Too Much Focus on Students' Weaknesses?

Are teachers focusing too much on struggling students' weaknesses instead of their strengths? That's what Yvette Jackson, chief executive officer of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, said in a recent meeting at ASCD headquarters. Her presentation on reversing underachievement in urban schools stressed focusing on students' strengths because "your focus is reality."

She warned against the assumption that underachievers have no strengths and the dangers of using labels (minority, disadvantaged, etc.) to support these assumptions. In order to close the achievement gap, educators shouldn't look at the lack of potential, but rather should have a fearless belief that all students have potential and teach according to that mind-set. 

Do you find yourself focusing on students' strengths or weaknesses? Or both?

Hear Jackson talk about the power of educators to nurture potential in students.

Comments

[Meghan]

I agree many teachers do focus on student's weaknesses and along with doing this lower his/her expectations of the child. I think it would take a paradigm shift for educators to think of a student and his/her strengths before the weaknesses. I do see value in identifying weaknesses of each student in my classroom in order to allow them to receive all possible interventions. However, I strongly feel students who have deficits/weaknesses are to be held to the same standards as the "average" child. All students can achieve using the same standards if systems are in place to provide interventions when needed.

[jill]

What a great topic!! This is one important thing teachers should remember before they share information. We always tell the students "If you can't say anything nice..."
Our referral forms for intervention have two sides; strenghths and weaknesses. I find it very difficult to come up with strenghts in each area, but relivtively easy to define the students weaknesses. Interesting?! I do try to always start and end parent teacher conferences on a positive note. Then again, I really have to think about the positives.

[Paul B.]

As a classroom teacher, I talk to my 8th grade students about this very issue. I strive to balance a celebration/investigation of what they're good at, in addition to charting improvement (hopefully) of their weaknesses.
Can you imagine being a student who doesn't get math, but because of testing pressure, gets herded into a remedial classroom semester after semester, with administrative hopes of curing his or her weakness? Ridiculous!

[Anne]

This topic really struck a chord with me because I feel that I am guilty of focusing on students' weaknesses. As an English teacher, I have a never-ending stack of essays to grade. In order to grade in a timely manner, I've gotten to the point where I can scan an essay for errors rather quickly. Therein lies the problem. I am scanning for errors, which shifts my attention away from all of the truly positive things that are happening in that particular essay. This is, in a sense, a metaphor for what tends to happen in the classroom. We are working so hard to improve student achievement that we are always "scanning for errors". I need to remind myself from time to time that positive feedback and noting the strengths of students can lead to greater achievement than constantly pointing out weaknesses.

[Marji Burke]

As a fourth grade teacher, I watch and listen carefully to my students, all day, every day. As I see it, my main responsibility is to be on the lookout for what each student "does well"...what they already know and how they work/learn best. I ask kids if they even knew they had these strenghts. Some kids do, and I show them how they might build on what they're already doing well. Other kids never considered their strenghts and are surprised when I share my observations with them. To me, it's all about making the child aware of himself as a learner, and tapping into the social aspects of learning. By the way... I have been seeking a contract postion for five years...I've had countless LTS positions. I'm ready to leave teaching because of the politics of the "system." I have met many amazing chldren, parents and teachers in my five years, but even in the best districts, teachers resist change. There are that small number who will make your life miserable if you do what the administration asks of you. They are quiet. They pretend to do what's being asked, but don't. Here's the real kicker...if they are cozy with administration, they'll tell leaders that you just don't "fit in." I am 52 years old and still dream of my own classroom, but the insecurity and resistance to change are killing me. It only takes one nasty individual who has the ear of the administrator to take a teacher down. Every staff knows who that person or persons are. It has nothing to do with how kind you are, how cooperative you are, how happy the kids and parents are, how effective you are. People who are insecure and resist change don't like to be around confident, happy to be here people. It's all about protecting their turf...the kids are secondary. I can't believe how naive I've been. I thought I was entering a service profession.

[James E. Mac Shane]

The most important aspect of successful teaching comes from the ability to accept each student were they are at. This is the essence of Whole Child and the science of brain based education. The teacher's search is for the student to be conscious of what they know and how they; can build upon that base.

In response to Marji's problem awareness Dr. Glasser's, Quality Schools, present an understanding that can help. All humans are in need of power, love, fun and freedom. The problem is power. Understanding power is the needed perspective in this problem. The need is to have, understand and develop the power of yourself. Those individuals who do not feel they have power over themselves try to compensate by getting power over others.

The understanding of this for teachers who are searching for bettering the system can overcome Inquisitions that come from various levels.

[Kathryn]

Once upon a time, I thought I would have to give up teaching. I was hired to teach fifth grade on a Native American reservation. I'd looked forward to the position, but soon found that nothing was going right. It seemed that nothing I tried made any difference -- the students didn't seem to learn and they just didn't seem to have any clue about behavior. I figured it was me and that I was a lousy teacher. I bravely talked it over with the principal. She told me something that has guided my career ever since: "You are so focused on what is wrong you cannot see what is right. You have look for what the children are doing that is right."

I took her advice and it changed my life. It changed the way I talk in the classroom. I no longer use language that divides us into "them" and "us." I've changed the way I grade student work. I no longer mark the wrong answers, but only the right answers although I give feedback on both. Praise suddenly came easier and it was much more specifically phrased; students have to hear what it is they did right in order to replicate it. These are just some of the things that changed. This paradigm shift has changed my perspective on teaching and on everything in my life.

As I look back on almost 30 years in education, it seems to me that many of the problems we struggle to understand seemed based in this traditional focus on the negative. We complain that students cannot think critically, but, too often, we do not have classrooms where it is acceptable to speak one's mind or risk being wrong. We shake our heads over secondary and college students who will not discuss issues, but fail to consider that they've been trained early on that there is only one right answer -- they surely do not want to be the poor slob who gets something wrong in front of everyone, would you?

I am now teaching at the college level, training prospective teachers in classroom management and literacy instruction. Looking for the good, and structuring the classroom so that students, too, can see what is good is one of my main messages.

Only a fool would deny that there are serious issues in education and in the world. We still have to work to right those wrongs and make the world a better place. Looking for the good in our students and our lives will make that effort far more pleasant and productive.