The authors Shannon Renkly and Katherine Bertolini argue that it is crucial for schools to use an asset based model as opposed to a deficit oriented one. This is because it is important to see and acknowledge all of the strengths students already bring to the table and help them to "remove their fear of failure by encouraging them to fail forward, set small and attainable goals, and celebrate successes" rather than "fixing students' weaknesses or risky behaviors." When schools adopt this asset based model, students, their families, and educators will be better able to collaborate and achieve more.
Three Talking Points:
Beginning:
-"Schools often focus solely on risky behaviors exhibited by students, causing the school to act reactively rather than proactively. Student learning and growth must be the top priority of a school, and this can only be done by deliberately identifying and building up student assets" (page 23).
-"In our world, it is common practice for people to focus their attention on what is broken and how to fix it. This causes people to work in a system utilizing a deficit model" (page 23).
These quotes made me think of how our brains are hardwired to want to fix things and problem solve. When we don't first look at the strengths and assets people bring to the table, we are already trying to "fix" or problem solve deficits and that is detrimental.
Middle:
-"A deficit model is one that focuses on what students cannot do. If a student is underachieving, those that work from a deficit model believe that failure is because that student is not trying hard enough" (page 24).
-"On the other hand, an asset model, or abundance model, focuses on what a student can do: their strengths, skills, talents, interests, and competencies" (page 24).
-"We can make powerful changes when we break through the pervasive influence of the deficit paradigm and recognize the untapped strengths of students and teachers" (page 24).
These quotes resonated with me and made me think about how powerful it can be to break the habit of deficit paradigm and recognize and honor student and teacher strengths.
End:
-"According to Scales (1999), when schools shed their deficit model, it becomes easier for the community to become involved" (page 25).
-"When the focus shifts to assets, community members can easily work together to build up and nurture positive attributes in youth" (page 25).
-"Having high expectations of your students, convincing them that these expectations are attainable, helping them remove their fear of failure by encouraging them to fail forward, setting small and attainable goals, and celebrating successes when those goals are met before moving forward further" (page 26).
This last quote really resonated with me because if students know that they can meet high expectations and they know where the bar is set, helping them achieve their goals and celebrating their wins will contribute to positive growth.
Reflections and Connections:
In reflection after reading Shifting the Paradigm from Deficit Oriented Schools to Asset Based Models; Why Leaders Need to Promote an Asset Orientation in Our Schools by Shannon Renkly and Katherine Bertolini, it made me reflect as an educator on times where we as educators may feel stressed or like we are not doing enough to meet all the diverse needs of our students, the mindset can tend to shift to "what are we doing wrong?, or what are we not getting right?" Although it is important to reflect on what is going well and what is challenging, our brains can tend to think more about how to "fix" what is not going well or to always want to problem-solve. If educators start by looking at all the positives and all of the knowledge and background our students bring to class each day, and praise them for achieving attainable goals, then we can only get stronger.
This reading also made me think of some further research I did around this topic and found this YouTube video that really breaks down how to reframe deficit thinking to asset-based.
Reframing Deficit Thinking: Possibilities for Asset-Based Course Instruction
Hi Madison, I was very intrigued with your middle section where you talked about not only the shift to student strengths but also teacher strengths. I think that by being in other teachers classrooms and learning from their strengths is something that does not happen enough. We all have busy days in classrooms and there is not nearly enough support to allow teachers to regularly watch each other, but the concept sounds amazing in theory. I think if we were able to watch a different colleague once a month and break down their teaching assets, we could all become better educators. There are things that I'm sure my colleagues do that I would never think to incorporate into a lesson. Unless I saw the teacher move in action it would be hard for me to advance my practice. I also believe that using teacher assets would create a better overall school environment for educators. Which as a result would positively impact students as well.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out that even teachers naturally fall into “what are we doing wrong” thinking. That feels realistic because schools are often built around fixing problems. Your reflection shows how the asset model shifts the focus to recognizing what students already bring to the classroom instead of immediately trying to correct them. It really changes how we interpret student behavior and motivation.
ReplyDeleteHey Madison, I totally agree that many educators have a pitfall of wanting to problem solve and fix the things they notice that are "going wrong" with their students. I wonder if educators are inclined to think this way because of being immersed in the education system that they have chosen to work for or because our brains are naturally wired to think in this way? I love the graphic you chose because the language surrounding deficit and asset based thinking is so oppositional and these specific classroom examples really highlight the positivity that asset based language can have. I totally agree that students are much more motivated when the learning is connected to their community around them and have been incorporating ways to relate their learning to their personal lives when it isn't always included in the curriculum.
ReplyDeleteHi Madison. I really related to your reflection on educators defaulting to fix it mode, especially when we are frustrated and stressed. I agree that it requires a balance between fixing and focusing on the positives. This is applicable in the classroom and our everyday lives. So maybe practicing this in all aspects of our lives would help us to retrain our minds.
ReplyDeleteI love the TESOL connections you made at the end -- translanguaging is such a powerful way to see students' assets ("communicates in multiple languages) rather than just thinking about their deficits ("can't speak English")
ReplyDeleteHi Madison! I love the chart your provided at the end. This is such a good way to change our language and I will be referring to it in the future. I'm not sure who it was but someone in their blog post talked about how students internalize they way that we act. If they see our language change, their attitudes towards school and themselves will change.
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