Is spark time worth your time? Student’s have many opinions on the way the school does things. Many have questioned whether spark time is worth it or not. The real question is, Is spark time necessary?
Spark time is a time where we take 30-40 minutes to listen to and read presentations about mental health. The purpose of spark time is to better understand mental health as a whole being. We watch the presentations to inform ourselves about mental & physical health, But do we really learn anything from spark time?
I interviewed a few students and a teacher to ask their opinions on spark time. When I asked what they’re opinions on spark time were, I got a few responses but the most memorable one would be from someone who wishes to be anonymous. When I asked them what they thought about spark time their response was, “A-lot of teachers don’t even follow spark time. They just turn it into reading for the class.” Another response I got from Jordyn Waterman was, “It’s useless and it takes time out of our day”. Additionally I interviewed Mrs. Jesse and asked the same question, what are your opinions on spark time? Her response to this question was, “While I do think spark time is a good idea, I feel very unqualified to go over some of the topics because they are very serious, and I felt that a professional mental health instructor should be the one to conduct spark time.”
When you see the interviews it really goes to show how most teachers don’t take spark time seriously. They show us these presentations and expect us to take the presentations seriously when they don’t even pay much attention to them. Spark time should be a time where kids can learn but also want to pay attention to it. Spark time should allow kids to get the information they need and understand that information. If we go back to the response I got from Mrs. Jesse, she mentioned that she felt unqualified to teach kids about some of the heavier topics. Doesn’t that make you wonder how many teachers feel unqualified to teach about mental health. She also mentioned that she feels that a professional should be teaching kids about mental health rather than teachers who may not know little to none about the topics they cover. This really shows that teachers usually aren’t even qualified to teach about mental health. This leads to the question, do teachers even take spark time seriously, Let alone schools? Most teachers don’t even show the presentations and when they do they speed through them so we can get to class work. What’s the point in showing the presentations if they are just gonna barely go through the slides?
I asked a few people if they thought that teachers take spark time seriously. One response I got from Kayla Mckeiver was, “Some teachers take it seriously, some don’t. The teachers that do take it seriously take mental health seriously and usually know what it feels like to go through it.” I got multiple responses all saying that some teachers do and others don’t. I also asked Mrs. Holguin whether she thought her fellow teachers take spark time seriously. Her answer was, “They don’t take spark time seriously.”
To conclude this article, spark time should be something teachers take very seriously. Mental health is a serious topic and should be dealt with in a safe but serious matter and place. Spark time isn’t taken seriously by most teachers and students. Why should they let teachers teach such a heavy topic?
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