Do you think this is a weak thesis statement: “The subject of this paper is my experience with teaching elementary school children”? If yes why is it weak? How could you improve it? If no, what qualities do you think it has that make it adequate?

Yes absolutely this is a weak thesis statement. You should not start your thesis off by saying “The subject of this paper is….,” you want to give your readers a purpose to keep reading; you want to keep them eager and entertained. In my last COM class we were taught that your thesis should be forceful, confidence, specificity, and it should be able to be argued. We are writing a research paper and not everything that you find and include in your paper everyone is going to agree with. So the ability to be argued is a good thing for your research. Even though the paper is their experience with elementary teaching they want to also include others experience as well to make the paper interesting for their readers or audience.