SURVIVAL STRATEGIES FOR NEW TEACHERS: TEN WAYS TO AVOID
STRESS
GRADES K-12
New teachers always feel stressed-out during the first year in the classroom.
For many, it is really too late to be reading books on stress reduction. Anyway,
many of these books are really geared to the situations that new teachers
regularly find themselves in. More importantly, how does a new teacher evaluate
which of the suggestions to be found in stress-management texts will be most
appropriate, and which will work.
In my work with new teachers, I have made many suggestions as to how they can
reduce the stress of the first months of their careers. In discussing the end
results with them the following 10 suggestions seem to have been the most
effective.
- Thorough lesson preparation.
It may be part of the job, but it seems
to markedly reduce anxiety. Being clear in your mind about what you are going
to do during the class period, means that you do not have to think on your
feet. This frees up your mental resources to deal with the unpredictable.
Remember that the unexpected will usually happen, so build a little
flexibility into your plans. Also bear in mind that either you or some member
in the class may not be in top form that day. One or more of you may not be
able to give 100%. You are the leader in the classroom, so have some fallback
plan to bring into operation should the need arise. For example you may carry
a set of special worksheets to accompany an emergency video or audio tape that
you are holding in reserve.
- Ensure that you understand the work you are about to teach.
The last
thing that you need to happen is to be suddenly stuck in the middle of a math
problem on the board. With your back turned to the class, trying to see where
you have gone wrong, you make a very inviting target. Being seen to be in
command of you subject area is a great boost to the confidence of the students
that look to you as their instructional leader.
- Keeping the paperwork up to date.
The students in class are far from
the only source of stress. Heads of Department, Principals, Parents, Education
Councils, all quite rightly need to know how things are progressing. Record
keeping, correction, worksheet preparation and general paperwork may be the
bane of the profession but well worth keeping under control. Falling behind
and letting the paperwork mount up is a great source of stress in many
professions and occupations including teaching.
- Make an effort to get to know your students as individuals.
Each of us
finds it more difficult to operate in front of an audience of strangers.
Students that realize you are interested in their welfare, are more likely to
treat you with some understanding and respect.
- Ask the advice of other more experienced teachers.
Care and diplomacy
may be needed here. Advise from teachers tends to fall into three categories.
First is the "ignore-it-at-your-peril" advice that comes from your Head of
Department, follow this at all costs. Then there is the advice that is offered
whether you want it or not. This kind should be listened to politely, and
forgotten. The genuinely useful advise that you will receive usually comes in
response to a request from you. However just talking about a difficulty seems
to help make it seem less of a problem. A trouble shared is a trouble halved
and all that.
- Ask your friends among other new teachers their advise.
They are
closer to the problems than more experienced teachers are. Teaching and
holding the attention of a class may become second nature to an experienced
teacher. S/He may not even be aware of the new techniques that are being used
to motivate the students. Your peers may have come across the same problem as
you, and may have found a solution already. Again, just talking about it
helps.
- Make lists of the things that you hope to get through in a day or through
the week.
This can be very useful in taking the strain from your
overloaded brain. Beware the trap inherent in making lists. Don't think that
you will get through every point on your list. Learn from last week's list and
plan to get through less this week.
- Encourage your students to be more independent.
Suggest that the more
able among them work on into their topic when they have completed their
assigned work ages before the rest. This can help take the strain of finding
extra work for them from your shoulders.
- In the staff-room chat with colleagues about recreational activities.
There are other things in life to talk about other than school.
- Above all, accept that you will make mistakes.
Accept them as a
learning experience and forgive yourself. Do not spend long hours worrying how
things might have been if only you had acted differently or if only you had
not said what you did.
One factor worthy of note is that most new teachers by the end of their first
year felt that working harder did not decrease their stress levels.
Obviously what works for these new teachers might not work for you, for
reasons of gender (most of these were female), personality, situation, age and
so on but they may be worth a try in this difficult first year--before reaching
for the Yoga manual or the tranquilizers.
Good luck!
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