Who’s Driving? Building Student Agency from Day 1, Lumbra, Summer 2026

Course Number:	EDX 5710 S11
Instructor:	Gabrielle Lumbra, M.Ed.
Location:	Online
Dates and Times:	July 06 - Aug 16, 2026. Fully asynchronous.
Credits:	3 Graduate Credits
Tuition:	$1,195

Course Description

What does it mean to truly hand learning over to students? This course explores the conditions, mindsets, and classroom routines that make student agency possible. Grounded in research on motivation, goal-setting, and evidence-based feedback practices, teachers will examine how the structures they establish in the first weeks of school either build or undermine students’ sense of ownership over their own learning. Participants will design the routines and relational conditions that make agency a daily reality, not an occasional event. Because this is a summer course, all work is forward-looking: teachers will leave with a practical, personalized Agency Launch Plan ready to implement at the start of the academic year.

Audience: Grade 3-12 Teachers with a Bachelor's Degree

Course Goals & Objectives

Course Goals:

Mindsets that cultivate student agency
Routines that support student agency
Strategies for teaching goal setting
Feedback strategies that build independence
Conditions that allow for productive struggle

Course Objectives:

Articulate the principles of the mentor mindset and apply them to their own classroom stance and language
Design at least three agency-building routines appropriate to their grade level and content area
Distinguish between feedback practices that build student self-regulation and those that create dependence
Identify goal-setting processes that build agency
5)Describe the relational and cultural conditions under which student agency develops

Course Schedule

Week 1: Foundational conditions & mindsets

Readings: Yeager, Book ch. 1-4 & Fisher, Frey, Ortega, Hattie Book ch.1
Assignments:
Discussion due Friday
Artifact: Reflection prompt due Sunday

Week 2: The importance of goal-directed learning

Readings: 5 Ways to Cultivate Goal-Directed Learners in the Classroom. (2024, September 24). Novak Education. March 7, 2026 & Fisher, Frey, Ortega, Hattie book modules 2, 3 & 5
Assignments:
Discussion due Friday
Artifact: Draft routine #1 due Sunday

Week 3: Elements of Feedback

Readings: Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2024, December 1). Student-Led Feedback for Critical Thinking. ASCD. March 7, 2026. & Fisher, Frey, Ortega & Hattie (2023) — Module 6
Assignments:
Discussion due Friday
Artifact: Draft routine #2 due Sunday

Week 4: Practices for Responding

Readings: Yeager (2024), Ch. 5–8 & Fisher, Frey, Ortega & Hattie (2023) — Module 8
Assignments:
Discussion due Friday
Artifact: Draft routine #3 due Sunday

Week 5: Tuning Agency Launch Plans

Readings: No new readings
Assignments:
Discussion due Friday
Artifact: Draft Agency Launch Plan due Sunday

Week 6: Final Reflections

Readings: No new readings
Assignments:
Discussion due Friday
Artifact: Final Agency Launch Plan due Sunday

Required Readings/Resources

Cost of required resources are not included in the course tuition.

Fisher, D., Frey, N., Ortega, S., & Hattie, J. (2023). Teaching Students to Drive Their Own Learning: A Playbook on Engagement and Self-Regulation, K–12. Corwin.

Yeager, D.S. (2024). 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People. Simon & Schuster.

OECD. (2019). Student agency for 2030 (OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030: Conceptual learning framework). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/about/projects/edu/education-2040/concept-notes/Student_Agency_for_2030_concept_note.pdf

5 Ways to Cultivate Goal-Directed Learners in the Classroom. (2024, September 24). Novak Education. https://www.novakeducation.com/blog/goal-directed-expert-learners

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2024, December 1). Student-Led Feedback for Critical Thinking. ASCD.

For additional course information

Gabrielle Lumbra

(802) 309-5240

For additional registration information

Center for Schools Team

(802) 468-1325