I have a few major stressors in my life. I have a Chiropractic business, work as an instructor and I have family tha I have to take care of, and dealing with each of these on a daily basis can sometime get overwhelming.
Peronal: taking care of kids, finding time to spend wit my husband, keeping my home organized
Professional: maintaining a private practice, keeping up with the various task needed to be a career college instructor (creating test, lectures, grading quizzes, and homework)
William, This is an important observation. There's a great amount of variability in our days, weeks and even semesters as instructors. One problem student can cause a semester long of stress. On the flip side, one great class can carry you through many months or even a year. As instructors, setting our expectations that this is the way our careers work is very important to ensuring we feel comfortable with things.
Dr. Melissa Read
Alan, That's a tough challenge. Changes to the field, the technology or even the way course material is presented can all be forms of stress. This is particularly true for industries that change constantly.
Dr. Melissa Read
Jamie, So true. There is so much potential for stress that we do not plan for or anticipate in life. This can be tough because it's hard to prepare for it. I recommend building a buffer into your schedule to make room for the unexpected.
Dr. Melissa Read
Having to keep up with technology and updated textbooks in the classroom has been an ongoing form of stress. Since I teach graphic and advertising design course, both the software and textbooks are constantly being updated. As an instructor you need to learn and be proficient in these programs before the students do.
All of the above to varying degrees and times. Sometimes you get a class full of students that are very much into what they are doing and why they are there. That makes the stress level much lower. When changes are made to requirements with out sufficient to to make or plan for needed adjustments causes the stress level to increase. Better implementation planning will decrease this. Student needs can also cause increased stress, but if you can have a plan in place to deal with the more common issues, this can be reduced.
Life has so many different potential stressors it is hard to really create a list of them all. Most stress is from work, teaching a new class, looking for better ways to convey information, etc. but when coupled with the "normal" stresses of life these can sometimes be much more overwhelming then they ordinarily would be.
Margarita, Gosh it sounds like life is tough for you right now. It's really hard when you experience stress from all sources in your life. Some instructors have peaceful home lives but stressful workplaces. Others have the opposite. It's tough when it's coming from everywhere. Hang in there and let's hope one of these sources of stress lets up!
Dr. Melissa Read
Susan, Sounds like you are dealing with a really stressful environment, and lots of stress from different sources. Yes, stress can come from our industry, our administrations, fellow faculty members and students too. The hope is that it doesn't all happen at once.
Dr. Melissa Read
Sherry, I know where you're coming from and a lot of other instructors in this course feel the same way. It can be hard to balance administrative and student needs. There are a lot of competing demands in the college environment that require balance from us.
Dr. Melissa Read
Michael, Sounds like you are experiencing stress from all sides in your professional life. That's a big challenge. I hope your home life is a little more peaceful!
Dr. Melissa Read
Low institutional standards are the greatest stressors in my environment because there is little one can do to change these things.
General areas of stress include my boss, students who don't want to learn, and the failure of computer related devices.
One stress I can think of right away is text book changes every 6-7 months. to me, that is organizational factor. Students who never
turn homeowrk in on time- student needs. Instructors who can only teach half the program becauase of lack of education in said program- organizational factor. Lack of proper space- organizational factor. Strudents who only show up when they have to, student needs.
Susan
I am new to the company and my job is trying to coordinate clinical sites for students. In 3 weeks I can name "a few" stressors: students not returning my calls, not showing for their interviews, complaining about not having childcare or transporation to get to the clinical site, not turning in there resumes so I can fax to future site managers, not accepting sites because it's too far, having to constantly call them back because there time sheets are incorrect or incomplete, wanting to grad out without the necessary requirements....shall I continue? I do believe that I am more worried about doing my job correctly than I am of the students not wanting to perform there part of the curriculm. Now, let's get to the stressors at home: three girls ages 11, 14 & 19 and one boy age 17. The 19 & 17 year olds just got drivers licences...God help me. No complaints about the other 2. Shall I continue with my husband and the inlaws? I do have many stress factors but I try to manage and control it all on a daily basis; if not, I would probably be a nut case.
A major stressor in my life, based upon college requirements, is trying to juggle administrative tasks with student needs (class/education). It appears at times as there are always administrative deadlines but on the other hand how about the 5-6 class teaching load and all of the nuances associated with that many hands-on classes?
Personal:1. Financial stress post unemployment period
Professional: 2. Stress of being employed but feeling insecure about it after being layed off.
3. Dealing with inexperienced adminstrators
4. Dealing with short deadlines
Major stressors in my life and career include family and time management. Sometimes my work load is so hectic I struggle to incorporate all of the other aspects of my life. I think I will have to start leaving work at work in order to better manage my stress.
At work I experience stress mostly from lack of organization and careless students. At home I stress about bills, cleaning, my dog and all other sorts of things. All of which are pretty typical if you ask me.
A List of Stressors
Insufficent Use of Time
Poor Communication
Classroom Management
