Leading with Light

Recently, it was commented to me that I wear rose-colored glasses, and it was not inherently intended as a compliment. It got me wondering about how at some point, wearing rose-colored glasses got a bad rap. 

Once a symbol of optimism and idealism, the phrase has been rebranded as a critique - an implication that one is naïve, unrealistic, or willfully ignorant of harsh realities. To see the world through rose-colored glasses, we’re told, is to overlook problems in favor of a falsely pleasant illusion. But what if we’ve got it all wrong? What if rose-colored glasses don’t have to mean ignoring reality? What if they simply allow us to see possibility alongside the problems - to see both what is and what could be?

In education today, we’ve grown fixated on deficits. We talk about learning loss, learning gaps, and below-level. It’s a language rooted in deficits, on what’s missing, broken, and needs fixing. Somewhere along the line, we swapped our rose-colored glasses for a magnifying glass fixated on weaknesses. Allison Posey (2019) notes how “Negative emotions can taint perception, motivation, and subsequent learning. Students as young as kindergarten arrive to school with self-identified perceptions of their skills. 'I’m the only one who needed help with my words; I stink at reading.' By middle or high school, students have had years of experience being successful – or unsuccessful – in different subjects 'I’m always in the lowest math group,' or 'I read two grades below average,' or 'I love history, but I have never been good at writing so I can't major in it in college'” (p. 77).

But what if we started with what’s right with our students? Maybe now more than ever, what students need is not starting with scrutiny of their weaknesses, but helping them to believe in the vision of their strengths.

As educator Martin (2021) puts it, “People are more confident, passionate, and motivated to do better work when you focus on what’s right with them instead of what’s wrong with them. Creating a learning community that empowers learners to develop the skills and talents to manage themselves and build on their assets, rather than dwell on their deficits, maximize their motivation, contribution, and impact” (p.30).

Rose-colored glasses don’t ignore reality. They highlight possibility. As school leaders and educators, don your rose-colored glasses to see the assets our learners bring with them into your classrooms and schools and use your power of influence to promote and create opportunities for them to explore and develop their strengths and interests. 

So, how can we promote and create opportunities for students to explore and develop their strengths and interests? Sometimes, the clearest answers come from watching where students naturally lean in.

Recently, our math, science, and technology teachers partnered with the activity committee to host a Family S.T.E.M. Night. Students and their families dove into hands-on math and engineering challenges – from solving puzzles to breaking records in the penny challenge. I watched students who sometimes shut down in class approach these tasks with grit and excitement. They failed, tried again, and came back to beat their own scores. They helped younger siblings, collaborated, and celebrated small wins. That drive already exists in them. We just have to notice it.

The same thing happened during our first student karaoke night. Students who were nervous at first got up on stage, and by the end of the night, were performing like pros: loud, fearless, and proud. It was more than just fun; it was students pushing past fear, showing confidence, and supporting one another in unexpected ways.

These moments of curiosity, creativity, and courage are windows into what lights them up. What if we used those insights not as exceptions, but as starting points? What if we framed our classroom practices around the same energy, perseverance, and joy we see in those extracurricular moments? That’s the power of asset framing — seeing students not for what they lack, but for the potential they already show us, if we’re willing to look.

My goal is to keep looking for those sparks and finding ways to bring that same energy into classrooms.