What societal problem or problems have you identified while researching your topic?
- With teachers having to find new ways to get all of their curriculum taught, they take time away from social emotional development of children. Students are getting less and less time each day to really get time to learn about things other than what is being taught at school. Teachers feel the need to spend all of their time focusing on academic skills such as reading and math due to increased focus on high-stakes testing.
What are the causes of this problem? Was it intentional? Are there extenuating circumstances?
- This was not intentional. Teachers are being forced to spend more time on the curriculum and less time on their students individually. Schools get more benefits if they have higher test scores, so while children are learning new things everyday, they are also losing time where they could be focusing on the more emotional aspect of childhood. This can lead to different problems like bullies/victims. When students don't feel that they have a nurturing classroom environment, they won't feel comfortable there and that will lead to problems in the future.
What can we do about it? Is there any action that can be taken to change this? What action has been already attempted to address this problem? Why wasn't it successful?
- Making each child feel as important as the next is one of the most important things a teacher can do. By pairing students together in different groups each time, teachers are allowing social interaction that can help lead to friendship and confidence boosts in some children. Teachers are doing these kinds of things all the time but with new students coming and going all the time, as well as having a new class each year, it's tough to be the one that does something about this problem knowing that you won't have to deal with that class again. I believe that if teachers make an effort to connect their class by doing group work and activities, students will start to understand that everyone is equal and they're worth being friends with.
In what ways is this thesis and topic challenging (p.108)?
- This is a challenging topic because educators want the best for their students and school and would do anything to help with that, but because of that, they are stuck between sticking to the needed curriculum only or allowing time for students to interact with one another and focus on their social emotional development.
How is this thesis and topic compelling (p.108)?
- This is a compelling thesis because students are the future. If we don't give them time to 'find themselves' we are lessening their chances of having a fun and successful childhood and young adulthood.
In what ways is this thesis and topic debatable or controversial (p. 109)?
- This thesis is debatable because while teachers have the problem, the students get the outcome, but the state is the one causing everything. So the first debate would be who has to make the change, the teacher or the state? The second part that could be debated is if teachers do change and decide to give students time each day, would they get in trouble?