Get Your Students Hired
My main stressor is not enough sleep. I work a full time job and teach 4 hours a night 4 nights a week. I work overtime Friday nights and Saturday at the full time job. My husband is a tremendous help. I wouldn’t be able to do it without him, but it is still very stressful.
Stress is eliminated if you have Prepared lectures and have sufficient time to do so. When it's not possible, we've got to look for quick solutions and quality workarounds. All part of the class preparation.
Rachel, This is a common source of stress for new and seasoned instructors alike. It can be a real challenge to teach a new course. I recommend reaching out to your fellow instructors and learning more about the kinds of materials they may already have on file for your new courses. This could give you a much needed turbo boost in the right direction.
Dr. Melissa Read
Brandon, Sounds like you experience many of the common instructor stressors. It also sounds like many of these relate to your strong desire to be the best you can be at work. A lot of times, the stress we experience directly relates to our goals. In your case, sounds like those goals are ambitious and yet on track.
Dr. Melissa Read
Student needs:
1. having grades inputted
2. develop new ideas to keep students interested, especially lecturing
3. revise new exams for semester
Advising students: need to focus more one on one with student versus emails.
Tutoring is needed- but finding the time is hard.
My stressors are both personal and work> according to our office politics having to be early before class time and I really do understand, but somes days I made 3 minutes before classtime. It is stated " if you arrive at 9am and the office is open at 9am--then your late". I am sure some of us instructors have heard this phrase. At home, working long hours or even weekends--my kids well being grown kids, they could have the house clean and dinner made or put away and maybe I can take leftovers for lunch..but that does not happen. So stress WOW!!
Strssors for me start with watching the clock so as not to be late to work.
Prep. for class is not a big one, but is sometimes.
Some of my learners can be difficult.
Making sure my lab is clean and ready for next class.
To date, one of my highest stressors within my career comes from teaching a new course each term. I began teaching at a career college 9 months ago, and during that time I have had at least one new course each term, and up to as many as three new courses at once. Some of these courses have also had new books, so they were the first time taught at the school. The stress of teaching a new course each term has definetely carried over into my personal life. These stressors are both logistical as I am trying to get the course organized, and due to college requirements.
Rose Ann, Sounds like you are in a really tough spot. I notice by the way you describe your situation that you take responsibility for a lot of the challenges you are experiencing in life. Many of those challenges are not your fault. I understand that you will want to continue to own the solutions to the problems in your life, that's a good thing. At the same time, but you might consider absolving yourself of any responsibility or blame for how things might have gotten this way, as a way to be more at peace with your situation.
Dr. Melissa Read
Blossie, Wow, sounds like you have stress coming from many different sources. Some comes from your workplace. Some comes from your family life. From what you describe, sounds like you also experience stress from the conflict between the two competing forces. That's probably the hardest kind of stress to deal with. So many of us are stretched so thin. It's hard to be everything to everyone.
Dr. Melissa Read
Arturo, That's really tough to hear. When we don't have access to the right materials, teaching an be very stressful.
Dr. Melissa Read
Robin, Sounds extremely stressful. It's hard when we don't have a lot to depend on as it relates to classroom materials. If at all possible, I recommend designing your lesson plan around the materials you can depend on. Then, you can layer in experiences with the difficult-to-find materials for enrichment.
Dr. Melissa Read
At the technical school where I teach there are many stressful factors.
> Students who don't follow campus rules regarding attire and behavior
> Students who are continually texting or gaming on their cell phones during class.
> Students who think that going to lab/shop for hands-on time is really code for "nature walk" or "smoke break".
All of a students' actions whether negative or positive affects their ability to pass my course. Stopping to correct the negative actions of students not only impacts myself but the positive students. The number of students that pass my course over the period of a year affects my pay raise.
Work can also cause some stress in my personal life. My current schedule is a 10:00-7:00 and by the time I get home, it's for a late dinner and I've missed my son's Little League game or my daughter's play or musical performance.
One of the most stressors at the workplace is inconsistency. This is very stressful for me because I organize a lesson plan and the supplies are not available for the class. Very stressful.
Stressful situations in the school environment include the following:
1. faculty meetings lasting 8 hours or more per week
2. students' failing test due to personal problems such as their being exposed to abuse, having unidentified alternative learning methods, having to live in their cars and being without food due to sudden monetary changes and other life problems
3. identifying appropriate resources for students in a timely manner
4. students' cheating
Stressful situations in my personl life include the following:
1. my son's being easily distracted by social affairs
2. my son's lack of urgency concerning preparation for college
3. not having enough time to spend with family due to job demands
4. rising cost of living (gas!)
5. needing to be in multiple places
Most of my stressors are related to not having the proper and or enough training aids and tools for the entire class as we go thru our lessons, having to hear the complaints of the students on a daily basis. Now thats stressfull !
i saw this issue coming down the pike the with our first class and my control is the syllabus. no late anything, quizzes scheduled first day of class, no make up quizzes (ER visits, car accidents, deaths in family, any real issue). class starts on time-my job is present material, student job to get material-if they aren;t there when i present it they have friends. its amazing how if you don;t enable students they come to class on time, do their homework on time, take their tests as scheduled. there is always that one who will push the envelope but if you make an exception for one then the rest are cheated. i just had this discussion with a student who came to me and told me that she didn't understand the first 5 chapters and couldn;t do the problems in chapt 6. chapt 6 is due today, she came to me yesterday crying. she started again in class trying to win class sympathy and i pointed out as i collected everyone else's homework that if i made exceptions for her then i had to make exceptions for everyone and that i made it clear i would not. i am sure this comes across and cold and cruel and unflexible BUT my students are one time, homework on time, they respect me because i don;t play favorites or cave into tears, etc. its a real world out there and students are in boot camp to learn how to deal with whatever happens to them on a daily basis.
good coping mechanisms: i have very little remaining family other than my husband and a few cousins (we aren;t really close). My colleagues are great and i have a few very close friends that will let me "vent". i do find this very helpful and many times my friends provide insites that i missed. as a health professional i know that i need to increase my physical activity. while this sounds simple-it isn;t. i used to run (with my husband) for years and was in great shape-his illness robbed him of his ability to run-he walks with a limp now-and quite frankly, i feel guilty about it-i know its not rational but he gets that faraway look and it breaks my heart. he was truly a runner and did it for 40 years. i do have a plan in place that i think will benefit us both and will execute it within 3 months. the commute is annoying when there is traffic and a real dream when there is not. I love rock and roll and just listen to great music and the traffic report. in our area someone is always in worse shape than I am, or its misery loves company. i get up really early and have great alone time at the office before the herd arrives and get lots done. but if i do this for too long it just wears me out so i pace it. i can;t change students, only how i respond to them. I am not an enabler or problem solver for them. i can discuss their issues and make suggestions but i can;t fix their issues-they must, its part of the learning process. dealing with instructions from corporate or accreditation bodies is just that-its a game-learn the rules, try and anticipate those "your just supposed to know" things, get as much infor as possible and take your best shot. the majority of the time its a bulleye or really close to the mark (th ol' 6p's thing). I also make a point of saying enough is enough and leave my stuff in the car when i get home and i am done for the day.
the single biggest stressor in my life is my husband's health. it has been the elephant in the room for a long time and is ongoing. i can only try and find the solutions that are available and help him make the right choices. i can;t eliminate this stress or really reduce it. i have no control over it. But i can manage it by always making something positive happen and moving foward with treatment and care.
Rose Ann, Sounds like you are living with a variety of stressors, and that your life is generally stressful. This sounds tough. Some of the items on your list are not likely to change, but others could be temporary. I would focus on determining which of these stressors can be eliminated and reduced. For the more persistent ones, I'd focus on finding good coping mechanisms.
Dr. Melissa Read
1. husband long term serious health issues
2. commute to work (somewhat manageable)
3. lack of student committment to courses
4. no input to admissions of students into the progam
5. program course sequence needs adjusting
6. accreditation visits
7. lack of physical exercise for my well being
8. dental and wellness exams always done late due to lack of time.
9. interruptions to work flow when i have administrative work to do
10. staff support-tardiness, lack of follow up to requests, instructions
11. not enough space/no private space (THIS is a big stressor for me-too many distractions)
12. required teaching off site documentation
13. demands from corporate regarding specific activities for students that are logistically difficult to do.