How can students take a leadership role in transforming classroom practice from traditional teacher-directed instruction to classrooms where students actively drive their own learning? In this interactive workshop, students from Harwood Union High School will share how they are leading a school-wide initiative to create a new “Urgency for Learning” and institute student-driven dialogue called the Harkness Pedagogy throughout their school. Harwood students will provide models of student agency in transforming the classroom practice, and they will lead participants in a Harkness discussion to demonstrate how this pedagogy can also be used in the classroom and also to create school and community partnerships. Participants will receive materials for classroom dialogue and come away with an understanding as to how and why student agency is an essential component of school transformation efforts.
