Tag: Stress

Sickness As An Educator

I’ve never felt more like I live in a petri dish than this school year.  With all sorts of news articles swirling around the nation about the Flu epidemic and people dying because of the Flu, I stood firm on my long held belief that the Flu shot was worthless…either I was going to get it or not.

I had this belief because the majority of my life I’ve never had the flu, and I also can’t remember getting a flu shot before I had kids (dang my fatherly guilt).  I went through the motions when my kids were little out of family solidarity and because it was “free” through my insurance.  I almost mocked others that seemed to get the flu every year because I never did.  Then I got the flu.

I won’t say it was terrible, the two cases of pneumonia I’ve had were far worse, but there is something about being quarantined off in both your personal and professional life that is somehow shocking.  I didn’t see my kids for almost three days and that was more difficult than I had imagined.  I used my time at home to catch up on some less-than-important media consumption and purging the illness from everything I touched with bleach and lysol.

When I came back to school, the kids were so happy to see me (for the most part).  Subs are necessary, but stressful to both teacher and student.  After that small euphoria was over, I then had to pick up the pieces of a classroom that had lost my expectations of both work and behavior.  Neither side was pleased with the return of the teacher once the welcome back was over.

My hubris and defying the flu is over.  My class’ joy to have me back is over.  Now learning can begin again.

Stressing Like a Rock Star

it’s that time of year.  The holiday season is over, back to the grind, standardized tests are looming.  In my previous years of teaching I have seem stress levels increase and was able to provide some stress relief.  This year, with state testing looming large a few months from now, my stress level has gone up a lot.  Throw into the mix that a few visits to my classroom (which I welcome) and some big time illnesses spreading around my household and that makes for a week to remember.  With all that said, I had to remind myself of a few things and cling to the things I know to be true in my classroom to pull me through.

  1. Confide in someone.  For me this was easy, my wife is always my sounding board for stressors in my life.  This week however, she was sick and that took its toll on my mental health.  I tried to confide in her without overwhelming her sick condition with my stress.  At the end of the week, when all was well in my house, I took the opportunity to really confide in my wife and that cures a lot of stress.  She provided me with perspective and reason that gets lost in the shuffle sometimes.
  2. Know that you’re doing the right thing in your classroom.  This presupposes that your doing the right thing in the classroom.  I took some time this past week to reexamine some choices I’ve made for my classroom this year.  While I can immediately list some things I would like to change next year, I also see the track that is leading to achievement in my classroom.  I also have a plan for preparing for what is to come in my classroom.  Just reiterating the plans for my classroom reminded the little voice inside my head that yes, we are on the right track.
  3. Take some alone time.  I really enjoy time to sit and think without the need for conversation.  That being said, I also have a toddler and a pregnant wife who like to talk with me.  I had to be very intentional to get away from people and spend some time thinking about things that don’t revolve around my classroom.  It was very therapeutic for me.

I know that these stresses are managed not done away with, but my weekend has included all of the following.  I have refueled my confidence and I’m ready to reenter the fray of public education.  Thank goodness for a weekend of recentering myself!