Re-conceptualizing the development of agency in the school mathematics classroom

ABSTRACT

A question that confronts teachers of mathematics is how best to establish in their classrooms a space where students can participate more fully in the curriculum. This article explores the development of agency in the school mathematics classroom. Using data from a variety of classroom contexts, this article employs sociocultural constructs of theorists such as Lev Vygotsky and James Wertsch to examine teacher and student activity during classroom interactions. A specific focus of this examination is the development of student agency. In particular, I explore practices that recognize the tension between the agency of the people teaching and learning the mathematics and the agency of the discipline that accredits and conventionalizes ways of knowing and doing the mathematics. The article concludes that it is in the teacher-student negotiation of coming to know and do mathematics that the development of student agency can be actualized.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional Resources

Renshaw, P., & Brown, R. (2007). Formats of classroom talk for integrating everyday and scientific discourse: Replacement, interweaving, contextual privileging and pastiche. Language and Education, 21, 531–549.

This article identifies formats of classroom talk for integrating children’s everyday language with the disciplinary languages of learning. In these different formats, student progress in understanding is gauged by the extent to which students’ talking and thinking is replaced, interweaved with, privileged or generalized within the language of the discipline being learnt. This is a very handy article to help teachers see how classroom talk can influence student learning.

Pendergast, D., & Main, K. (Eds) (2019). Teaching primary years: Rethinking curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Sydney, AU: Allen & Unwin.

This book offers evidence-based approaches to teaching and learning in the (primary) elementary years of schooling. The text explores the unique characteristics of elementary school-aged children and considers the language, mathematics, science, health and the humanities curricula in depth. The text highlights major challenges facing elementary education relating to the use of digital technology, the development of age-appropriate pedagogies, practising differentiated learning and the design of effective assessment.

Van de Walle, J.A., Karp, K., Bay-Williams, J. M. (2017). Elementary and middle school mathematics. Teaching developmentally. 9^th Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Incorporated.

This book provides a helpful guide for Pre-K-8 teachers of mathematics. This text reflects the Common Core State Standards and NCTM’s Principles to Actions, as well as the current Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. Emphasis is placed on teaching mathematics conceptually, in a problem-based, developmentally appropriate manner that supports the learning needs of all students.