I chose to write a personal reflection on the article 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. While reading this article, I made lots of personal connections!
Link to the article: Shifting the Paradigm
Reflection by Hannah Kennedy - FNED546
This article was a great read as a student who is in school to be a teacher, specifically an elementary
school teacher. It is important as a future teacher to understand the difference between deficit-oriented and asset-based models in schools. I currently work in an elementary school as a building-based substitute teacher, and there are definitely times when I notice teachers highlighting failures and what is going wrong in their classrooms with their students, which aligns with the deficit-oriented model. When I notice teachers doing this, I also notice that students look defeated which evidently makes them struggle more, which makes sense after I read this article. I am so glad I had to read this article, because I learned so much about the benefits of asset-based models in schools, why they should be implemented, and how to implement them.
I also made a personal connection to this article, which allowed me to understand why asset-based models in schools are so important on a deeper level. As a student, especially when I was younger, I have always responded well when teachers focused on the things I did well and emphasized my strengths. When I felt like teachers focused on everything I was doing wrong rather than everything I was doing right, it really discouraged me and caused me to not try as hard. I definitely thrived when teachers created a positive and safe environment for me where I felt like I was smart. I also noticed this as a teacher, specifically in kindergarten. When I am working with the kindergartens, they are usually practicing their letters as they are just learning all the different letters and how to write them. I sit with them and I help them trace their letters and then write them on their own. Sometimes I forget that they're still learning, and they have never had to write letters before. Whenever I focus on the fact that they wrote a letter wrong, they always immediately get discouraged and do not want to do it anymore. They then stop trying and get super upset. When I realize this, I always focus on the positive. I try to remind them how hard they are working and how smart they are, and whenever they do a letter correctly I get extremely excited. I noticed that when I am positive and focus on their strengths, they are more encouraged to keep trying and want to do it correctly. They also feel so proud of themselves, which is such an amazing thing to see. This proves to me that asset-based models are so important in schools, especially for younger kids. Instilling this positive environment when kids are young can change the whole course of their academic career and feelings towards school.
Do you think there are any positives to deficit-oriented based models?
I definitely have the same praise when reading this article. As students attempting to become teachers, we all should try to focus on what the students of our class can do rather than what can't do.
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