Teaching May Be Stressful – How to Deal?

Teaching is a fulfilling but challenging career. A teacher not only provides academic support to students but is a guide for them too. Teaching job can be sometimes stressful. In a classroom where some students are fighting over something and some are talking, it can be difficult for teachers to handle the situation.

Different teachers react to different situations differently and have different methods to tackle situations differently. They have different and composed approaches to handle students and try to create a supportive learning environment for their students. It looks easy and simple to handle a class of many students but in real – time it is not like this. Sometimes it is a real challenge, especially when one has to deal with many students while working in a classroom environment. After a study, researcher from Penn State stated that this could as stress-inducing as an emergency room and teachers, somehow, deal with this kind of problems in such environment every day. This may, at times, feel like life-or-death. A person in the teaching profession not only come, teach and leave the class but there are many unrealistic expectations; extensive meetings and other instructional demands; and difficult conversations with principals, administrators and parents as well which lead to stress. It is a known fact that teachers may not perform well when they are stressed, frustrated or anxious. They sometimes over scold the students or cannot concentrate on their lessons, as a result. If teachers want to deal with this anxiety, they must practice mindfulness. In stressful situations, they must do deep breathing and mindful walking to calm the body and mind so that they gain the power to react to situations and handle them better with calmness. These methods make the job far more easy and manageable. It will be great if the teachers have the resources to calmly appraise difficult situations, deal with their students and constructively work together. The teachers who are less stressed are definitely engaged more with their students, building their growth in the same classroom environments that effectively support the millions of students in America exposed to trauma. Teachers who are working with CARE engage in mindfulness training, emotional skill-building exercises and listening activities are less stressed. They not only involve in listening to one another about their experiences with parents and students but also do role-plays involving classic stressors. The teachers try to be calm and less stressed so that through these activities, they can have mindful awareness in their classroom interactions in order to respond calmly in any situation. Instead of bottling up anger and frustration, identifying their own stress situations and working on them using these methods may less to a less stressful teaching job. Sometimes even closing your eyes and visualising a relaxing scene may help to relieve tension and stress.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2018-12-26-teaching-is-as-stressful-as-an-er-these-calming-strategies-can-help