Blog Post #4

As a secondary ed major, I have spent time thinking about how schools build students for future success. Unfortunately, more often than not, schools will focus on what students lack rather than what they bring to the classroom. Shannon Renkly and Katherine Bertolini’s article, Shifting the Paradigm from Deficit Oriented Schools to Asset Based Models, highlights why this mindset needs to change. They argue that schools must emphasize strengths, resilience, and growth. As they note, “positive development emphasizes strengths over weaknesses, resilience over risk, and assets over deficits” (Rose, 2006, p.236).

    

 

    This view resonates with me, especially as I work towards becoming a teacher. As a young student, teachers would often focus on what I lack rather than what I was strong with, building me up to be insecure about my weaknesses and have no confidence with my strengths. Teachers should instead be encouraging students in what they are strong in, and being more helpful with skills that students have not yet developed to their fullest extent. Research cited in the article shows that students with more identified assets are more likely to thrive and less likely to engage in risky behavior. That means every supportive and encouraging teacher (or parent) interaction matters.

Another thing that stands out to me is the emphasis on middle school as a turning point. Data shows that the number of assets students report decreases sharply during these years. This is also the time when students either “launch toward achievement” or risk slipping into cycles of failure (Balfanz, 2009, p.13). As future teachers, we need to emphasize creating classrooms where students’ strengths are recognized and celebrated, not overlooked.