Blog #4

Renkly, Bertolini--Shifting the Paradigm -- Quotes


Through the text I discovered that Asset learning really relies on the teacher getting to know the students, and on a larger scale and a community that is familiar with the student populations. Isolation causes despair and a fear of failure. One change in an educator's perspective can change the performance of a student. Asset learning means setting up an environment where a child’s skill sets can be drawn upon and supported rather than forcing a student to meet an arbitrary expectation. The writers of Shifting the Paradigm lay out some ways to highlight asset building in the classroom "These include having high expectations for your students, convincing them that these expectations are attainable, helping them remove their fear of failure by encouraging them to fail forward, setting small and attainable goals, and celebrating successes when those goals are met before moving forward further." These are the steps to bring asset based learning into a classroom. Renkly and Bertolini believe that children who are instilled with confidence and when they are allowed to fail freely gain more from their educational experience. They go on to site a study from 2013 "According to Albert (2013), personalized instruction in the classroom can build students’ assets even further. This can be done by first identifying each child’s jewels (skills, talents, and interests) and using these to help the student grow from where they are currently academically, socially, and emotionally." This evidence supports asset based learning on a student driven bases. When the students personal jewels show up in an educational environment further down their educational journey they find more fulfillment and build assets.

When reading this article I felt for all the students who have been reprimanded by their mentors and educators, leading to the disillusionment with learning and education. The current education system tears down children who walk to the beat of their own drum and forces them to tow the line of conformity. the only outlet children may have access to could be after school programs with a fee to join, or not within the caregivers schedule this boxes out under privileged learners and isolates them from expansive learning, meaning the school must compensate with the way they approach the "deficit" in education. 

https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2025/educating-ourselves-about-childhood-arts-experiences-and-why-they-matter