Get Your Students Hired
Christopher, Student attitudes can be tough. Even a single difficult student can really drag and instructor down for a semester. Sometimes, it helps to speak to students outside of class and learn more about what might be motivating their attitudes and approach.
Dr. Melissa Read
Enrique, Your schedule sounds tough. You might consider walking outside for a few breaks if the weather is nice. A little outdoor time can go a long way.
Dr. Melissa Read
Jennifer, It sounds like your stress is pretty balanced between work and personal life. That's normal for most instructors.
Dr. Melissa Read
Everyone has challenges or will at some point so learning how to manage is key! The module gives good advice about identifying and eliminating stressors.
Working day and night classes. I find myself walking around the building at work to release the stress.
Many of my stressors are personal in regards to my children, my commute and when large tasks are put on me by administrators on top of my teaching load.
Some general areas of stress are the amount of discussion board posts that are required to respond to each week in an online classroom; providing meaningful responses there, plus giving students effective written feedback on their papers can be really stressful.
Some of the stressors I have identified in my career are:
Inadequate technology needed to teach my students what they are required to learn to be network admin.
Inadequate staff to meet the needs of all the students in the program.
The program I teach changes daily and keeping up with the latest and greatest requires time outside of teaching to learn. This can be time comsuming.
Jenni, Books on tape are wonderful. For those who have a train or even walking in the city commute, they are great too!
Dr. Melissa Read
I completely agree with books on tape being a great coping mechanism or de stressor.
I used to listen to Eckart Tolle, The Power of Now in the car and go back to certain chapters worth repeating.
Having worked in the field as an automotive tech for 30 years before becoming an instructor in the same discipline, I find stress in this job to be nearly non-existent. There are nearly constant issues with IT keeping all of our student computers and diagnostic computers operating properly, and I do sometimes feel like politics take precedent over the needs of the students. If I get one or two "aha moments" in day they pretty much wipe out any frustration I might feel.
Your car can be a place to relieve stress. Like listening to music or a book you enjoy or praying, or listening to religious music by making your car environment pleasant
I believe you must first identify the causes of stress before you can eliminate them . It is always not that easy
Sometimes there is a single student who brings out my stress either because they constantly challenge me or they are so unparticipatory. Again, the choice is mine as to how I respond. When my personal life is balanced, I tend to be better in the classroom too.
I have taught stress management in the past and I think it is important to determine which stress pieces are within our control to change and which are not because often it is only our REACTION to the stressor that we have control over. In these cases, learning good and healthy coping mechanisms is best....go for a walk, play with the dog, listen to books on tape (for a long commute). have a cup of tea, or if in our control, prioritize the irritant and make the change happen.
Combining roles at work is most stressful to me, Sometimes chasing down students for homework, time sheets from clinical can be stressful at times. I have developed a means of working around this by delegating tasks to others in order to relieve my stress.
Susan, You are indeed not alone. It's great to hear that you found a way to take something negative, like a long commute, and turn it into something so positive. Sometimes we have to take that alone time where we can get it.
Dr. Melissa Read