Agency is about student engagement. There are three key conceptions of agency: (1) Existential agency<\/strong> \u2013 that we have free will and have the choice to act to exert influence on our environments It is clear that agency and emotions are connected, and that this connection is not understood, not leveraged, and not integrated into education \u2013 all to the detriment of ourselves, our colleagues and our students.<\/p>\n \u201cAre emotions relevant to agency? Emotions can affect the cognitive bandwidth for expressing agency and the strength of the urge to do so.\u201d (The Influence of Teaching, Oct. 2015)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You would be interested in reading this book if you\u2026 This book aligns with the recent reading that I\u2019ve done in a couple of ways: (2) Range<\/a><\/strong> highlighted that the world is full of \u2018wicked problems. These problems and challenge evoke and provoke emotional responses. For example, with change comes ambiguity, and with ambiguity comes emotions, be it excitement, fear or a mix of emotions. Being, what Marc Brackett calls, an \u201cemotional scientist\u201d allows us to navigate these complexities and ambiguity with more stability, awareness and success.<\/p>\n (3) The Infinite Game<\/a><\/strong> highlighted that playing the Infinite Game requires us to care and be concerned for others, both now and in the future. To care for someone, to have concern for people we don\u2019t know, requires \u2019emotional labour\u2019. Need I say more?<\/p>\n Brackett introduces a very important yet simple tool: R.U.L.E.R. Using this tool alongside the Mood Meter<\/a> \u2013 there is also an app<\/a><\/strong> for that! \u2013 allows us to better understand how we are showing up in life. I really like this tool, and would highlight the \u201cL \u2013 label\u201d part. In this section of the book, he uses research to show that language (or lack of it) is vital in our emotional understandings. Words and having the ability to find the right ones to label our emotions is vital, and not just tell people what we are feeling, but to tell OURSELVES what we are feeling. \u201c\u2026affective labeling is linked to lower activation of the amygdala, the brain region that\u2019s activated when we feel negative emotions, and higher activation in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (RVLPFC), which supports emotion regulation. In fact, having a robust emotional vocabulary was shown to be correlated with a more positive outlook:<\/p>\n \u201cSubjects who were low in granularity \u2013 called [word] clumpers \u2013 were less skilled at differentiating emotions (e.g. angry, worried, frustrated). When the [word-clumpers were compared with the high granularity of emotional language], she reported, granular individuals were less likely to freak out or abuse alcohol when under stress and more likely to find positive meaning in negative experiences.\u201d (Brackett, pg. 110)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Don\u2019t we want that for ourselves, our students?<\/p>\n How might we build this vocabulary?<\/strong> We use the Mood Meter. It is a quadrant that is accessible to most ages. I am using it with my own kids starting tonight! Or access the app through the link above. Practice using these words in \u2018the moment\u2019 and outside of the moment \u2013 what might that character in the book\/movie\/game be feeling?<\/p>\n When it comes to expressing emotions,<\/strong> how might we make the time and space for this to happen. I feel that many of the schools I know and work with, and indeed the school I work in, have great spaces, brave spaces, for students to express agency and emotions. However, it was jarring to read this from a student in a school in the US:<\/p>\n \u201cOne student told me (the author), \u2018My school is like a prison. Our school rules dictate how we\u00a0should<\/em> feel, so why would I bother expressing how I really feel?\u201d (Brackett, pg. 125)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What indirect and unconscious messages are we signalling to students about what emotions are expected, what emotions are welcome in our spaces, and what emotions are we really prepared to deal with \u2013 without passing them off to our reliable and trusting (and highly skilled) guidance workers? These are great questions to reflect upon in our work as educators.<\/p>\n How does this connect to student agency? The report \u201cThe Influence of Teaching: Beyond Standardized Test Scores:\u00a0 Engagement, Mindsets and Agency\u201d by Ferguson, et. al., out of Harvard University, October 2015 sheds some incredibly helpful insights.<\/p>\n They highlight factors\/actions that boost agency and dampen agency. They explore how these different factors\/actions interact and counter one-another. It is not a simple report nor does it provide a step-by-step approach to increase agency. Rather, what it does do, is highlight the art and science of being an educator.<\/strong><\/p>\n Parents and teachers help to inspire, enable and focus both a sense of agency and expression of agency by the opportunities, instruction and guidance they provide. (Ferguson, et. al., 14)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n At the heart of the research is the sequence of classroom engagement in building agency. \u201cOf course, real life is more complex; individual students may experience backsliding and differential rates of progress compared to their peers. Still, the sequence is an important conceptual element\u2026\u201d (Ferguson, et. al., pg. 49)<\/p>\n The first goal is called \u201cEmotional Engagement\u201d \u2013 this is the foundation that all other goals are built upon. Without this, the classroom and many of the factors\/actions therein, are dampening agency directly and indirectly. Trust vs. Mistrust is how it is framed, and focusses on \u201cthe need fo feel securely connected to the social surround and the need to experience oneself as worthy and capable of love and respect.\u201d (Ferguson, et. al., 49). This is fraught with emotional labour, emotional communication \u2013 how might we support educators to build trust?<\/p>\n In other words, whether students express agency\u00a0by actually applying<\/em> learning and problem-solving strategies, depends upon efficacy beliefs, not simply on the desire to learn\u2026\u201d (Ferguson, et. al., 32).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It is all over this report, that the emotional wellbeing of students IS THE LEARNING. So when we take this report with the work of \u201cPermission to Feel\u201d, we know that we can and should direct attention to being \u201cemotional scientists\u201d, and to take time to ask and answer Marc Brackett\u2019s big question: \u201cHow are you feeling?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is a happy coincidence that I read this book Permission to Feel by Marc Brackett as I was also researching student agency. Emotions and agency are inextricably link through the cognitive processes, such that: \u201cThe three most important aspects of learning \u2013 attention, focus, and memory \u2013 are all controlled by our emotions, not…![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/files\/2020\/02\/51cOqjipK8L._SL500_.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cThe three most important aspects of learning \u2013 attention, focus, and memory \u2013 are all controlled by our emotions, not by cognition. Immordino-Yand\u2019s research shows that wen student feel deeply engaged and connected in the learning process, and when what they learn is relevant and meaningful to their own lives, there is activation in the same brain systems that keep us alive\u201d<\/em>~Permission to Feel, M. Brackett, Ph.D. (pg. 195)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n(2) Pragmatic agency<\/strong> \u2013 being able to act outside of habits and routines as responses to challenges, changes and opportunities
\n(3) Identity agency<\/strong> \u2013 our commitment to our social identity across different experiences
\n(4) Life-course agency<\/strong> \u2013 these are the actions that we take towards desired future outcomes. (The Influence of Teaching, Oct. 2015)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n(1) Wanted to improve your understanding of Social-Emotional Learning
\n(2) Wanted strategies and examples to support emotional learning (and thus leaning in general!) in your students, yourself, and your school
\n(3) Really want to put emotional learning at the heart of what you do, both personally and professionally.<\/p>\n
\n(1) Everything is F*cked<\/a><\/strong> highlighted that world runs on emotions. We have two types of brains: the thinking and the feeling brain. Marc Brackett\u2019s book helps to uncover how the feeling brain works with and against the thinking brain. It also gives the power back to the students and faculty in managing emotions in order to learn<\/p>\n
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