The commute, meeting tutoring needs of students, limited preparation time which extends into personal life, interfering with family time.
My main cause of stress is balancing home and work and the time required for both.
My stressors, including being the sole breadwinner in my family, a long and traffic-laden commute, doubts about the efficacy of my teaching, not being able to feel confident enough to overcome the difficulties of teaching the same thing on the same day of each term, and contracting the same very debilitating inflammatory disease twice in six months contributed to my being hospitalized with suicidal depression. I am now back from a leave of absence and am extremely glad to be taking this Max Knowledge section.
Logistical factors include teaching a split shift, so that I can homeschool my daughter. Student needs are also a factor because they are our customers.
i try to ingnore the stressful situations that goes on around me. I don't want anyone else stressing me out.
My biggest source of stress is a very ill mother that lives with me and I take care of her. Leaves you helpless when there is not a lot you can do. As far as everything else, I take it in stride. It is not brain surgery, or life and death. So even in traffic, I sing and just go with the flow. With work, it will get done.
I feel we all have to deal with stess in our everyday life. Wheather it is work, meetings, grade deadlines or our personnel life. I have learned to balance the stress as it occurs rather than let it fester inside of me till I eventually blow. This has taken me a long time to learn but it has worked for me.
Patricia I would have to agree with you also on that one. I had just began a new teaching job and upon entering, there were other instructors who did not welcome me with open arms. I had to deal with sitting in on their classes and experiencing the feedback from their students. Very stressful. I was to the point that I did not really want to work there anymore. It wasn't so to say the students, but they were acting that way because of how their instructors were treating me. It was indeed horrible, I do know that it was because I was the new kid on the block. STRESSFULL INDEED!
Patricia, This is quite a common cause of stress, especially for instructors. Sometimes it really does feel like there's not enough time in the day. Ultimately, when we have too much on our plates, we've got to give some tasks back and delegate others. If nothing more, we've got to set expectations that everything is not going to get done at once.
Dr. Melissa Read
Work
Children
Children's activities
Volunteer activities
Family Health issues
My biggest cause of stress is separating my work life from my personnel life. It seems that my personnel life suffers because there isn't enough hours in the day to complete my work. With the class load and continuing education classes and college courses and studying there is little personnel and down time for me. I have tried to cut the cord and spend time with my family knowing that the work will always be there and when I do I can feel my stress levels disappear.
College requirements: too little paid preparation time results in using a lot of my "personal" time at home for preparation and grading essays.
Student needs: late assignments that end up being turned in at Midterm/Final eval time
Logistical factors: Administrative syllabus that does not allow enough time to cover all material as well I as I would like to.
Linda, This seems like the right approach. Cutting the chord every now and again can have it's benefits. Others who you work with can learn to share in your responsibilities for example. As they become more proficient and capable at helping you complete tasks, your work life becomes easier.
Dr. Melissa Read
One factor that causes stress for me is miscommunication regarding course equipment or trainers that need service. If taken by surprise, can seriously impact your ability to meet learning objectives and deems an Instructor "unprepared'
My stess is caused by a daughter who show no respect for me and my husband and balancing my work at the same time. I take it day by day not knowing if this is the day my daughter will erupt.
I have found that after two years the work gets easier since I perfected the program. It is just a matter of added material that I feel will benefit the students.
Sean, So true! Sometimes our success is dependent on others. When this is the case, increased communication is often the key. We've got to let people who we work with know what we need and when we need it. Otherwise, we can be judged poorly when they drop the ball.
Dr. Melissa Read
I have a lot of stressors. The biggest organizational factor is a messy house that I never have time to clean, which drives me crazy. When it comes to student needs, I have a lot of students and they all seem to want to reschedule their exams, or turn in work late for full credit, or have me rearrange my life to suit them, which is incredibly frustrating. With college requirements, the amount of busy work required is massive, and I feel I never have time to get it all done.
Linda, So true. If we invest a little energy early in our careers, it usually pays off for us. We can get into a great routine after instructing for a few years. Though note that for new instructors, reaching out to people who have been teaching longer than you can give you an extra advantage.
Dr. Melissa Read
Miranda, Sounds like you are balancing a lot. It might be a good idea to try some task delegation to see if that helps. If there is someone else in your home who could help you clean for example, you might reach out and see if you can elicit help.
Dr. Melissa Read
