All About Assets!

Teaching with an Asset Perspective

Recently my PLN (Professional Learning Network) has discussed this 'strengths based approach' to learning and leading and I feel this is a great time to offer my 2 cents!

I have used this phrase as part of my signature line in my email for years now. Rarely has a fellow professional commented on it, or asked about what that means. Perhaps there is a full understanding, however as an E.L.L. teacher, advocate, and parent of three adoptive E.L.L. children, I would like to share an excerpt from my dissertation to share what this ‘asset thinking’ means to me.

An innovative practice that is described by Moll et al. (2005, as cited by Haneda, 2006) is to “challenge the deficit view concerning the cultural resources of working class language minority households and their children’s academic competent, they argued for active incorporation of households’ funds of knowledge [1] into the curriculum” (p. 342).

There is a need for teachers and administrators to think out of the box in terms of the culture they create that will either invite or deter parents to join. Some of the out of the box thinking needs to occur as we develop our courses to prepare future teachers of English language learners.

As a guest lecturer for pre-service teachers preparing to enter the work force, there was a gaping hole of knowledge and understanding of what it would entail to teach ELL’s in a content classroom. This issue must be addressed. Menken and Antunez (2001), speak to the multiple skills that a teacher entering today’s work force will need to possess:

Clearly, the demands placed upon teachers of English language learners are great. Not only must these teachers possess the deep subject-matter knowledge required in order for ELLs to meet grade-level content standards, but they must also possess the pedagogy to enable these students to access the knowledge and skills contained in the standards, and they must have thorough understanding of their student’s language acquisition processes. (p. 6)

For most immigrant parents and children, the school is their first institutional contact in the United States. Within schools, youth become exposed to the native culture for the first time, interact with immigrant and native children of their same ethnicity, and form beliefs about what society and persons outside of their family expect from them. Those beliefs and expectations are communicated to immigrant parents and become a part of parents’ acculturation experiences as well. Parents had positive impressions of their children’s schools when teachers had high expectations for their children, called to discuss a child’s progress, and had access to interpreters. (Perreria, et. al. 2006, p. 1397)

Suarez-Orozco, Pementel and Martin (1995) point out strengths of Hispanic immigrants – they do not always notice racism and discrimination but instead view opportunities. They can relate their new experiences to their old way of life and view the opportunity of free public education and the ability to live one’s dream. Second and third generation Hispanics, who do not have the ‘old country’ to compare to – are not as outwardly optimistic.

Treating all students equally does not provide equal access to education. Latino children bring with them a multitude of experiences that are different from the experiences of mainstream Anglo children. Thus, we cannot expect that the same instructional treatment is going to produce the same results in culturally and linguistically different groups.

(González, Huerta-Macías & Tinajero, 1998, p.234)

Who are these learners and what sets them apart from the majority of the population? English language learners face a cultural, social and linguistic challenge when entering into mainstream public education in the U.S. Their needs and challenges are multiple, and the language factor alone sets them aside from the majority monolingual population.

The classroom can offer a world of opportunity or a world of disorientation for students who are not provided support and encouragement to continue in the growth of their native culture/language as well as their second culture/language. Strategies for teaching language arts as well as content areas are plentiful however strategies alone will not met the linguistic demands of these learners. “A reductive approach to analyzing the nature of L2 (second language) learning leads to the impression that teaching ELL’s is not simply a matter of using ‘good teaching’ strategies developed for native English speakers,” (Harper & deJong, 2004, p. 155). While most Hispanic families entrust the education of their children into the hands of the teacher, there certainly exists a covert or even overt prejudice to the presence of ELL’s in the classroom. This will indeed hinder the advancement of these students’ success. Leadership is responsible for tearing down these walls of prejudice and bias and creating culturally responsive educators. Providing professional development for culturally relevant and differentiated instruction will not only benefit ELL students but all students. However, this needs to be imbedded into the culture of the school. It cannot be addressed and viewed as a onetime presentation of new information or as a trendy concept. Culturally responsive practices are a way of thinking, teaching, and being that ties into ‘asset thinking.’ It is a way to bring social justice within the walls of the educational institution.

Full References can be found with Dissertation publication – available as a free download through the OhioLINK ETD Center.

Delahunty, G. (2011). Untold Stories: Perspectives of Principals and Hispanic Parents of English Language Learners

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[1] Funds of knowledge refer to historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individually functioning and well being (Moll; et al. 1992, p. 133).