For me not being organized is a major part of being stressed. What happens to me is I find myself taking on to many responsibilities and no time to complete my tasks. That includes my tasks at work as well
Job security is a major stressor; co-works and how they deal with the same insecurities are also stressors. I feel that many of my stressors in my work life are administrative (college requirements). Personal stressors relate to financial obligations, some extended family obligations, and personal relationships.
Seth, This is a great list and seems to cover off on a lot. One of your stress sources is job security. Right now, many instructors are listing this as a top stressor. It's a challenging job market. The good news is you are not alone and there are many other people who understand where you are coming from.
Dr. Melissa Read
Donna, It can be really tough when we feel like we don't have control over our schedules, classes and process for getting things done. Sometimes, instructors are just not in a position of authority to make these decision for themselves. However, other times, administrations offer some flexibility. Look for opportunities to participate in committees and task forces within your administration. Your participation may lead to greater control over the decisions that impact you.
Dr. Melissa Read
There are many factors in both my personal life and my professional life that have caused stress for me. Below is a list of some of the factors:
1. Meeting all of the standards at the career college. There are several items that the instructors are required to perform each week and due on various days of the week. This stressor falls under the college requirement category.
2. Encouraging students to do their best. Many students believe that they deserve a good grade even when they do not complete the best work. Students can become upset when they do not receive an A on an assignment. This falls under the student needs category.
3. Balancing teaching, a career and family. This task can become overwhelming, especially when it comes to meeting the needs of my family. This falls under the personal stressors category.
4. Meeting the needs and spending time with my new born, 2 years and my 4 year old. This falls under the personal stressors category.
5. Performing tasks at home, such as cooking and cleaning. This falls under the personal stressors category.
My stress list
1. threatening emails from the dean
2. spying administrators
3. discrimination
4. long and rush hour commute
5. out-dated text books in the school
6. job insecurity
7. late night class schedule
8. students who don't follow rules
9. financial stress
10. family stress
Logistical - School policies/course materials/ classroom equipment
Students - attendance, exams, lecture prep & delivery, and student issues.
College Requirements - Time and attendance, workshop/seminar attendance
Personal - Home, family, and personal goals.
My stressors was based on the lack of teaching tools available to enhance the students learning capabilities.
I prefer power-point slides as my main teaching tool. It provides a visual which most students are more responsive to and it is an organized method of ensuring you have covered your objective for the day. However, all schools do not have supportive teaching tools such as power-point. Therefore, I have to spend additional time researching material by asking other instructors for any templates that they have created when they taught the subject and or create my own.
Maintaining a - productive and consistent pace - so "We" / "I" are continuing to provide a high level of instruction... Simply providing a consistent learning environment is important and sometimes challenging... I expect a lot of myself... I went into teaching because I feel I have the ability to communicate effectively... and it is important to me that I provide a productive learning environment every single week...
Hi Dr. Read,
I would have to say that work is probably my biggest stressor. There are a lot of tasks to be completed in what seems to be a little amount of time...this is stressful! I have decided to prioritize my workload and do more delegating to my staff who are capable of assisting me with these tasks.
My stressors include traffic in the morning (This stress is easily remedied. I just need to leave earlier), a photocopier that breaks down often (thank God we have two copiers at our school), and failing students.
I am an adjunct instructor trying to gain access into the education field as a full time instructor. The advent of having to travel from college to college in order to build a reasonable salary is definitely stressful.
My time is limited because I can have many course and I may find myself having to learn a new textbook and still present the content to the student as though I know the textbook explicitly.
I haven't included my family nor personal life in this scenario but ... so it goes.
Betty Ivory
Adjunct Instructor (Math)
National College
My Stress List:
- students' e-mails
- Administration requiring instructors to respond to all students e-mails
- Two many essay assingments and short grading turn around time
- Family Expectations
- Friends expectations
- My full time teaching environment is stressful
- Juggling Responsibilities as an instructor, mom, grandmom, church pastor etc.
- Lack of support from career school - No mentors or coaches and not sure who to ask for help
I agree. Let go of the things you cannot change and talk with someone you trust about the things you can change. Remember or ask, is it worth stressing over.
Some of the major stressors at work include the wearing of different hats on any given day (I teach but also have a staff position), the lack of respect or caring from some students, the commute to work. Some of the stressors at home come from the responsibility I beleive I have to keep the house neat, make a homemade dinner each night and taking the best possible care of two dogs.
Stressors belong to both career and personal life. Some of the job related for me have been
1 To balance the time between my management duties and my duties as instructor. Sometimes I feel I need to spend some extra time with students but have things to do.
2 Student performance on exams espexcially credentialing 3rd party exams.
3 I notice that a few students in the class cause stress by not appearing in the exam on time, excessive absences etc and then they expect to perform as good as others.
Personal life stressors are more related to juggling with time between career and personal life
Relationships and my desire to maintain them can create stress for me. I don't like saying no to friends and co-workers, so when I take on more, sometimes stress is compounded and it affects my time management.
Once stress affects your health, the cause and effect becomes one big rolling snowball. It was a good reminder to be honest about your stressors. Thank you.
Making sure I have childcare coverage, and not having enough time to grade my paperwork are the biggest stressors I have. Mainly they are based on logistical and college requirements.
My greatest stress is the attitude of some students. You work hard and some students don't seem to care about your efforts to impart knowledge. But one has to recognize that they are young and are students.
