Nicole Fraser Prospectus: Exploring Big Questions June 16, 2011
Through my experiences teaching 5th grade over the last six years I have noticed how friendships affect the dynamics of my classroom. To a 5th grader, an argument with a friend can feel like the end of the world. Over the course of the school year many friendships follow a roller coaster pattern. Socializing and your position in the social hierarchy become a top priority in a 5th grader’s life. These observations have led me to choose to focus this curriculum unit on the philosophy of friendship.
I have chosen friendship as an overall theme because my students can relate to the topic. They have all built friendships and had varying experiences with friends. I think tackling a topic that my students can relate to will create more meaningful thought and discussion. Within my classroom will be students who have lived in the area since they were born, and ones who have moved once, as well numerous times over the course of their lives. Having the different perspectives on friendship and how it has affected them will add to our discussion and thought.
I plan to use literary work as jumping points into the different activities my curriculum unit will contain. I am not sure of the exact length of the unit but it will develop ideas that I can apply in the classroom with any book/story we read, as well as during class meetings or student/teacher conferences when friendship issues arise.
The literature I will use will target specific aspects of friendship that I think are most apparent in the age of 5th graders. The following are my initial ideas, but I’m sure as I begin researching and reading I may add different ideas and take some of these out.
1. Characteristics of a Friend: What makes someone a good friend? Is it right to ever stop being friends with someone?
2. Responsibility: What are your responsibilities in maintaining a friendship? Whose best interest are you responsible for, your own or your friend’s?
3. Exclusion: Do you have to be friends with everyone? What if your friend is friends with someone you don’t like? Do you follow others out of fear of exclusion?
4. Communication: How much should you tell your friends? Is honesty always best?
I also think that through this idea of friendship comes the idea of reason. How much of our decision making is rational versus irrational when in conflict with a friend? Or when we are fighting for a friend? I would also like to explore the idea of emotions and how they affect our friendships. I think this applies especially to my 5th graders as they are just beginning to venture into the stage of puberty where it seems hormones reign and emotions go wild.
In preparation for writing this curriculum unit I hope to read differing perspectives on friendship from philosophers from the past and today. Any suggestions you have on what to read this summer will be greatly appreciated! I believe that building a foundation of the views on friendship will allow me to foster deeper conversations, and push my students further in their critical thinking.
As I begin to think about creating this curriculum unit there is an area of concern. Throughout my years of teaching I have noticed that my students say one thing and do another. We can have a serious discussion as a class about how to treat people, everyone will agree and shortly after a student will do what we he/she just agreed should not be done. One reason for this could be that he/she didn’t actually agree, in which case I hope to find ways for my students to be honest and to think of all the “what if..” scenarios. I think in my past conversations with my students I have over generalized situations and have not pushed them to think through the “what ifs”. The other reason I can think of a student not applying what he/she agreed to is a lack of self discipline. The student may not agree with his/her action, but does not know how to stop the action. I’m sure there are many more reasons why my students do not always follow through with their statements, but through this curriculum unit I hope to challenge my students thinking. I do not want them to give the answer they think I’m looking for. I hope to build a different classroom climate this school year, that centers on philosophical thought. Through this curriculum unit I hope that I will find strategies that can apply throughout the school day which encourage my students to be independent thinkers, and to think outside of the box.
It seems that no one teaches us how to be a friend, but we learn how to develop and maintain friendships through trial and error. How often do people stop to think about the purpose of friendship and its over all goal? Through this unit I hope that my students will learn to think more deeply about their everyday interactions with friends.