instructor's stress is all the administrative work that has to be done along with the the work

it is important to use your time wisely

it is important to prioritize

The key for me is always to keep the focus on the lesson. As soon as a student takes the stage away from the lesson or the group activity, then it it becomes my job to direct them back towards are daily class goals. It's a mistake I believe to to allow the behavior to spill over past that point, but when it happens it becomes a matter that I will ask for help with after the class. At the very least an explanation for the behavior will be discussed, and if none can be found, then we search for help from others.

I believe it all starts with setting the expectations up front and having clearly defined objectives. Objectives are critical and students should know why they are sitting in a classroom, what to expect, what they are going to learn, what skill sets they will attain, how it will apply to their profession, how they are expected to learn, retain and apply the knowledge and what methods you are going to employ. The teacher also needs to explain deadlines, due dates and how to manage their time appropriately. Encouraging students to improve organizational skills utilizing electronic calendars is a great idea as well. Students should be asked to self assess prior to the instructor providing the initial assessment so he or she can identify where students may need more attention and or the teacher may need to change their strategy. At the end of the lesson or course the teacher should be able to tie everything back into the objective.

At our school we have split shifts. I find it hard to manage your activities when you go back and forth from days and nights. What seems to help is having a calender ready to write down a task as soon as it pops up in your head. It also helps for those quick changes.

Does anyone have any personal experience when different instructors have different interpretations of the school's dress code? ie- there is a difference in interpretation between instructors? Does this affect the professionalism of the instructor? Chris

my immediate supervisor or other instructor? I'm not interested in dragging him/her through the mud, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable bringing up the complaints to the supervisor directly. Chris

It that one student out of hundreds a year who acts out sometimes on Day 1. I over-react or under-react and the other students lose. That's the stress you can take home. There is a time to ask this person to leave for the day resolve the issue before this person returns to class.

Unfortunately, stress is a part of natural life. Some good, some bad. Finding ways to cope with negative stress will help one to lead a more productive life.

I know from my own experience that when I am stressed out my productivity level decreases. When this happens I look for positive, constructive ways to reduce my stress level to become more productive.

Discovering useful shortcut methods used in grading helps get the task accomplished sooner and is less stressful.

In my opinion, managing your time in all aspects of life gives you a healthy mental and physical balance.

Think of mistakes as opportunities to learn. Many of the mistakes you will make will be unavoidable. However, there are some mistakes, common to beginning teachers, that are avoidable. What follows is a list of the mistakes that new teachers tend to make most often. Keep these in mind as you begin your new career. Mistake #1: You want your students to like you and therefore hesitate to discipline students accordingly. This is probably the most common mistake new teachers make. Believe it or not, students want boundaries. Let students know immediately what your rules or guidelines are and what the consequences are. Then, enforce them fairly, firmly, and consistently. Mistake #2: You avoid asking for help. Teaching can be an isolating experience. You enter your room, shut your door, and you are on your own—or so many new teachers think. Remember: Your best resources for help and advice are in the classrooms next door or down the hall. If your school does not provide you with a mentor-teacher, seek one out yourself. Beginning teachers need and deserve support and guidance. Mistake #3: You are constantly bringing school work home so that you have no leisure time at all. The first year of teaching is usually the hardest. Indeed, some veteran teachers say it was the hardest year of their lives. You feel unprepared, you have a mound of papers to grade, units to plan, parents to talk to . . . the list is endless. It is vital, however, to schedule time for yourself and your family. Take time to decompress occasionally.

Among current high school students, 75 percent admit to cheating on tests, homework, and other assignments. Fifty percent have cheated on exams during the past year, and 34 percent have cheated on more than one test. One out of every three students has used the Internet to plagiarize an assignment. Research indicates similar trends among college students and even graduate students. Students who are unprepared: These students generally are not chronic cheaters, but may be driven to cheat by unmanageable workloads or overbooked schedules. Students who do not see the relevance of assignments: Cheating is more likely among students who do not understand the point of an assignment, how it relates to them, or what they are meant to learn from it. Students who exhibit high self-confidence, cynicism, and lack of emotional expression: The combination of these three characteristics has been linked to cheating. These students may be chronic cheaters who feel entitled to good grades and do not see ethical problems with cheating. While these students are rare, they are present in all schools.

What do you do when a student: •undermines your authority, •leaves class repeatedly for bathroom breaks or to talk on the phone, •appears not to pay attention during class, •smells strongly of body odor, strong perfume or cigarette smoke, •is verbally or physically threatening to you, •practices annoying and/or disruptive behaviors, •monopolizes the conversation, •falls asleep in class, •is repeatedly tardy, •refuses to participate in class discussions or group work, •flirts with you, •shares or copies work, •submits a plagiarized paper, •sits in the back and chats with a classmate, or •is just plain disrespectful? A student might belittle the instructor or engage in a battle of the wills. This student should be privately told that his/her attitude was confrontational and asked how this might be resolved. Be careful not to read most questions about content, interpretation or assignments as a challenge of authority. Poor hygiene, too much perfume, cigarette odor or other strong odors can be distracting or even nauseating to students. The cause for the odor might be culturally-based in bathing preferences between cultures. This can be a real problem for some faculty members while others will never encounter the dilemma. I suggest letting the offending student know that in close quarters, some students have issues with strong smell. Verbal or physical threats are serious matters. As a general rule, consult professional experts for assistance immediately.

The course syllabus serves at least seven basic purposes (Rubin, 1985). Some of these directly serve your students and are readily apparent to them. The very process of writing a well-constructed syllabus forces you to crystallize, articulate, organize, and communicate your thoughts about a course. This thought and writing produces an enriched syllabus, which compels you to publicly reveal your previously well concealed assumptions.Your syllabus allows you to share your pedagogical philosophy. Students may not perceive it in quite this way, but that is one of the things you achieve through the syllabus. A syllabus tells your students whether you view learning as an active or passive process and whether you emphasize knowledge enhancement, skill building, or a combination of both.

Responding to changes has always been difficult, but more challenging at age 70. There is 29 hours a week at the old desk job sandwiched between traveling to teach up to 40 adults in three classrooms. Preparation has always been part of the coping strategy. I take advantage of the keyboards at three locations to get ready several days in advance. We kill many trees. I arrive at the classroom an hour before the students and lay out written support. I prepare the classroom and pull up any media resources. The students receive a greeting and know that we are available for individual concerns. A remaining source of stress are those few students who act out or fail to complete their assignments. Failure to confront the problem head on can mean increasing stress. Asking a supervisor for support is better than carrying the problem home.

I found this module very enlightening on a personal basis. Lately, financial worries have created a lot of stress for me which in turn has effected personal and professional relationships. This stress has caused sleeplessness, headaches and other assorted physical problems. It's also become a test on my sense of humor, which has helped me through many tough times. Physically, I continue to work out regularly and eat healthy but the financial stress wins out at times.

In grading papers, I find a great deal of Internet plagiarism. Sometime it is obvious as students cut and paste to produce an ungrammatical result. Sometimes I can Google a phrase from the paper and find the source. I sometimes check references as well. Most of these are very time consuming, however. What do most other teachers do in this circumstance?