Hacking Deficit Thinking: 8 Reframes That Will Change The Way You Think About Strength-Based Practices and Equity in Schools

Summary

Are you focused on what's wrong with your students? Now you can transform learning by reframing your view from what's wrong to what's strong.

"At risk." "Low." "Title I kids." If you've worked with students, you've probably heard or said these coded labels that reflect deficit thinking. This focus on weakness is a pervasive, powerful judgment that continues to harm students long after they leave school. It's time for educators to hack deficit thinking, think about SEL and about strength-based teaching, and reframe teaching and learning.

Nationally certified school psychologists McClure and Reed show teachers, administrators, and support staff how to unlearn student blame and reframe thinking to focus on students' strengths. When we acknowledge the impact of teaching practices and the broader structural inequities, we can help everyone reach their highest potential.

In Hacking Deficit Thinking, you'll learn how to: build on student strengths; think about student empathy; humanize your data; recognize the value of differences; think about teacher empathy; talk about equity in schools; tap into school-wide strengths; flourish as an educator.