BCS language and literature teacher, Selma Muzaferija, conducted a philosophical questioning with the students of Pofalići Elementary School in Sarajevo. After watching the stimulus, a short film about preparing and studying for a school test, the students formulated five philosophical questions. The final question they discussed was: Is it worth stressing about schoolwork?
The session was extremely interesting, because the students liked the new form of work. A classroom without desks, with chairs arranged in a circle, a blackboard written with encouraging questions – everything was unusual and challenging for them. the lesson started with the game Actor in the mirror, which causes laughter and relaxation among the children.
After the warm-up game, group behavior rules were established.
Stimuls was a short film about preparing and studying for the college test. From the stimulus, the students extracted great ideas and the main philosophical question: Is it worth stressing about schoolwork? The authors of the voted question start the dialogue by explaining why this question was the most relevant and interesting for them to discuss. During questioning, they gave many examples from personal experience, or from people close to them. They criticized their own behavior and acquired habits and realized during the conversation that many times they were in a situation where they were under stress due to accumulated school obligations. They honestly said they have no time management skills. One student gave a solution: it is not worth being stressed about school duties, because stress can be prevented by careful planning, e.g. we create a checklist and review our obligations every week. Most students would like to not have a grading system, because grades are often the reason for additional stress from parents’ reaction to success in school, but they are not sure how much they would work regularly, because grades are still a good motivation to work.
During the survey, the students also pointed out that they often feel anxious because of their parents’ expectations and that they don’t like school in those moments. They pointed out that the support of their peers is important to them, and that no one makes fun of them because of their grades. Some students said that they often miss classes because of this. Such feelings cause insecurity in them.
We concluded that students would like to have classes of this type more often. They like that they could talk about things that concern them in a relaxed atmosphere, and that someone is happy to listen to their opinion.
It is also important to point out that the students, who are normally more reserved in class and rarely speak, showed a completely different face during the questioning.
As the icing on the cake, at the end of the session, one student said: “Teacher, I’ve been going to this class since the first one, but I didn’t know until today that my friends and I have so much in common.” I thought that I was the only one who was afraid of school and that I was always scared and insecure because of that, but actually we all feel the same. Now, somehow, it’s easier for me. Thank you.”