teaching is stressful, not only are you dealing with the job aspect but you have everyone's emotions and their moods for the day. I enjoy reading a good novel in the evening to distress in the evening.
What i find very stressful is the commute during rush hour with the possibility of getting to class late and shortchanging the students.
David, Oh no! That sounds stressful indeed. Many of us in the US have experienced extreme weather this winter. Whether we are stuck in our homes, classrooms or on the road, it can be an uncomfortable experience for all. One thing I might recommend is to change things up in these situations and adjust your expectations for what you can accomplish. Sometimes accepting the realities of a temporary, yet difficult, teaching environment can give us peace of mind and help us not be too hard on ourselves.
Dr. Melissa Read
Stress is present in our lives regardless. Try a teenager on for size. I believe it is identifying the stress source and addressing it. Since this sounds do easy, it isn't especially when it revolves around several areas such as family, work and money. How we deal with it is an individual mechanism. For me it is exercise. When I get stressed, exercise helps me cope and it gives me mental alone time so that I can think. Thinking through the sources of stress helps me to figure out how important is really is as some stress you can't eliminate but only mitigate.
My stressors are managing me time.
Teaching
Tutoring
Teaching
Tutoring....etc.
and somewhere in between administrative work - grading, etc.
My worst stressors is myself - not being able to say no, which causes be naturally stress.
I need to have others comply to my schedules and needs vs. myself complying with others all the time.
I am my worst enemy. And...this is probably the best course thus far I have taken that will really help in so many ways and benefit others too,
Stress is caused by the perspective of the persons' experience. The outlook you have created in your mind for the experience you are involved in dictates the strees you put yourself through.
A balance in understanding what the problem is and how to solve this would be a great releif and hopefully contribute to less stressful living.
When I first started formal teaching in a career college 13 years ago it was very stressful. As a nurse I had done a great deal of informal teaching (every day in fact) but this was different. Standing up in front of 20 plus students was a bit scary at first but I soon fell in love with it and became better and better as my confidence grew. Early on I had a colleague that use to tell me frequently that if I wanted success for my students more than they did, then they were not going to be successful. I wanted everyone to succeed.
Over the years I have learned how to deal with difficult students, lazy students, angry students, and perfectionists. I have learned to keep the responsibility for success with each student and enforce the rules kindly but strictly and fairly with every student.
It is amazing how a subtle change happens in the class when someone misses an exam or a deadline for an assignment and loses points or gets a zero and yet I still treat them like a valued class member. I agree with the class all the time that the course work is difficult but essential to be successful. I share with them that I went back to school when I was a divorced mother raising 5 children and working. It was doable because I wanted it but I'm glad those days are over. My children are grown now and have blessed me with grandchildren.
Not enough time to get everything done. Mandate from management to not have overtime. Continually working on feeling comfortable with the material that I am teaching, without having previous teaching experience. I think most of these are logistical/organizational factors.
I agree with you and then you have the 10% that want it all giving to them and make everything up at the end.
I have found that having a lot of responsibility in your personal life and professional life/workplace can be very stressful. We typically will bite off more than we can chew. You must have balance. Take something off your plate. Hire or solicit help around the house. Get organize is the key most times.
I have had many jobs that have been relly stressful. I also have had family problems at the same time. I have tried to do different things to take away my stress or reduce it.
Often times the greatest source of stress is wanting to do my job with excellence and when I don't meet my expectations, it stresses me out. When I do get stressed about this I take a step back and recognize that I will make mistakes and that from these mistakes I will improve my overall performance.
As with a lot of people I imagine I cause a lot of my own stress. I tend to react to others comments to quickly without thinking about what they said and why they said it. This is particularly true when it comes from management. At my age I'm still trying to please everyone. My personal life really doesn't bring me much stress so the majority is at work. I can quickly eliminate a lot of it by making a list and realizing how unimportant some of the things I was stressed about really are to me. I was very enlightened by this segment.
I have experienced many stressors in my nursing career, but I wasn't prepared on how to "handle" a different kind of stress. The stressors of teaching can be challenging, like commute time, deadlines, prep-time, time for students (ie; tutoring, going over tests, student questions) Then go home and have a life! I guess it is a matter of time! I'm learning to make what time I do have as organized as possible to relieve some of the stress. Every little bit counts!
I agree stress is caused by one's perspective on the situation. I will often speak what I want the situation to be instead of what it is. Speaking positively will change the perspective and a s a result reduce stress.
Vickie, That's a great approach. It's nice to focus on what could be instead of what is. Focusing on what is is often quite unproductive and disappointing too.
Dr. Melissa Read
There are several areas in my life that causes stress. They extend from administrative demands such as teaching 7 classes per quarter with very little or no time for lunch. Having to enter our own attendance now via the faculty portal; either during class, or shortly thereafter, and the list goes on... Dealing with student's personal problems, as well as classroom discipline problems. Dealing with personal matters such as: paying extremely high electric bills during the winter when the weather is much colder than the norm; major car repairs, and other unexpected car repairs, as well as unexpected medical expenses which have not been calculated into my budget. This is why I visit the gym and walk on a regular basis, helps to relieve the stress so that I can get a good night sleep.
Dear Dr. Read,
One of the major stressors is the continuous need of AIU to have the instructors do clerical functions for the sake of keeping us busy. These tasks are so that management can inform another set of managers that teaching is occurring and the student's needs are being meet.
I am not sure how all the mandatory training helps the student learn. I do these tasks to keep my job and thus a pay check. I have seen no difference in the abilities of the students nor their learning.
The instructors are continuously being evaluated with constantly changing criteria. After a decade of contact employment, one would think that the instructor's know what they are doing.
Dumping in this discussion board, lowers my stress :) Sadly though it will not change anything since training creates jobs for others.
Walter
As a career college instructor I think one of the things that can cause stress is keeping the students motivated. Sometimes it feels like the same students are interacting & participating while others continually sit on the sidelines. By continuously changing the teaching material & method of teaching, I think it helps keep all types of learners involved & participating.
I used to work a full time day job and was an adjunct two nights a week for 6 years. Then I went full time a year ago and have been feeling way more stressed than working two jobs. I've tried to identify why this is more stressful. When the campus started requiring faculty to teach six classes instead of 5 classes, that added stress. When it was announced that we were going from ten week sessions to five week sessions, that added stress. My continued success with students winning professional awards adds stress for me to keep up that standard.
