Strength-Based Thinking in Remote/Hybrid Environments (Failing Forward is What Matters)

Google Doc version (to print or share): Strength-Based Thinking in Remote/Hybrid Environments

Objective: To leverage strength-based thinking in remote/hybrid learning environments to affirm and celebrate the diverse experiences and perspectives in your community of learners.

The estimated activity time is 45 – 60 minutes.

Watch: Strength-Based Thinking in a Remote/Hybrid Environment

Stop and Think

(Key: T – Teachers; SL – School Leaders; DL – District Leaders)

Use the Reflection Questions below to guide your thinking as you design opportunities to challenge deficit thinking in your learning environment:

  • What assumptions have you made about the sources of your learners’ struggles and motivations? (T, SL, DL)
  • Are there any current school practices or traditions that reinforce these assumptions? (T, SL, DL)
  • How do you currently engage families and community members in your remote/hybrid learning environment? What ideas do you have for increasing meaningful engagement? (T, SL)
  • What opportunities are there for community members to share their strengths with schools and learners in your remote/hybrid learning environment? (T, SL, DL)
  • What role do students play in setting their own goals for remote/hybrid learning? (T, SL)
  • How can a culture of high expectations challenge deficit thinking? (T, SL, DL)

“Teachers’ expectations impact student success more than a student’s own motivation.”

— National Center for Education Statistics

Brainstorm and Design

High expectations alone are not enough to impact achievement. It is the combination of high expectations and intermediate goals, along with strength-based thinking paradigms, that will have the greatest impact on student learning and achievement.

Consider how you could use the goal-setting strategies below to promote strength-based thinking and maximize student achievement in your classroom.

  1. Communicate learning goals clearly, before instruction. Goal-setting is more likely to be effective in learning environments where students understand what they are learning and how they can show they have been successful. Offer opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding in multiple ways.
  2. Break larger goals down into intermediate goals. Students should understand the specific steps needed to reach a challenging goal. Intermediate goals reinforce motivation because progress toward intermediate goals shows students that they can be successful and encourages feelings of self-efficacy.
  3. Focus on process-based mastery goals over outcome-based performance goals. Performance goals imply two outcomes: success or failure. All students can achieve skill-based goals at their level. Mastery goals emphasize the process of learning, self-improvement, and the acquisition of new skills. 
  4. Use self-assessment, self-reflection, and peer feedback regularly. These strategies increase students’ self-efficacy and achievement. Efficacious students choose more difficult goals and show greater commitment to their goals. They are more resilient in the face of setback and failure, increasing their effort to achieve the goal.
  5. Use carefully targeted feedback. Feedback is one of the most powerful tools we have to improve learning. High-quality feedback is instructive, specific, not overwhelming, timely, and nurtured in a supportive, collaborative environment.

Collaborate

Complete the activity above as a grade-level team, co-teaching partnership, department, etc., and reflect on how your relationships and connections as a partnership or team affect the spread of deficit narratives (you can use some, or all, of the Reflection Questions above to guide your discussion). 

Explore a learning dashboard as a tool to support goal-setting and student self-assessment. Like a car dashboard, a learning dashboard offers students and teachers an up-to-date snapshot of progress. The sample dashboard below lists skills from 3rd-grade curricular standards and allows the teacher or student to designate if a student is “Just Learning,” “Practicing,” or at the “I Got This!” stage with cells that are conditionally formatted.

Try it! Select one of the learning dashboard templates below. Next to a standard, under one of the columns, type in an x and hit the enter/return key. Notice how the box turns the column color!

Imagine a student looking at his or her dashboard and having this visual to support their goal-setting, self-assessment, and progress. Even if the teacher is the one entering the data, the dashboard should be shared with students so they can play a role in identifying and working toward intermediate goals. Reinforce the power of “failing forward!” Use setbacks as learning opportunities by using the learning dashboard as a tool to frame meaningful conversations with your learners.

The first step to implementation is to identify the standards/objectives for the content area(s) being tracked and complete the template for your class, grade level, or department. Then, create a copy for each student. You may choose to include intermediate goals based on each learner’s individual needs. Or, use the “practicing column” as an intermediate goal toward which students can work at first.