Like this module mentioned that balancing the different roles that you play in your life can be difficult epecially with such a demanding job which might lead you to taking work home with you for a good percentage of the time. Stress factors that I have on a regaular basis are instructors pulling out of teaching at the last minute due to career conflicts, etc. and I am needed to teach the class for the remainder of the term which will leave me with much less time to do administrative responsibilities which is a huge stress factor. Other departments making demands of your time as well maybe without knowing what your responsibilities really are and spreading you much too thin because they see their task as your priority which ties right back into managing your time and being in control of your schedule.
The main cause of stess is probably finding a balance between responsibility and time. There never seems to be enough time to meet the responsibilites one has. This has become even more true due to the advance of technology in our world. Work seems to be 24/7 and for people who are task-oriented that is a difficulty because the tasks never really end. There is always an email to answer, even at 3:00 a.m.
Stressors in life/career would be meeting deadlines. Sometimes I have two or three things that have to be done at the same time and figuring out which priority is the highest priority is a cause of stress. Also my schedule is different all the time which can lead to having to cancel personal plans in order to meet deadlines. In regards to students, it is stressful when I see they don't give 100 percent effort to being in class, studying, etc. and I let it affect me because I love my profession and I want them to succeed.
In the past, I have had stressful jobs. Teaching is nothing like what I've endured in the past, but there are still stressors. The daily commute in rush hour traffic is one and I help to minimize it by turning up the stereo and focusing on my favorite music. Administrative demands for training and deadlines also have a stressfull effect. I try to put each task in an order of importance and urgency and tackle each one in order, one thing at a time.
I agree with you David. Sometimes it's closer to the 80/20 rule unfortunately, and they do take up much more of our time to deal with their issues.
It is very stressful when you have a team of instructors and have one that is definantely not a teamplayer. It causes great amount of stress when you are constantly having to sped most of your time pacifying an instructor or cloeaning up their messes. Also, you are the only enforcer of the rules, therfore you become the bad cop and she the good cop to the students. Major Stress.
The only organizational stressor that I'm experiencing (along with others)is that our school is being phased out ("teach out")
From a personal stand point,stressors consist of health concerns in our family that's out of our control. Juggling care taker concerns with organizational stressors can be taxing and stressful, short and long term.
My school gives contracts for the next term on the last day of the current term. Not knowing if I have a job every 12 weeks is the most stressful part of the job.
One of the major causes of my stress lately have been my students performance. It seems at times I want this profession more for them than they want for themselves.
We will discuss what it takes to be successful and lay out a plan for the student. A few weeks later I will follow up with the student and the student will not have used any of the suggestions on the plan. This becomes very stressful.
David,
Unfortunetly you are not alone. It seems as if Students now a days do not have values and do not care. They expect to just "Get by" or feel that what your teaching doesn't matter.
I get frustrated when I feel students are not in my class to learn but just be there. I tell them to either pay attention or get out of the class and quit waisting my time.
Life:
Bills
Health
Family
Career:
Expectations from Supervisor
Demands from the Students
Demands from Clinical Sites
Expectations from Corporate
I don't know what an IEP is, but every generation of teachers have said society is to blame but yet the Earth keeps turning. The key is adapting to a new student every time you have one, it gets easier the more you stay current with what society is.
A major stressor in my professional life is based upon student needs and it involves students who constantly challenge rules just for the sake of challenging them. It can be very frustrating explaining to them (over and over again) that, for their professional success, they must learn to follow rules. Then when I get really tough with them and remove them from class or take away a ton of professionalism points, they get stressed. These students need to learn how to follow rules, but the whole process is very stressful.
Heather, It sounds like you are balancing a lot. At a guess, there are some fundamental things in your life that you've got to focus on daily. One example is childcare. However, there are likely other things that don't need to happen every day. Perhaps you should take a step back and look at the total landscape of your tasks and think about how they break down in terms of daily focus and longer term focus.
Dr. Melissa Read
Adam, It sounds like you have a great handle on your total stress landscape in both your professional and personal lives. That's the first step. I also appreciate your healthy outlook to managing through it all. You are right. Most of your stress cannot be eliminated. However, there are certainly ways to make the stress easier to manage.
Dr. Melissa Read
MOst stressors come from college requirements and time constraints. There are times that I feel I need a 36 hour day.
My stressors range across the board:
Organizational factors-school policies that create extra paper work
Student needs-tutoring needs, make-up work needs, etc.
Personal life: family, responsibilities, maintaining friendships.
All managable stressors; cannot totally eliminate all but can apply healthy coping.
One of my biggest stresses in teaching where I teach is the lack of communication between the home office and our particular school. We have only one week between terms, and as an example of what I mean about stress is that we are often told that we are going to be using a different book, or that there are changes in the curriculum, just days before we have to go back to work. This causes great personal stress with what I need to do for the beginning of the new term, and the things I need to do in my personal life.
General areas that are major stressors in my life include finances, deadlines at work, working with student's to help them pass a course and working out child care situations for my baby. I also try hard to do housework and study God's word, but life sometimes feels very busy and it's hard to keep up with it all.
One origin of stress that I see that occurs at our school is the lack of time that is given to complete projects that are needed that don't relate to the actual teaching requirements; ie. inventories, capital planning, etc. There always seems to be a deadline that is somewhat unrealistic. This doesn't afford me the time to adequately devote to assessing everything that's required. This usually means some things are overlooked.
