1 / 23

What’s Right with Your Child? Orienting Ourselves to Kids’ Strengths

What’s Right with Your Child? Orienting Ourselves to Kids’ Strengths. Ali Zidel Meyers, MSW. Relax; it’s not that kind of talk. Welcome. Why strengths? Excerpt from The Short Bus My work Parents and educators A couple of caveats No silver bullets

elvin
Download Presentation

What’s Right with Your Child? Orienting Ourselves to Kids’ Strengths

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. What’s Right with Your Child?Orienting Ourselves to Kids’ Strengths Ali Zidel Meyers, MSW

  2. Relax; it’s not that kind of talk.

  3. Welcome • Why strengths? • Excerpt from The Short Bus • My work • Parents and educators • A couple of caveats • No silver bullets • Help yourself: an a la carte presentation

  4. 7 Questions(There will be a quiz!) Questions I will ask you to answer at the end (no need to write these down): • Define “strengths” or describe the strengths-based approach. • Why does it matter? What implications does strengths-based research hold for our kids’ learning? • Describe some conventional norms or habits regarding kids’ strengths and weaknesses in learning? • Does a strengths-based approach deny weaknesses? • How can we recognize and nurture our children's natural talents, gifts, and abilities? • Name some resources can we tap into for strengths-based teaching and parenting. • What is your homework assignment this week?

  5. Where is our focus? • The Strong/Weak Standard • What did you notice? • Which came more readily?

  6. What do you mean by “strength”? By refining our dominant talents with skill and knowledge, we create strength. *Investing in Strengths, Clifton & Harter, 2003

  7. What is the strengths-based approach? • A strengths-based approach shifts the focus from deficits to abilities, problems to possibilities/potential • Assumptions: • People have individual strengths that enable them to cope, progress, grow, succeed. • We’re more strongly motivated to move toward things we want, than to move toward things we don’t want (self-determination).

  8. Background, Research • Gallup Organization’s research on human performance • Over 30 years • Over 2 million people (globally) • The question: Could it be that the greatest gains in human development are based on investment in what people do best naturally?

  9. Surprise! • Hypothesis confirmed: individuals gain more when they build on talents than when they work to improve areas of weakness. • Data revealed two flawed assumptions about people: 1) Each person can learn to be competent at almost anything. 2) The greatest room for growth is in a person’s areas of weakness.

  10. Why it matters • In education studies, strengths-based training for student groups showed: • Reduced tardy and absentee rates • Increased self-confidence • Improved “state hope”/goal-directed thinking • Higher GPAs

  11. Why it matters • Data call into question whether devoting the majority of our energy to deficit remediation is effective. • The most successful teachers, managers, employees, and students match talents to tasks and focus on strength development. • The more a strength is exercised, the stronger and more integrated it becomes (like using a muscle).

  12. Our culture: what we see • The School Picture Makeover • How we may be oriented regarding kids’ strengths and weaknesses • Progress Reports, Standardized test reports—where the eyes go…where they linger • Deficiencies vs. Strengths/capacities • Comparing Kids (peers, siblings…). • We have our concerns. That’s normal. But they can cloud our view.

  13. What about weakness? • Does a strengths-based approach ignore weakness? • It is necessary to ameliorate behavior or patterns that produce counter-productive outcomes. • Educational standards exist for a reason.

  14. Dealing with Tough Subject Areas • My child hates math and loves writing. • My child loves writing but hates math. Strength Leveragability Problem-solving Organization Visualization Imagination Creativity Logic

  15. Dealing with weaknesses • Develop a habit of mind where the default pattern is attention to strengths! (self, child, others) • Help your child identify and leverage strengths, to tackle difficulties. • Leveraging Strengths

  16. Shifting the Focus • Hone the focus--toward developing strengths, building on talents--while acknowledging, understanding, and managing weaknesses. • What’s wrong with my child what’s RIGHT with my child? • Context, balance, perspective

  17. Orienting ourselves to strengths • Wear your Talent Antenna • Strengths Log: Tracing Your Talents

  18. Recognizing strengths • Reflect on child’s intelligences, talents, & strengths • Provide opportunities to explore & amplify strengths (online inventories, books, thought, discussion, activities) • Pursue opportunities to immerse your child in strength-building activities • Robbie the rock collector

  19. Orienting ourselves to strengths • Role modeling: Do you self-criticize more than you celebrate your strengths? • Watch out for Felt Fishy moments • Reframe/re-orient your conversations (with self or others) to shift the focus toward strengths and abilities. Your homework assignment for this week: What’s right with your child?

  20. Additional Resources • Multiple Intelligences • Chock full o’ nuts handout • Your ideas?

  21. 7 Questions(Time for a quiz!) • Define “strengths” or describe the strengths-based approach. • Why does it matter? What implications does strengths-based research hold for our kids’ learning? • Describe some conventional norms or habits regarding kids’ strengths and weaknesses in learning? • Does a strengths-based approach deny weaknesses? • How can we recognize and nurture our children's natural talents, gifts, and abilities? • Name some resources can we tap into for strengths-based teaching and parenting. • What is your homework assignment this week?

  22. Four Seasons, Four Sons

  23. Questions? Ali Zidel Meyers, MSW

More Related