Argument Statement: Renkley and Bertolini in “Shifting the Paradigm from Deficit Oriented Schools to Asset Based Models: Why Leaders Need to Promote an Asset Orientation in our Schools”, argue that students should structure their classrooms around student assets. By shifting our perspective from student deficit to student asset, educators are better equipped to support all learners. Instead of constant redirection or reprimanding classrooms work to support the strengths of all students. Rather than being reactive, educators are proactive.
Talking Points:
First and foremost I want to add that I think in order to create an asset based teaching environment, you truly need to know your students. Not only the assets that they have, but who they are as an individual. What do they do for fun? What are their hobbies? What interests them both in and out of school? What adjectives describe who they are as a person? By getting to know your students helps to identify assets and use that as a tool to better impact instruction.
Something I found truly interesting that was stated in the article was the following,“… teachers’ expectations impact student success more than a student’s own motivation”(Renkley pg. 26). My first question to this was how does a teacher's perspective have that much of an impact on a student’s motivation? But then I dawned on how our education system is structured. From a young age, students are asked to answer questions and are rewarded when they answer correctly. Whether that be on an examination or in whole class discussions. The structure normally goes as follows; the teacher asks a question, students think about the question, students raise their hand if they know, a teacher calls on them, they get it right or wrong, if correct the teacher might say “yes, that is correct”, when wrong they may say “not quite” or “you are so close, someone help them out”. The flow may not be identical to this, but it feels somewhat similar in many environments. This was the cycle when I was a student for most of my education and I am sure it was similar for many others. From a young age students are taught that what the teacher says to their response is either a motivation driver or killer. If a student is constantly getting answers wrong, they will feel like what is the point? They might think, “I am just going to get it wrong and the teacher probably thinks I am not smart enough to answer the question”. Whether we realize it or not, this is what we are doing when we are teaching. I have definitely fallen into the trap many times, and what is that teaching students? As educators, we need to break the cycle and allow all students to feel like we value their voice and know that they can achieve high expectations. The question becomes how does one do that? I had a really interesting conversation with Claude AI about the shift in strategy. I asked it directly about my classroom environment and I think it is worth a read. The discussion is linked here.
The authors state the following, “When the focus shifts to assets, community members can easily work together to build up and nurture positive attributes in youth” (Renkley, pg. 25). When looking at my school and community involvement, I feel like we are pretty lucky. The members of the community are extremely supportive of what happens within our school and are willing to do a lot for the school. But, I think we can do more and I think it starts in the classroom. The article talks about the 40 assets that Search Institute has identified that all students can identify within. I wondered what exactly they were and did a little research. The assets are broken into 2 subsets, internal and external as the article states, but from there, they are broken into 8 categories. The categories are as follows; Support and Relationships, Empowerment, Boundaries and Expectations, Constructive use of Time, Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies and Positive Identity. Each of these categories has 5 questions that the assessment taker would answer on a scale from 1 to 5. I had Claude create a student friendly print version that I plan to use in my classroom. The pdf can be found here. My push does not stop here, I also think the school could do more family involvement activities after school. This could be some sort of STEM night with families, a family book club, an art night or a game night. I think our families are very involved with our sports teams and theater/band, but I think there are other groups that students fall into where community involvement could be increased. I hope to get some other faculty members on board to make such events possible. This will help highlight the assets of all students both inside and outside of the classroom.
Hi Noah!
ReplyDeleteYour conversation with ClaudeAI and your comments about teacher expectations for students took an angle that I hadn't really considered yet. I find myself saying, "You're so close" all the time in my classroom, and I don't think that I had really considered exactly how that might communicate an expectation because it isn't a "good job" or "not really" kind of response. I do find that sometimes with my students, the best response is to ask them to look carefully at their work and then tell me what they think. Since so many of them have grown up with tablet and phone games, they are used to immediate feedback telling them what went well and what went poorly, so just being told to use their own judgement is unusual for them. I'm guessing that you probably run into a similar problem, compounded by most of the traditional education system. Your BTC curriculum sounds really interesting and like it challenges a lot of traditional educational practices.
It's really good to hear that your school has great community involvement and that you plan on supporting that! I know that as a student, it really mattered to me when people came to events that weren't based on sports because I wasn't sporty. It sounds like you have taken some time to get to know your students well and I'm sure that it shows in how you teach them.
Hey Noah! I love your dedication to this weeks reading! In your first Claude AI link I totally resonated with possibly knowing the answer but missing out on participation points, especially when teachers made note of it, because I was scared of being wrong, and the popsicle sticks were even worse! You're idea and goal to use that asset assessment is genius! I can't remember what grade you teach but it would be fascinating to know if your class data coincides with the data mentioned in the article. In the Upward Bound Program in their Summer Academy, we do workshops to break up the whole "school in summer" thing and I would love to steal this for a workshop for the high school students. Your motivation is further motivating me into speaking with my colleagues into how we can set it up and uplift my students over the summer!
ReplyDeleteHey Noah! I love how you first brought up the fact that as an educator it's really important to get to know your students for they are as people! In an asset based approach like the authors mention, students really benefit from having positive and supportive relationships with adults. This relationship cannot thrive if the adult does not get to know the student more than a basic level because the student has to feel comfortable expressing themselves and confiding in the adult. An easy step to doing this is taking an interest in their hobbies and interest, so I love that you mentioned this! Also, thank you for doing the additional research on the 40 assets, I was curious about this as well and wanted to learn more, I appreciated your resource! Finally, I love how you recognize that community involvement can be more equitable so that students who are not involved in sports and theatre/band are also included. I feel like during my school experience those were the groups that were also always very praised by the school and I feel like some of the academic clubs and arts clubs were not as represented.
ReplyDeleteNoah, I really enjoyed reading this blog. Your note about understanding each student is absolutely true, and I really appreciated your point about that traditional questioning structure. I find myself perpetuating that horrible technique in my classroom, especially when we're reviewing, even though I know it creates this awful dynamic of "right" "wrong" "close" or "someone help them out". I know it diminishes students willingness to stretch, as they're worried about being wrong. That PDF is phenomenal. I am definitely borrowing it, thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Noah. I completely agree with your point about the importance of getting to know our students before attempting to establish an asset-based model in the classroom. Students are far more likely to succeed when we intentionally connect their interests, hobbies, and the things they enjoy—as you mentioned—to their coursework. When learning feels relevant to their lives, students not only comprehend the content more deeply but are also more likely to genuinely enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciated reading your conversation with ClaudeAI, especially the point about broadening what participation looks like. That shift is so necessary. No two students think or work in exactly the same way, and when we force them to fit a narrow mold of what a “good” student should look like, we unintentionally cause them to shrink themselves. Over time, that can limit their confidence and their willingness to engage, simply because their way of learning does not align with what is labeled as “right” or “correct.” We can absolutely do more and when schools start looking at families and the community at large are partners in our students' learning, amazing things can happen.
Hi Noah,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated how clearly you connected Renkley and Bertolini’s argument to classroom practice. Your point that an asset-based environment begins with truly knowing your students resonated with me. While also teaching middle school, I have found that understanding what students enjoy, how they see themselves, and what they feel confident in completely shifts how I plan instruction and respond to them. When we know our students beyond academics, their strengths become much easier to build from.
I also love that you’re thinking beyond the classroom and considering family and community involvement. Highlighting internal and external assets through events like STEM nights or family book clubs feels like a meaningful way to extend asset-based thinking schoolwide. I love how your blog post not only reflects our readying but you’re actively seeking potential solutions! Thank you for the thoughtful reflection Noah!
Hi Noah. I appreciate your reflection on our assignment this week. I am so glad you mentioned the statement “teachers’ expectations impact a student’s success more than a student’s own motivation.” This made me feel immense pressure for educators. You mentioned the importance of getting to know your students. Your AI conversation shows that by getting to know your students, you can involve them in different ways or encourage them build on the skills they have. Take it from someone who hated being called on to read aloud. I am also glad you have community support in school. I do think it is important to get families involved in other activities outside of sports. Your school and community are lucky to have you.
ReplyDeleteNoah, I agree with so many of your points. Specifically the importance of teachers knowing their students. I would take this one step further and say to know them is to know their daily lives outside of the confines of the school. Have they had the chance to enjoy breakfast before school? Do they have clean laundry or access? Do their parent(s) work more than one job or 3rd shift. Are they worried or responsible for younger siblings? These are some of the questions I believe educators should ask themselves. If we can answer questions like these about our students, now we truly begin to know them. Now we can begin to ASK them if they would like or need our help. Now we can assist in resolving challenges they may face in order to request they meet our expectations. Our expectations are often based in ignorance. Ignorance to how our students learn best. Ignorance in the priorities of our students' lives and where education ranks within those priorities. Quite frankly ignorance and or arrogance in our abilities to provide a just and fair education to our students. I appreciate you highlighting and deepening our foundation pertaining to the importance of the asset based model.
ReplyDeleteNoah,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated how you broke down the quote about teacher expectations impacting student success. Your reflection on the classroom question-response cycle was especially powerful. It’s easy to overlook how much authority is embedded in that pattern. When teachers control validation, students begin to equate correctness with worth. That directly connects to Renkly and Bertolini’s argument that leadership and adult belief systems shape outcomes more than we realize.
I also agree with your point that knowing students deeply is foundational to asset-based practice. Asset orientation is not just about being positive. It requires intentional relationship-building and a shift in how we interpret behavior and performance. When you ask what students enjoy or how they see themselves, you are actively disrupting deficit narratives.
What stood out most to me was your focus on moving beyond the classroom and into community engagement. That reflects the authors’ emphasis that asset orientation must be systemic and modeled by leadership. Family nights, STEM events, and broader inclusion opportunities are ways to institutionalize belief in student strengths rather than keeping that belief confined to individual classrooms.
Your post shows that asset thinking is not theoretical. It is structural and actionable.
Excellent points, Noah. You seems to find really astute ways to make these readings real and connected to the personal and professional experience that you bring to the table. Love this.
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