Shifting the Paradigm Blog

 Hello, everybody! This week's reading was super light but also very thought-provoking. The whole point is that students need to be taught with an asset model approach, focusing on students' strengths and emphasizing what they're good at; the goal is to build students up. This is in comparison to the deficit model, a model most schools in the US currently practice. The deficit model focused more on what issues students have with learning and how to fix them. The asset model isn't to say that deficit training shouldn't be incorporated at all, but to say it shouldn't be the main focus. Now, although I wish this piece were more detailed in the sense that the writer gave specific examples on how to perform this, not just broad, repetitive examples. I felt like I kept being told, "We can do this by..." and the following would be a rephrased way of saying we should focus on achievements, but not expressing how. It would've been helpful to be given examples of the deficit model to see what specifically we can change in classrooms. That being said, I do very much agree with the point being made, and this reading helped me make a connection to a theory I learned about earlier in college. The labeling theory is a perfect example of why we cannot put a spotlight on what is "wrong" or "bad" behavior by children. In this theory, it is expressed how the more you tell a kid they are deviant, the more the rest of the world and the child themselves will permanently believe it. When a negative trait about a child is drilled into their heads, it is likely that they will internalize this behavior. This can lead to secondary deviance, when a person acts out more deviant roles in order to confirm the label and fulfill that role. On the contrary, the more you tell someone, or even yourself, affirming thoughts, the more likely we are to believe those, too. I believe this from personal experience, as lately I have been practicing affirmations and reminding myself I am exactly who I think I am, not who others tell me I am. This applies to children, especially due to how much they are at a young age. 

Here is a short 5-minute video explaining the labeling theory if anyone wants to get more familiar! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHSvZZ1pnm0 😁