Get Your Students Hired
I feel that I have so many different things to do and since I am a pleaser, I want to do everything correct so everyone is happy. I realize after this course that I am only making myself miserable and creating stress.
3 jobs,an 8 year old son, planning a wedding, working on my PhD. Yes, I am stressed. I think I handle stress well. I do make time for fun and relaxation.
Craig, Sounds like you have a great handle of the diversity of stress sources in your life. That's a great place to start. Looking through this list, it's likely that you can identify some stressors that can be eliminated and reduced. Others likely can only be managed and that's ok too.
Dr. Melissa Read
Family is a huge one and then staff members going back to school, like myself, and then trying to deal with all the students and their needs.
William, Sounds like you have a good handle on both what's stressing you out as well as what's important to focus on. That's a great place to start. I meet a lot of instructors who simply don't know what's really bothering them, and this can be a difficult place.
Dr. Melissa Read
I don't necessarily consider the following major stressors, but they are stressors and are work related. They are related to student needs, college requirements, and organizational factors
1. stress of getting every one of my students through my class with passing grades and an understanding of the the class content
2. stress of making sure all the necessary requirements, documentation, grades, etc... are performed or turnded in as required by the school
3. stress of conflict between fellow instructors, supervisors, directors, etc...
4. stress of being up to date and on time with my school duties and deadlines (which relates to the 1st module of this course)
thanks dr.read for this advise. i pose a similiar question to unmotivated students and you are correct, it does help to get a refocus on the end goal. sometimes the day in and day out tasks and stress associated with learning bury the student and motivation turns into lack of. make the steps to bring the student back to a state (of being). similiar to when they started school and when motivation was at its peak and watch the results. a students can almost be rejuvinated and can be even recharged by this technique.
For me I consider stress to be both Major and Minor. Minor stress are little things that if not accomplished will not cause the world to end. Major stress are going to be things that will have a major and probably negative outcome if not addressed. My basic stressors are as follows: Money, Time, Family, Health, Physical Fitness. Those are home. Here are Work: Compentency requirements, grades, and Parts and budget ordering.
Jim, It sounds like you experience stress due to the dynamics of the teaching environment. It seems that every semester, there is a world of change. We have new textbooks, technology and students to adjust to all the time. Any one of these changes would be tough. In combination, it's a lot to deal with.
Dr. Melissa Read
School Stressors:
-Lack of employee training
-Lack of communication skills by management
-loosely/rarely enforced student and teacher rules or enforced without follow through
Home stressors
-unexpected health issues
-money issues
-balancing husband/child/friends outside of work
school stresses me out much more then Home issues.
We, instructors, have a lot on our plates both at work and outside. However, I learned some useful strategies from this module for example addressing one stress at a time and trying to reduce or eliminate it.
New and constantly changing syllabi.
A change in the publisher of our textbooks from one we all liked to one who is much different from what we are used to.
Preparing for an upcoming ACICS accreditation visit.
New and vastly different course software.
Being "scored" on students who drop the class when they realize the class is real "work" and they actually have to come to class and do the work required.
All of the above are sources of stress although with some 40 years of work and some 60 plus years of life experience I can usually deal very well with them.
I can sometimes become overwhelmed by the needs and behavior of my students to add to that the college requirements like Dept meetings every week, in-service,mandatory teacher workday (perfer to work from home)on-line courses and all of the other things they require the PART-TIME employees to do.
Colleen, So true! It can be tough when schedules aren't predictable and when we don't have enough time to give our courses proper preparation. Sometimes I find a savings when I'm asked to teach the same course, but that does not always happen. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices and work on the fly, which can also be a challenge.
Dr. Melissa Read
The major cause of work stress is related to inconsistant time to prepare for classes. It seems that usually multiple responsibilities all need to be done at once. Even with good planning and time management, things happen all at once. This is very frustrating.
Stephen, So true. With your kind of schedule and responsibilities, I imagine it's impossible to just walk away from everything at the end of the day. Sometimes instructors in your position do well by having a transition period between work and personal worlds. This can happen on a long drive home for example. The idea is you'll use the transition period to cool down from the day instead of turning off work stress like an on/off switch.
Dr. Melissa Read
Major stressors in my career:
- Getting thrown into teaching classes I've never taught and I don't have much experience in (this happens a lot)
- Commute - 1 hour and 15 mins (normally in rush-hour traffic)
- Micromanagement (this is a pet-peeve of mine); I want and need the freedom to do my job and not be constantly graded or watched; I am a good, honest employee who shouldn't have to "check-in" every 5 minutes with my boss.
Well lets see:
Teaching two classes for 12.5 hrs per day with approximately 30 different personalities at a technical school for profit in itself can be a very stressfull enviroment. We than add in all the administrative duties and continuing online education required by management all required to be done during the 60+ hr work week....Not taking it all home is a very diffcult feat indeed....
Organizational-admin not standing up for teachers, not enough technology, difficult coworkers.
Student needs-grading papers, helping with additional classes, creating quizes and tests, checking on missing students.
College requirmenets-none.
Personnal-juggling jobs, kids, home, communing, always worrying about bills.
Working full time and then working 2 days as a clinical instructor is very stressful. I try to focus on my family when I am off and dont do anything connected to work or school . This charges my batteries.