?
• How does uncertainty affect your overall well-being?
• How can you use your agency productively when things are uncertain?
• How do we sometimes use agency unproductively when things are uncertain?

Activity 4: (20 minutes) THE NEED FOR PERSONAL VOICE

Watch the video, “You Have the Right to Speak Up” by The School of Life. Read these quotes from Kerry Patterson and have participants answer these questions with every quote:

• What do you learn about voice from these quotes?
• How can our school be better about honoring different voices?

Read these quotes from “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High” (Patterson et al):

• “People who are skilled at dialogue do their best to make it safe for everyone to add their meaning to the shared pool—even ideas that at first glance appear controversial, wrong, or at odds with their own beliefs. Now, obviously they don’t agree with every idea; they simply do their best to ensure that all ideas find their way into the open.” (Patterson et al., Crucial Conversations)
• “It’s the most talented, not the least talented, who are continually trying to improve their dialogue skills. As is often the case, the rich get richer.” (Patterson et al., Crucial Conversations)
• “As much as others may need to change, or we may want them to change, the only person we can continually inspire, prod, and shape—with any degree of success—is the person in the mirror.” (Patterson et al., Crucial Conversations)
• “The Pool of Shared Meaning is the birthplace of synergy.” (Patterson et al., Crucial Conversations)
• “At the core of every successful conversation lies the free flow of relevant information.” (Patterson et al., Crucial Conversations)
• “Let’s say that your significant other has been paying less and less attention to you. You realize he or she has a busy job, but you still would like more time together. You drop a few hints about the issue, but your loved one doesn’t handle it well. You decide not to put on added pressure, so you clam up. Of course, since you’re not all that happy with the arrangement, your displeasure now comes out through an occasional sarcastic remark. ‘Another late night, huh? I’ve got Facebook friends I see more often.’ Unfortunately (and here’s where the problem becomes self-defeating), the more you snip and snap, the less your loved one wants to be around you. So your significant other spends even less time with you, you become even more upset, and the spiral continues. Your behavior is now actually creating the very thing you didn’t want in the first place. You’re caught in an unhealthy, self-defeating loop.” (Patterson et al., Crucial Conversations)
• “The mistake most of us make in our crucial conversations is we believe that we have to choose between telling the truth and keeping a friend.” (Patterson et al., Crucial Conversations)

Have a discussion:

• What voices are most often heard at our school? Least often heard?
• Why is it important to hear from different voices?
• How do our personal circumstances and perspectives alter our voice?
• At our school, is it worth it to speak up? Why or why not?

Activity 5: (10 minutes) STAND UP & PARTICIPATE

Use this activity to help everyone better understand the populations and voices in our school. Feel free to add and adapt the questions to fit your school

Raise your hand if you…

1. have traveled out of our state.
2. have traveled out of our country.
3. have no siblings, 1 sibling, 2 siblings, 3 siblings, 4 siblings, etc.
4. are between the ages of 18–30, 30–50, 50–70, older than 70.
5. have a birthday in Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
6. enjoy watching or playing soccer, football, baseball, tennis, etc.
7. can plan an instrument.
8. enjoy Italian cuisine, Mexican, American, Chinese, Thai, African, etc.
9. enjoy listening to top 40, rock, folk, jazz, rap, R&B, pop, classical, etc.
10. prefer to spend time outdoors, indoors.

Have each participant answer these questions:

• If you could change anything in the world, what would it be and why?
• If you could change anything at our school, what would it be and why?

Activity 6: (15 minutes) WHY CHOICES AND AUTONOMY MATTERS

Watch the video, “Voice and Choice in the Classroom: Freedom and Responsibility” by inquirED. Have a discussion:

• How could the advice in this video be adapted for educators instead of students?
• What things are we allowed to choose in our district? school? team?

Read the following list together.

Why is autonomy in the workplace important?

1. Increases job satisfaction
2. Creates employee engagement and motivation
3. Improves employee retention
4. Encourages creativity and innovation
5. Builds a culture of trust
6. Boosts productivity
7. Helps employees feel valued
8. Develops leadership qualities in employees
9. Promotes skill development

How can you encourage autonomy at work?

1. Support a growth mindset.
2. Build a culture of trust.
3. Communicate effectively.
4. Provide support and advice where needed.
5. Set goals and benchmarks.
6. Acknowledge good work.
7. Hire the right people.
8. Allow for mistakes.
9. Support professional development.

(Source: Maggie Wooll at BetterUp)

Have a discussion:

• What choices are you able to make at work?
• What are the inherent limitations to autonomy in education?
• What do you wish you had more control over at work?

Activity 7: (20 minutes) JOB SATISFACTION AND LEADERSHIP

Watch the following videos and discuss the questions after every video:

Video 1: “This is what makes employees happy at work” from “The Way We Work,” a TED series

Video 2: “Take the SCARF Assessment from NeuroLeadership Institute” by the NeuroLeadership Institute

Quick Summary of the SCARF Model by Mind Tools Team:

• Status: our relative importance to others
• Certainty: our ability to predict the future
• Autonomy: our sense of control over events
• Relatedness: how safe we feel with others
• Fairness: how fair we perceive the exchanges between people to be

Extension: Sign up to take the SCARF assessment and discuss.

Video 3: “The Hidden Genius of Google’s 20% Time” (until 1:45) by Mashable

Video 4: “The Crucial Connection Between Belonging and Student Empowerment” (watch from 31:38-33:55) by CASEL

Have a discussion:

• What improves job satisfaction?
• What kind of leadership promotes agency, voice, and choice?
• What kind of leadership inhibits agency, voice, and choice?
• Who are the leaders in our school? Who do they lead?
• When employees are satisfied at work, what can happen?

Activity 8: (30 minutes) CAROUSEL DISCUSSION

Invite teachers to think about the opportunities for agency, voice, and choice in their own classroom. Using a carousel discussion strategy, post the following questions on chart paper and have participants rotate through the different questions in groups of 3 or 4. Invite the groups to read through previous comments, discuss, and add to the comments.

• What choices do students have in terms of what they learn?
• What choices do students have in terms of how they learn?
• What choices do students have in terms of when/where they learn?
• What are the potential benefits for providing students more choice, voice, and decision-making?
• What are the potential barriers or concerns for creating a more student-directed classroom?

Activity 9: (40 minutes) ARTICLES JIGSAW

What teaching and learning strategies best lead to increased agency in the classroom?

Discussions are a great way to bring in student voice, choice, and agency. Discussions are also a great way to increase teacher and staff voice. Divide the group into 4 smaller groups and invite them to jigsaw the following articles.

• Article 1: “Discussions that Drive Democracy” by Diana Hess, 2011
• Article 2: “Designing Discussion: Four Ways to Open Up a Dialogue” by Henning et al.