School issue topics can range from social issues in the school, such as teen pregnancy, to required classroom practices. These types of topics are generally easier to research as the information is available to the public on most school district websites, as well as personal experience in the school setting of the master's candidate. Issues of a political nature may want to be avoided as it is often difficult to separate personal bias from the topic. Hot button topics can, however, be addressed if done so from all viewpoints with corresponding research for each view.When using school issues, make sure that there is sufficient research opportunity to address the topic competently.
Pedagogy, or teaching methods, is another area to look at when searching for a thesis topic. Building a thesis from research-based practices that can be tried and tested by the teacher in a classroom adds both personal experience as well as accepted research to the topic. Another way to include pedagogy is to locate subject-specific practices or end-of-course expected mastered skills and include those in the research as a subsection of the thesis topic. While teaching methods is a broad topic, narrowing it down to one or two specific methods will better focus the research and writing.
Subject-specific topics can include, but are not limited to, the pedagogy of the subject. Reading topics can be broken down into smaller topics such as comprehension, retention and application. Math topics include applying math concepts in the real world, hands-on tools to help students succeed in math, and many smaller topics. Cross-content topics are also worth pursuing. For example, a social science teacher who focuses the topic on "Students struggle with reading historical accounts" creates a cross content thesis while staying within the subject of expertise. The candidate is then able to use the subject that he is familiar with and create a research topic with it that allows for him to perform the required research with the research subjects (students) available.