A recently released study conducted by the University of Missouri indicates that 94% of middle school teachers are feeling high levels of stress. Needless to say, that is very alarming. Interestingly, the article posted in Science Daily entitled, "Nearly All Middle School Teachers are Highly Stressed" pointed to the negative effect that the high level of stress by teachers must be having on students "both academically and behaviorally."
I don't doubt that stressed-out teachers in our middle schools--or any of our schools--has a potentially negative effect on students. But I wish the concern were more focused on why teachers are feeling so overwhelmed and what is causing their alarming level of stress.
Listen to today's episode during which I talk about this study and why teachers are are stressed need to do for themselves in the self-care area.
Links to resources mentioned in this episode include the following:
1) “Nearly All Middle School Teachers are Highly Stressed” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200127134722.htm
2) eBook on stress management by Kitty Boitnott: http://teachersintransition.com/ebook
3) Cheat Sheet on Stress Management Strategies: https://kittyboitnott.lpages.co/cheat-sheet-on-stress-management/
4) Stress Assessment Tool (How Stressed Are You?): https://kittyboitnott.lpages.co/stress-assessment/
5) Want to check out the 14-day Free Trial on the "Jumpstart Your Job Search 2.0 Group Coaching Program?" Then click here: https://boitnottcoach.samcart.com/products/jumpstart-your-job-search-20-free-trial
Have questions? Email Kitty at kittyboitnott@boitnottcoaching.com or kittyboitnott@gmail.com
A recently released study conducted by the University of Missouri indicates that 94% of middle school teachers are feeling high levels of stress. Needless to say, that is very alarming. Interestingly, the article posted in Science Daily entitled, "Nearly All Middle School Teachers are Highly Stressed" pointed to the negative effect that the high level of stress by teachers must be having on students "both academically and behaviorally."
I don't doubt that stressed-out teachers in our middle schools--or any of our schools--has a potentially negative effect on students. But I wish the concern were more focused on why teachers are feeling so overwhelmed and what is causing their alarming level of stress.
Listen to today's episode during which I talk about this study and why teachers are are stressed need to do for themselves in the self-care area.
Links to resources mentioned in this episode include the following:
1) “Nearly All Middle School Teachers are Highly Stressed” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200127134722.htm
2) eBook on stress management by Kitty Boitnott: http://teachersintransition.com/ebook
3) Cheat Sheet on Stress Management Strategies: https://kittyboitnott.lpages.co/cheat-sheet-on-stress-management/
4) Stress Assessment Tool (How Stressed Are You?): https://kittyboitnott.lpages.co/stress-assessment/
5) Want to check out the 14-day Free Trial on the "Jumpstart Your Job Search 2.0 Group Coaching Program?" Then click here: https://boitnottcoach.samcart.com/products/jumpstart-your-job-search-20-free-trial
Have questions? Email Kitty at kittyboitnott@boitnottcoaching.com or kittyboitnott@gmail.com
Are you a teacher who's feeling stressed out and overwhelmed? Do you worry that you're feeling symptoms of burnout or are you sure you've already gotten there? Have you started to dream of doing some other kind of job or perhaps pursuing a whole different career, but you don't know what else you're even qualified to do? You don't know how to start a job search. You just feel stuck. If that sounds like you, I promise you're not alone. My name is Kitty Boitnott. I'm a career transition and job search coach and I specialize in helping burnt out teachers just like you deal not only with the stress and overwhelm of your day-to-day job, but to consider what other careers might be out there waiting for you. Join me for"Teachers in Transition." In some episodes I'll be speaking to stress management techniques and how you can manage your stress on a day to day basis. In other episodes I'll be talking about career transition. What tools do you need to be successful in a job search when you're moving from one career into a totally different track? These are questions that you need answers to and I can help you find those answers. My name is Kitty Boitnott. Welcome to"Teachers in Transition." Welcome back to Episode 44 of"Teachers in Transition." My name is Kitty Boitnott, and I'm here to talk about stress management for teachers. Today. I ran across an article just yesterday that, uh, was startling and yet not so much, uh, there a study that has revealed and now I'll offer the link to the, to the article in the show notes today and a study that shows that 94% of middle schoolers or middle school teachers are experiencing a high level of stress. And my reaction to that particular article was, well, duh, because I know that teachers are stressed and middle school teachers may be more stressed than elementary or some high school teachers because middle school is such a difficult time in the child's life and that creates issues for everybody around them. Uh, frankly, and if you are familiar at all with my story, I was on track to return to a middle school to teach English back in 2012 and I decided that I didn't have what it took to deal with middle schoolers at that time in my life. I had finished up my four years as President of the Virginia Education Association, and I was exhausted on every level: physically, mentally, emotionally. I was just wr ung d ry and I had taught sixth grade and dealt with seventh and eighth graders back in my twenties when I was assigned to teach half-day language arts to a group of sixth graders and to be the assistant librarian for the other half of the day where I had to deal with this, th e s eventh and eighth graders. And frankly, it wasn't my cup of tea. I do believe that middle school teachers are a particular type of angel and I've said that to most of the ones that I've met over the years. You deserve an extra set of wings when you get to he aven b ecause you do have to have a particular point of view or a certain kind of humor. Um, a nd uh, u h, l aid more a more laid back approach to all of the drama that the kids are bringing into the classroom. Because when you're in middle school, everything is blown way out of proportion just because that's the nature of the life of a middle school where their hormones have gone completely wacko. They're all over the place emotionally. They're still trying to figure out who the heck they are. Uh, they're struggling with their position with their peers. Um, they're some of being subjected to bullying on a regular basis and others are the bullies and nobody's happy. And just in general now that's broad brush, very generalized. I know, and it's not true for every middle schooler that they are a little bit whacked out, that a lot of them are struggling. I know I did. I remember my middle school years that I wouldn't want to go back there for any amount of money. And I knew I didn't have what it took to deal with all of that as a teacher with no emotional reserve, which is where I was in the summer of 2012, um, no patients, no physical stamina, uh, just I I w ould h ave been a complete flop. And so I did for me what was the only solution which was to take early, early, early retirement. But had I gone back, there is no doubt in my mind I would have been part of the 94% of middle school teachers who are feeling an extreme level of stress. Now here's the part that's a little bit peeving to me and that is that the, the um, messaged in the article, it's not as much concern about the teachers who are feeling so much stress, but the effect that the teachers who have all that stress on them, the effect that it's having on the students. Now that's not unimportant. I'm not trying to say that there isn't a connection. There clearly is. Part of the reason I didn't go back was that I didn't think I would be effective dealing with middle scores, but it's a little, um, I don't shortsighted I guess is the right word for experts who are identifying this extremely alarmingly high level of stress in middle school teachers and to be more concerned about the effect that that's going to have on the students than on trying to figure out ways to, to help the teachers deal with their stress so that they can bring their stress level down. And maybe I'm just being shortsighted myself, but the number that, the number one issue should be what can we do to reduce or help teachers better manage their stress for themselves to help them. And Oh, a happy byproduct of that is that it also helps the students, but there's something wrong with the equation that the concern is that 94% of middle school teachers are dealing with this high, unusually high level of stress. And Oh, woe is me. The problem is the effect that that's having on the students. I get that it's a chicken and egg kind of relationship. But I think the concern is misplaced, not directed in the right direction. Maybe that's my bias. However speaking because as someone who deals with works with, uh, is in communication with teachers, not just middle school teachers, but teachers across the spectrum, elementary and high school teachers as well as middle school teachers, the sense of overwhelm is almost palpable. The level of anxiety that more and more teachers are feeling because they're having trouble coping with the workload that they're being given. And one of my pet peeves when I was, when I was in education and then as president of the Virginia education association and even later, uh, has been that the policymakers and the politicians who are responsible for creating the policies that are required to abide by, they are constantly putting more and more of a burden on teachers to do more, to accomplish more, to uh, to, to be more accountable and every possible way. And they never, ever, ever think to take away something. And so the proverbial plate of the teacher continues to get more full and piled up with more stuff to do and not enough hours to do it. And it's, it's a problem. It's a problem for everybody. It's if it's a problem for the student because the teacher is stressed out. Think about what the problem for the teacher is. You know, a few years ago, I remember being so appalled by the fact that school divisions had created online IEP programs for their special education teachers so that, aren't you lucky now you can work on your IEP is from home. And the problem with that approach was, yeah, okay. So it gave teachers access to the IEP program and they could work on it at home if they wanted, but because they were able to work on the IEP at home, then the principals started planning meetings. That took up the teacher's time on work days and taking up more and more of the after school hours with meetings, sometimes meaningless meetings. I mean I, I know that there are the, there's the occasion when you need to pull everybody together and you need to have some kind of inservice or seminar or training. I get that. But too often people are having meetings just for the sake of being able to say they're having the meeting and it's wasting people's time. It's not useful. It's not constructive. It's not moving anybody forward. It's just we're having a meeting because we're required to have a meeting. That's crazy. Now, I don't know how to fix any of it. So I mean I'm kind of on a rant today because I don't know what to do to fix it except to offer that. If you are a teacher who is feeling stress and I know, I know from my own anecdotal experience that teach stresses on the rise because more and more people are downloading the stress assessment that I offer. I'll offer a link to the show notes. I offer a stress assessment that provides 32 questions. And what I say in the assessment is if you answer 10 or more of questions with a yes, then you are overstressed and you need to start taking step measures to get your stress under control. Now, you can't make stress go away, but you can. You can do whatever you need to do for yourself to manage it. And as I've said before, it starts with self care and self care is not selfish. So if you've ever been told that taking care of yourself as somehow selfish, get over, that is not true. That's a guilt trip somebody laid on you for whatever reason. Self care is essential. It's essential to your health. It's essential to your peace of mind. It's essential to your inner wellbeing. If you don't take care of yourself and you are experiencing an overload of stress, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when you're going to be getting sick and there are some illnesses that are exacerbated. They can be caused by stress, but they're exacerbated by stress as well. Diabetes being one, if you are stressed out, you need to be checked. If you're already diabetic, you need to be checking your blood sugar levels more often because stress has an effect on your blood sugar and your insulin levels in your blood. The same goes for cardiovascular issues. Your blood pressure will go up when you're stressed and if you're, if you're on medication, you need to be monitoring your blood pressure on a day to day basis. Uh, and you name it. There are many auto immune diseases and disorders are exacerbated by stress. I've had clients who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and stress causes more fliers. Um, recently was talking with someone who has migraines. I've talked to people who have lupus and other fibromyalgia and other disorders that stress exacerbates. So it's up to you. Nobody can do it for you, unfortunately. Maybe there's no pill you can take. Well, actually there are pills that you can take, but I don't recommend that you take those pills until and unless you have exempt, exhausted all the other holistic, more natural ways for you to take care of your stress, staying hydrated, eating well for good nutrition and not for snacks and sugary highs. Getting some exercise every day, going for a good long, brisk walk, walking the dog, getting some physical exercise so that your endorphins can be lifted and you feel better about yourself. Remembering to breathe, long, deep breaths a few times a day to help relieve the stress in your shoulders and neck. You've heard all of this before, but given this new message about 94% of middle schoolers being overly stressed, I suspect that if they were to do a similar survey of elementary teachers and high school teachers, they might not be at the 94% level, but they're well over 60 to 70% I'm just guessing because the amount of work that teachers are being asked to do continues to increase exponentially it seems. And the other thing that I want to point out, and this is nothing to be done about it except to be aware, here we are. It's the end of January. Today's January 28 getting ready to go into February and from February until the end of the school year. For most teachers, the stress simply ratchets up even more. Sometime in February, you're going to start thinking about, if you haven't already started worrying about it, thinking about getting ready, getting your kids ready for their state test because so much rides on their performance on that state and local tests depending on where you live, the stress and the accountability may be more or less. But in just about every location I'm aware of, there are tests that need to be prepared for and then taken and then reacted to if you're in a high risk school, the worry is palpable. I remember when I S when I started teaching it, uh, the elementary school that I was the librarian for, um, starting in 2001, that old school was a title one school. They had just the year before I got there. They had passed for the first time their Virginia standards of learning and they were having a big celebration. Um, I mean they were working so hard trying to get the kids motivated to do well that they had even raffled off bicycle, a bicycle to the kid. You know, they drew a name from the hat of, from the all the kids who had passed their SOLs. So their names went into the hat and if they, if their name got drawn and they won a prize and the grand prize was bicycle, I mean that, that's the kind of reward that they were giving to get the kids motivated and they passed. And the year that I was there, the first year I was there, I remember the feeling of worry, stress, um, concern that began to exhibit itself in different ways among the teachers as early as February. And when I say it was palpable, I mean you could feel it on campus. It was like appall that hung over it. You know, we would be, we would be in a meeting or at lunch and the conversation would almost always turn to, can we do it again? What do we have to do to pass again? Wouldn't it be awful if we pass last year and then didn't pass this year? And every year after that, I mean, they passed every year, but it never went away. The concern, the worry, the fretting never went away because the stakes were so high. That takes a toll on the student and the teacher. Now my arguing that we should take accountability off the table. No, of course not. We need to be help. Teachers need to be held accountable for their performance as students need to be held accountable for their performance, but I think we've taken it too far. There needs to be some kind of healthy perspective about it and I don't know exactly how to do that except it all comes right back down to on an individual level, you have to do it. You have to do to be healthy, to take care of yourself and to do whatever that means for you. So, do take the stress assessment. If you haven't already, do download the free ebook on stress management strategies and the cheat and or the cheat sheet that I'll offer. I will also provide a link to that particular report from yesterday so that you can see where they're coming from with their 94% of middle schoolers being overly stressed and so many of them not having the coping mechanisms that they need in order to reduce their stress on their own. Um, and it may be for some who may be listening to this message today, it may be that the solution is to look for a different job. If that is the case then I'm here to help with that too. I offer assistance with stress management and stress relief, but I also offer career transition advice for teachers who are ready to leave the classroom. And if that is something you might be interested in, I would invite you to take a look and I'll provide a link in show notes. I'm offering a 14-day free trial of my"Jumpstart Your Job Search 2.0 Group Coaching Program." And what that includes is 14 days, no charge you, you still put in a credit card but for 14 days you can navigate the jumpstart your job search program free if charge. And on the 14th day if you decide you want to keep the program, you'll be charged$87 and then after that, every 30 days over the course of the year,$87 for 12 equal payments. And that allows you to continue to keep the program, to be invited to group coaching calls and to have a unlimited email support as you work your way through the program and start job hunting, looking for a job that may be less stressful than teaching. So if you think you might be ready for a career change, now is the time to start looking or not even just to start looking. You need to understand how the job search process works. You need to understand how to translate your unique, uh, transferable skills from the classroom to a resume that speaks to a job. It isn't related to teaching. And I teach all of that along with cover letter, how to create a stellar LinkedIn profile, how to do the research that you need to do on the jobs that you're interested in, to companies you think you might like to work for, industry you think you might be interested in entering. I also provide a training on how to network, how to rebuild your brand, how to interview. Of course, that's critical and your ultimate success. Um, and, and all of that is included in the jumpstart your job search 2.0 program. So if you want to take it for a spin, kinda like kind of like I'm taking a car out for a test drive to check out the link offered in the notes for the 14 day free trial and see what you think. That's it for today. Thank you for listening to my rant about stress and too much work for teachers and um, the inability of policymakers and politicians to see that they've added too much to teacher's proverbial plates while not taking anything away. And, um, so it's up to you individually to take care of yourself. And that's what I encourage you to do with the resources offered in the show notes today. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, please email at kittyboitnott@gmail.com. Uh, thank you for listening or watching"Teachers in Transition." I'm glad that you're here. I hope you find the information useful. I'll be back next week with a guest special guest that I'm excited about, uh, having a conversation with, um, so the be back next week until then, have a great one. So, there you have it, an episode of"Teachers in Transition." I hope you enjoyed the information and I hope you'll plan to come back. Please subscribe to"Teachers in Transition" so that you can be alerted of future episodes. And let me know if you have any questions or topics that you would like me to specifically cover in a future episode. I'm more than happy to help with individual questions as well. So email me at KittyBoitnott@BoitnottCoaching.com. If you are interested in finding a new career or just enjoying your life more, this is the place to start. Hi, I'm Kitty Boitnott and this is"Teachers in Transition."