Small Routines, Big Impact: Building Agency from Week One

PYP Board, School year 25-26, Magellan International School, Austin.

During the first weeks of school, I like to work on small activities and routines that not only help create a positive classroom atmosphere but also foster student agency.

Classroom Jobs

We start with something simple: classroom jobs. Students are assigned specific roles that rotate throughout the school year. There’s nothing new about having jobs; what matters is how we do it.

This year, I took inspiration from James Myklebust-Hampshire’s post, A simple activity to build skills and community.

The first step is to create the list of jobs based on student suggestions, without providing a pre-made list. This way, creative ideas emerge — like The Historian, a student who records the funniest class anecdotes in a journal.

Students also discuss which Learner Profile attributes are needed for each job.

Instead of assigning roles randomly, I asked them to complete a job application, explaining why they were the best candidates for their preferred roles.

As James emphasizes, it’s essential to set clear expectations, stay consistent with the routine, and ensure that every student understands their responsibilities, while also receiving feedback on their performance.

PYP Board and Lines of inquiry wall

There are two more activities that I love to introduce early in the school year: the PYP Board and the Lines of Inquiry Wall.

Here’s a link to a previous post where I explain both in detail.

Class Schedule

Another great idea is co-creating the class schedule. Sure, we could buy a ready-made one, but letting students design it always results in something creative, personal, and memorable — and it helps them internalize the schedule naturally.

Classroom tags and labels

Finally, let students decorate and organize the classroom. It’s their space, not ours. Every label and tag in my class was created by the students themselves. This builds a deep sense of belonging and shared responsibility.

Agency and belonging

All these small routines awaken agency, creativity, and ownership. When students feel the classroom is truly theirs, they take care of it.

To manage all these labels and projects, I keep a task list posted on one of our classroom boards. I write down what’s needed (for example, a tag for the scissor box), and students can sign up for a task when they finish early. They can also add their own ideas; the latest one was creating a “pencil cemetery”, which is now fully operational.

I always finish this phase of the year with a favorite quote by César Bona:

“If you give a child the opportunity to participate and even the responsibility to propose, they will plant a tree, lay a tile… They will be the first to respect it and the first to inspire others to do the same. And that will last for years.”

(Bona, La nueva educación, 2015, p. 88)