Step 5: Celebrating and Building on Student Strengths

In inclusive classrooms, instructors highlight how their students are already demonstrating skills, whether academic or social. All students carry strengths into the classroom, but too often instructors focus on what students are lacking rather than what they bring. When instructors hear or see a student demonstrating strong analytical skills, publicly verbalizing what that student is doing can demystify complex thinking and positively reinforce key skills. Brett Flehinger explains how he highlights students’ assets: “Almost all the time when I’m teaching well, I’m trying to help them build on what they have, and also by labeling it, saying, ‘Look. This is how you just did that. This is what you’re good at. Build from there.’”

Profiled: Brett Flehinger, Lecturer on History, teaches "American Populisms: From Thomas Jefferson to the Tea Party + Trump" to 38 students at Harvard College.

Takeaway Tips

Remember that students’ strengths can take many different forms. In addition to highlighting their academic skills, look for positive work habits, social skills, or metacognitive skills that you can point out to students. 

Be mindful of which students you praise for their skills. Try to distribute your praise equitably by highlighting strengths for students who may not view themselves as particularly strong in your course.  

Related Resources

This perspective from Inside Higher Ed argues that it’s particularly important to highlight the strengths of students from marginalized groups in post-secondary classrooms and offers suggestions for asset framing. 

An article in Mind/Shift describes “complex instruction,” a pedagogical strategy that works to create more equitable and productive math classrooms. In complex instruction, teachers “assign competence” when they see students utilizing productive critical thinking skills in an attempt to reinforce that skill and disrupt pre-existing status hierarchies.

Reflection Questions

Think about a particular student who struggled in your class, or a student with whom you struggled to connect. Looking back, what assets (academic and/or social) do you see that student brought? 

When teaching, do you highlight student strengths in a public way? Do you do this for all students, even those who struggle? How might you expand this practice in your teaching? 

By highlighting students’ assets, you can create an environment where students are able to improve their learning by building on their skills and also learning from their peers. In the next video, we’ll learn another technique that helps students see the assets and knowledge that their classmates bring each day.

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