This article is the second in a series that will explore AI, particularly the topics of how it can foster student agency, cultivate a love of reading that celebrates cultural diversity, and support multilingual learners in literacy instruction.

One of the challenges faced in classrooms worldwide is the lack of student engagement and motivation—a disconnect that often stems from a sense of disempowerment and detachment. Many curricula depend on teacher-centered instruction, leaving students to feel stuck in the monotony without the agency to be meaningfully included.

However, when the same students have a sense of agency, they can become active participants in the learning process. Fostering student agency leads to increased motivation, higher academic achievement, and enhanced critical thinking skills. It cultivates a positive classroom culture where students feel valued, respected, and empowered to voice their opinions and ideas.

As we explore ways to empower students and foster engagement in literacy instruction, it is essential to consider how innovative tools, such as artificial intelligence (AI), can play a pivotal role. AI offers educators new opportunities to personalize learning experiences, promote student choice, and streamline the creation of a diverse range of activities.

In part II of our series, we dive into how AI can enhance student agency, making the classroom a more dynamic and inclusive space for all learners.

The empowerment path

To empower students with agency in their literacy development, teachers can provide options for how they can demonstrate their understanding of a text through presentations, analytical essays, or creative projects such as storyboards or visual narratives. All of the choices assess the same skills while also allowing the students to make the choice of what to complete. We know that hands-on learning with authentic practice is important, but how can a teacher do this without spending hours and hours creating these learning experiences?

Eduaide. One way AI can help a teacher create a range of activities in a short amount of time can be found at Eduaide, which offers a tool called Engagement Activities. When a teacher enters the grade level and subject area along with the prompt “enhance student choice and agency,” Eduaide will create a list of activities, “Would You Rather?” questions, applied scenario-based questions, thought experiments, and even riddles.  

MagicSchool AI. Offering choice boards or menus with a variety of learning tasks enables students to select activities that align with their learning goals and preferences, promoting intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning. Teachers can pick and choose to ensure that anything they add to a choice board is acceptable to them and fits their own classroom. You can use MagicSchool AI make a choice board in a few seconds. Just click on the Choice Board (UDL) option and type in your standard, objective, or content.  

ChatGPT. For teachers ready to move to the next level, ChatGPT offers great opportunities for personalized learning paths based on student choice. Many schools offer opportunities for students to explore topics they are interested in, but it is difficult for a teacher to be an expert in all these subjects. AI can support teachers’ creation of paths for students to research and design projects based on their interests. Start by asking ChatGPT to “create a personalized learning path for students in [grade level] to explore [subject], including [key topics or skills].” For the following example about volcanoes, ChatGPT gave seven activities to work on. Two are shown here:

Sometimes, the bot doesn’t get it right from the start. You will still need to wear your teacher hat to decide if the resources given are right for your purposes. From your original prompt and response, you can have a conversation with ChatGPT to guide it to what you want. Maybe you need to specify that it is for the whole group or only two students. Maybe you want more ideas. When asked for specific links to the activities suggested, ChatGPT delivered.

Unleashed potential

The results of fostering student agency in the classroom are profound. Students who are empowered with agency exhibit increased motivation, engagement, and academic achievement. They develop essential skills such as problem-solving, decision-making, and self-regulation, which are vital for success in both academic and real-world contexts.

Fostering student agency through acceptable choices is essential for creating inclusive, engaging, and empowering learning environments. By embracing strategies that prioritize student voice, choice, and autonomy, teachers can foster a culture of agency that unleashes the full potential of every learner.  

Natalie Beach, lecturer of special education, Lindsey Braisted, instructor of ESL and literacy, Cassie Brown, PhD graduate assistant, and Amber Spears, associate professor of literacy methods, are all affiliated with Tennessee Tech University. 

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