Commute, prep time for class, staying up to date with changes in my field, balancing family time with work time, sharing resources on campus like printers and computers.
Michael, It sounds like you are dealing with stress from many sources. You are not alone. Everything you mentioned in your list is very common for people who work in education. You might consider reaching out and talking to one of your colleagues about your stress when things get tough. At a guess, they are experiencing the same kinds of challenges as you.
Dr. Melissa Read
It is sometimes stressful to the employee when the adequate materials are not provided to complete a task in a timely manner nor are your requests being met by administration.
Most of my stressors are a direct result of my own personal standards. I spend extra time on theoretical and practical examples and have backup materials for students who want to spend extra time on subjects. Therefor I have been neglecting my own personal life objectives ( movies, concerts, dinners, etc.. ). By not having the balance I would like I am putting stress on myself to find the balance. My "to do" list needs to include looking after my own rewards.
When working in the clinic we have found inferior technical equiptment and inadequate supplies have induced abnormal amounts of stress into the work environment.
Stress is an everyday thing i would say with any working human being. One main stress factor with me would be teaching the driving part of the course. Anything can happen when a student gets behind an 18 wheeler with no expierence. Then everything else just follows as deadlines etc....
Stressors. Communting, eldercare, teen care, farm care, husband care, house care, animal care school supplies, equipment needs, demand of the students and the administration, friends? who has time for that? Sometimes it is just enough time to get through a weekend to do just enough before starting another week. I must love what I do.
My causes of stress are endless. It seems to me that life these days are just made that way. Life is anything but simple and easy. I had mentioned family. That includes elder care. Traffic, administration, and classroom specifications, student's needs, grading, tutoring, keeping up moral, and parenting to the students. There are so many stressors. Sometimes they are a good challenge and sometimes they do wear me down. I will do more to take care of myself. I will breathe, strech, exercise, and talk. I have enjoyed your course.
My two biggest stressors by far are poor communication and excessive noise. It's ironic that with all of the ways we can now readily communicate with anyone anywhere any time, that people have so much trouble doing so. And there is so much unnecessary
noise (blowers, barking dogs, thumping car music) pretty much everywhere so much of the time, it makes it hard to think clearly and make good judgments. And the brain's and body's response is not healthy!
Stressors affect me most are the conflicts with my classmates and my program director, the lack of supplies in laboratories dealing with different students every day, lack of time for Autopreparation, commute, and the fact that my economy depends on the desicion of a person, like to put in the schedule or not.
Balancing work and personal life can be challenging. I make a list of tasks with deadlines and check it often. If anything goes wrong with my schedule my stress level goes up.
Work standards and personal unmet goals are my sources of stress.
Hello Dr. Melissa
The major areas of stressors for me are the interrelation with the students, and the conflict in the work area, I can deal with everything else perfectly, but when there is conflict in the work area and problems with the program director, all wrong, I think that most of the categories are well identified and studied.
Maikel Garcia
Major stressors in my life consist of student needs, college expectations, and personal stressors includes financial, and and health. I think that the work stressors tend to happen for logistically. If I can't help the student succeed, then that student will be unable to achieve their goals or if I cannot help that particular student obtain employment or become employable, then i feel that I did not work hard enough as their instructor to do so.
Corliss, It sounds like you don't have much of a margin for error. That's tough. Some instructors built a buffer into their schedules to deal with these kinds of challenges. For others, time limitations make this not possible.
Dr. Melissa Read
Regina, I understand where you are coming from and have personally been in this position in the past. However, I should note that we can't own full responsibility for our students and their success. A portion of that responsibility is theirs.
Dr. Melissa Read
Some stress factors are weather, traffic, unsure students, lack of supplies, incomplete instructions, passing the buck, lack of books, and broken computers.
my stress comes alot from the people I work with. People do not always do as they say and then projects are affected by things not getting done in the correct time frame
personal relationships, money or lack thereof, running late
Stress is only caused when you allow it in. I am a firm believer in we teach people how to treat us.
There are other stresses that come to us without our permission. Those stresses are to be dealt with systematically.
