Making lesson plans, ensuring classroom discipline, pressure from parents and management, lack of support from administration, up-gradation, of course, every year by the education system, and now the challenge of streamlining with online classes; being a teacher is not an easy job.
Managing stress for teachers is another challenge. Teaching nowadays requires more smartness, more energy, and planning, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t handle it. Being a noble profession and one of the best jobs, teaching is becoming more popular in the modern scenario. So if you are a teacher looking for some teacher teaching and stress reduction techniques, you are at the right place. The small but effective strategies to reduce stress for teachers mentioned below will help you.
Plan earlier
The pressure of lesson planning, completing the syllabus target, and preparing the class for examination may feel like a burden on your mind. Still, it can be simplified by planning so earlier, even at the start of the session. So, go through the entire course at first, list down the lessons, count the number of working days and holidays in your calendar, and allot dates to every lesson. Then, stick to the timeline and teach according to your lesson plan.
Don’t forget to allot days for revision, homework, class test, and copy correction for every lesson. For example, if you have 24 lessons in the syllabus this year and 250 classroom days, you can assign 5-6 days to a lesson. Keep this plan flexible and give more time to complete a lesson if it is lengthier, more difficult or if students want to have more time.
Dedicate an hour of every holiday for planning classroom teaching and making lesson plans. Searching for answers to questions in the class, students being undisciplined due to being unattended, and making students read the lesson again and again because you are not prepared with further notes; all these things put extra stress on your mind. So plan it earlier.
Make teaching interesting
Teaching and learning become boring if they follow the same routine, the same schedule every day. So, the class time cannot be changed, but your classroom management strategies can be. Sometimes, surprise your students by announcing in the class that there will be no teaching but activity that day. You can choose an outdoor activity, classroom activity, or online activity as per the situation.
Take them outside to show plants and their roots, flowers, insects, and the process of evaporation, gravitational force, water cycle, photosynthesis, etc., if you are a science teacher. Teach them counting, multiplication, and division using pebbles and leaves if you are a maths teacher. Perform all these things at your end and show your students online if you are teaching in online mode. Ask them to write their dream story, if you are a language teacher, and so on. You can develop interesting teaching techniques like classroom games; this will relax your mind.
Nourish yourself
More stress requires more energy and more energy requires more nutrition. Hydrate yourself and nourish well with the minerals and vitamins required for your body. Keep roasted dry fruits, sprouts, fruit salads, smoothies, refreshing candies, energy seeds, and nutritional munchies handy. Eat them if you have a long session or while you feel low. Avoid oily and spicy food and switch to a healthy diet for active mode. Don’t forget stress management is about learning how to handle stress and how an energetic body can handle it well.
Refresh your mind and body
Another important thing to take care about refreshing your mind and body. Take 5 minutes to break in between the class. For example, a 60 minutes class can be divided into three equal parts of 15 minutes, and 5 minutes of break can be allotted after every 15 minutes. Allow the students to have water, take long breathes, and even put their heads down on the table to relax or perform a small activity like telling them a joke or small story related to the lesson. This will lighten the environment for teachers and students both.
Get a head massage, hair spa, bubble bath, dance session, and yoga classes for yourself to relax your mind and body. In addition, you can learn about stress management exercises and practice them twice or thrice a week.
Create an environment
Last but not least is to create an environment as a teacher. If you are a teacher teaching students online, pick a teaching corner and set the table and chair according to your comfort per height. Check for internet connection, the situation of the device and lesson plans, etc., earlier before starting the class.
Connect with your students, remember their names and ask them about the problem if you don’t find them responsive in the class. Generate a student-teacher bond with every student. Make them respond well by attracting them through classroom activities and lucrative keynotes. Tell them why it is important to learn that particular lesson before starting every lesson.
So, these are some stress-relieving techniques for teachers that will help them cope with stress and help them grow as a teacher Teachers need to have an online presence, but at the same time, they should have proper knowledge about it. Classplus is here to help you create your own online presence.
