One day I found myself looking for jobs people who suffer anxiety shouldn’t have and not surprisingly Teaching came up as number one. I was shocked that I had gone this road since I’ve struggle with this mental illness since I was a child. I decided to look into the matter and create or encourage a new system for every teacher out there. I recommend reading some of my findings before downloading the Mini-course and Teacher Planner (completely free to download).
As the American Institute of Stress describes stress as a factor that some of us need, it makes us feel driven to succeed, boosts energy, and gives meaning to our life, but how much is too much? What is your experience of your life? Are you taking time to appreciate what you’re working so hard to accomplish or are you just speeding through in order to tackle the next item on your to-do list? (Are you a Stress Addict?, 2016). Are you part of these statistics? 61% of educators say that their work is always or often stressful and over 50% say that they don’t have the same enthusiasm as when they started teaching (Rubin, 2020) A 2017 survey revealed that 58% of educators characterized their mental health as “not good” for at least a week out of the last month, which is up 24% from just 2015 (Rubin, 2020). How have teachers managed this stress? According to Rubin, 200 teachers either quit, reframe their identities or downshift responsibilities. The last statistic I will be sharing with you is one that will definitely sticks “About one third of all new teachers leave education within the first five years of their career, and “the rate at which teachers leave the profession is significantly higher than the departure rate in other professions.” (Rubin, 2020).
As Heyck describes, “There is a lot of other work that needs to be done in the background to ensure that those lessons are the best they can be.” She is right we need to have sufficient energy, sleep, meals, organization, planning, relationships, mental health, emotional stability etc. There are many little and complex things that play an overall part in our well-being and we need to dedicate time for each and every one of these aspects.
This artifact is important and appropriate for teachers because of our constant stress levels, and time management issues.
Let’s take another quick look at possible stress factors for teachers: Low pay high duties, too many responsibilities and let’s not get started with students (lack of interest, low scores, behavior issues etc). Author Rubin makes suggestions of how this can be changed, but the one that really stands out is the section of Individual Changes. While reading the list I saw planning, productivity and preparing. These are all ideas we already have, but now let’s actually implement them. Stay tune for part two.
Resources
Kelly, M. (2017, December 1). Teachers as organizers. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from www.thoughtco.com/teachers-as-organizers-8339
Rubin, B. (2020, April 13). The Rise of Teacher Stress. Retrieved April 29, 2020, from https://www.thegraidenetwork.com/blog-all/2018/8/1/crayons-and-cortisol-the-epidemic-of-teacher-stress
Instructables. (2019, September 4). Trick and Tip for Classroom Organization. Retrieved April 28, 2020, from https://www.instructables.com/id/Trick-and-Tip-for-Classroom-Organization/
LOEHR, J. I. M. (2015). Power of Full Engagement. Place of publication not identified: SHUBHI PUBLICATIONS.
Are you a Stress Addict? (2016, March 23). Retrieved April 29, 2020, from https://www.stress.org/are-you-a-stress-addict
Pavuka, O. (2018, December 21). 10 Daily Habits That Drain Your Energy. Retrieved from https://www.deeph.io/10-daily-habits-that-drain-your-energy/
(n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2020, from https://advancementcourses.learninghouse.com/pluginfile.php/203225/mod_resource/content/1/Module 4 Foundations_Final.pdf