Remembering Our Students' Dignity: Developing Asset Orientations Through Participation in Freirian Culture Circles

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Catholic Education: From Policy to Practice (Table 4)

Abstract

With “learning loss” and other perceptions of student deficits receiving attention in COVID-era schooling, this study examines how Catholic school teachers can develop an asset orientation toward their students. Specifically, the study explores how teachers can practice critical, collaborative self-reflection through their participation in Freirian culture circles—spaces where teachers dialogue about problems of practice, examine their intersections with equity, and propose new pedagogical approaches. Findings indicate that culture circles afford teachers opportunities to model asset-oriented language, to locate factors underlying everyday classroom challenges, and to design student-centered, responsive teaching strategies. However, the persistence of deficit language in culture circles, coupled with rare discussions around race and its mediation of teaching, point to key areas for improvement in those spaces.

Author

• John L. Beltramo, Santa Clara University