Get Your Students Hired
Evangeline, That sounds tough. As it relates to finding resources, you might try doing some Google searches to see where you land. While you will have to carefully assess anything on the internet for quality, I have found that you can find some real gems there. Also, try going into online forums and connecting with people who teach the same course as you from all over the world. These typically have a world of great resources to share.
Dr. Melissa Read
Career
Preparing for lectures without access to technology
Using downloaded quizzes and exams that are easier than the actual certification exam
Reducing Stress
Develop power point presentations and print out slides (waste of paper but management knows about waste)
Develop my own tests that are more challenging
The following stress reducers actually cause more stress due to time management issues and not knowing if I will teach the course next term or the term after that.
One cause of stress at is trying to find resources other than what the text books offer.I am a medical coding instructor and I have not found enough coding material for my students to practice. I enjoy instructing my students a the reward for me is when the get it. Another stressor is manuevering computers!! I don't care for this type of technology. I have yet to find what all the oos and ahs about this machine is about. It seems that the more passwords, drop boxes, and little icons you have to click on creates lots of unneeded stress too much like a needed husband and who needs one of those.I try to balance work stress with enjoying my weekends at home with family, pets, and prayer.
I rty not to let things stress me out. I just do my job and to the best I can and do not strees the small stuff. a
I think everyone has their different views on what stresses them out but it is how you deal with stress that determines if you will be successful when stress does come about. Creating lesson plans and making sure your students are intrigued with the material can be stressful but I just keep in mind to always try my best to keep the students involved and interested with new methods and open discussions.
hello,
if you were to ask me, the biggest source of stress in the education world is specifically related to working with students who feel "entitled."
Denise, It sounds like you have a solid inventory of both work and personal stress. Many instructors don't have a handle on the full spectrum of their stress, and this can be a challenge. You are fortunate to not experience that challenge. If listing things out in this forum helped, you are invited to continue to do so in the future. Also, if having someone else listen makes things better, you might take a look around and find someone who you can trust who will listen frequently. It's great to have someone to hear you out and someone who you can share your thoughts with.
Dr. Melissa Read
Serena, Yes, there are truly some stressors that live outside of our sphere of influence. Identifying them and understanding our ability to impact them can take us far. Some of us make an attempt to control the uncontrollable, and this can be stressful in itself.
Dr. Melissa Read
Stress from home can cause a lot of work place issues, we tend to bring our work home, and our home to work. We cannot live apart from them in so many ways. When I'm stressed from home problems, I always see something lacking in my workplace performance, even though I try harder to keep it from interfering.
It may be easier to take the other approach, to realize that the children may not become adults. I lost my daughter to leukemia three weeks before her tenth birthday. If a parent realizes that life is not guaranteed, it may be a little easier to deal with those tough years. I realize that part of my daughter's charm is that she never became a teenage her hated her parents. It may be difficult, but try to focus on the positive aspects af children.
I often am stressed at work due to conflicts between the administration's desire to retain students in our program, and sudents' poor attendance &/or performance. We have rules regarding maximum # of absences, and allowing students to take only one quiz per course that they have missed. I am, however, pressured to often break those rules, and allow students to take multiple missed tests and retain student who have exceeded the "maximum" # of absences per course.
I also find the bathroom next to my office to be a source of stress. We have a toilet (one of two) that I'm sure is loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss. I am tempted to buy a decibel meter, so I will have proof of this. Also, we do not have an automatic paper towel dispenser. The dispenser we have gets stocked so full, that the towels are simply very difficult to retrieve. I try to get a towel, and end up getting a little bit of a towel. We also have one soap dispenser between two sinks, and the counter top gets very wet. The water sometimes spills over onto the floor, creating a dangerous, slippery situation.
I had made a note to myself to list my stressors, and now I actually have to do it.
Work:
Meeting expectations of the administration when it doesn't really seem like I know the "rules" they want me to "play" by.
I seem to react to situations that pop-up and am not proactive.
My direct supervisor and I seem to compete.
Student needs are always stressful when I think that they are relying on me to solve their problems.
My quarters are not balanced. Fall and Spring seem too easy and Winter and Summer seem too hard.
Other co-workers seem to make mountains out of my mole-hills.
Personal:
My husband is out of work and depressed to the point of considering...
A friend wants waaayyy too much of my time, and constantly calls work during the day. I don't answer her phone calls, and I feel kind of guilty.
My father's health is not good and that stresses my mother...which stresses me.
I don't want to go home sometimes due to home stressors.
I need to go to the gym to work out and feel guilty about spending the money and not going home, but I know that it is good for me. I don't go to the gym.
I think I could go on, but that is the start. I think it primarily affects my mental capabilities, but I know for a fact that my physical health is taking a toll, also.
Thanks for "listening".
Coping mechanism
I cannot do anything about dwindling student population. I can just be "on my game" and invest in my current students so that they do well when they finish my program.
I maintain balance with outside activites that I enjoy--ie. my garden, daily walks, attending my place of worshop, etc.
Having a good mentor at work and a good friend or two outside of work are vital too.
Serena, It sounds like you are in a really tough spot. I can't imagine how you must feel, and how you balance it all. The hardest part for you is probably that most of these stressors cannot be changed or eliminated. Finding some good coping mechanisms might be your best outlet. Perhaps you already have a few. Because you are balancing so much, I recommend ones that you can use anywhere and that are relatively light and low impact. Breathing and stretching are two great examples. Hang in there.
Dr. Melissa Read
Stresser at work: Falling student population
Having to re-locate to another room because IT wants to work on computer
Budgetary cuts
Stresser in personal life: I became a widow three years ago. That was whole year of stress
I have an adult son with two serious medical conditions. One which may eventually become one in which I become a caregiver.
My areas of major stress include organizational factors (time-management and task completion); student needs (responding to emails, phone calls, finding time to provide individual tutoring); and college requirements (meeting grading deadlines, mid-term evaluations, inservices meetings). Creating daily to-do lists according to urgency/priority helps me to manage these stressors.
Larry, Good points. For most of us, there are always opportunities to streamline or efficiency and improve our productivity. Sometimes the stress we experience in our lives simply highlights these opportunities and helps us focus on them and address them.
Dr. Melissa Read
A large number of stressors in my work life are due to scheduling issues. As the only math instructor for five programs with math components, scheduling is an issue. Some days I am at the boards for eight to ten hours with an occasional lunch break. As I age I find that I experience a little more fatigue every year. I've become much more proactive and ask for schedule adjustments when possible. Amazing what can be done if needs be. Still there are long days that must be. But I know that I can ask for changes and that helps.