My stress comes from trying to have it all; the career and family. I have a 7 year and a set of 3 year old twins. My home life can be quite demanding.
My stress comes from lack of control/organization. Constantly feeling like I am forgetting something. Feeling like I cannot manage my group. It's very frustrating and stressful.
It stresses me when students have all the resources they need to succeed and not use them but instead complain.
I have noticed that in some large companies, the managers and assistant managers get juggled around to different sections of the company after about a year or two and then they have to learn how those sections work. I can speak from experience that it causes a lot of stress to the workers of those sections to have a new boss every time that happens. It is extremely hard to get any long-term goals accomplished.
I agree with this. It's also stressful when teachers on your team are inconsistent with enforcing classroom expectations.
I think a lot of my stress stems from high expectations that I have of myself, my co-workers, my students and my family members. I try to minimize these stressful feelings by letting go of what I cannot control (serenity prayer said a lot). I try to remember that the standards at my school are good things that I can rely on, not stress over. And I have a wonderful supportive husband(best friend)that understands my crazy schedule and time I have to spend preparing for classes. We make time with each other at least once a week-even if it is a frozen pizza dinner at 9pm on a Thursday evening.
Dewanzer, That's a tough challenge. The best resources can be used to benefit students but also misused as you mention. It's important to focus our students on being as productive as possible with the resources they have, but sometimes that's just not possible.
Dr. Melissa Read
LaTerria, Wow, sounds like home life is a challenge indeed. Just trying to manage your family probably keeps you with your hands full. For your 7 year old, you might start teaching him or her how to chip in. You can start small but every little bit helps, teaches them responsibility too!
Dr. Melissa Read
Some stressors for me are organization, I need to take some time each week to clean and organize my area.I am not very good at it but I know that it needs to happen. Another area that stresses me out are students that don't put the effort in to learn the material, I'll ask them how much time they put in outside of class to learn the material, they often say none. I tell them that I can only cover the information in class but if you are not understanging it then ask for additional help during my office hours or take time to read additional information on the subject.
The people that you work with on a daily basis are a major area of stress. The rules as an instructor that you are asked to uphold are sometimes petty/insignificant and only cause stress between the instructor and student resulting in a poor experience.
My stressor come from what I call- Life happens. I explain to my adult students that their education is an job just like my teaching. Issues at home and with family will happen, it is how will accept and deal with them determine our stress level.
My life is perfect...almost! Except people I work with, not because they are mean, but because they do not communicate inclusively. If I am to teach new instruments or a new concept, a better, more inclusive dialogue is needed to calibrated and to present a unified approach to the students. Also this could lead to an objective and healthy group discussion instead of a political one.
college requirement would be the big stress for me. Working a fulltime job and teaching at night leaves me little time to complete some of the courses(like this one)that we are required to complete
I find that work life balance is huge. I feel that there are times at work we're expected to be superhuman and there just isn't enough time or enough of me to get everything done to the level of quality I would prefer.
student issues
extra activities and club responsibilities
adequate prep time
family demands
coordinating schedules with my childrens sports etc and a long disjointed teaching schedule 10am-8pm at night
One stressor for me is that I am a current student myself. Keeping on track in my "work" classroom and personal classroom can be a challenge.
One of the largest stress factors that I have stems from students not living up to class expectations. They seem to think everything should just be handed to them instead of earned. It has helped to eleminate stress by setting the class rules and not varying from them.
Most of my work related stress is the extra paperwork that is needed to be done when a student in failing or having to retake tests. Making sure all the proper paperwork is turned in is time consuming and it always seems like I dont have the proper form needed.
Susan, Great thinking. Being clear about rules and expectations can take us far. Setting our own expectations about our students can also help. While we've got to remain optimistic about their motivation and performance, we've also got to understand that they will not all bring the same level of determination to each day.
Dr. Melissa Read
Cynthia, Wow, sounds like you wear many hats. For some of us, switching between various roles can be time consuming. Each time we switch, we've got to ramp up on the new task and that can take extra focus.
Dr. Melissa Read
Gerald, I completely understand. It sounds like you have a full schedule. Being your best in your multiple roles is likely at the forefront of your objectives. Extra requirements don't likely make it easy.
Dr. Melissa Read
