"Get Ready! Get Set!....."

                                My Teacher's Space Motto:  "KEEP CALM and TEACH ON" 

                                               

"Get ready, get set....."

Teachers spend weeks before school starts preparing because when the bell sounds and students start pouring into the classroom, there is no time to "get ready."  It's full speed ahead!    

After spending the last two weeks of summer vacation, walking up and down two flights of stairs, carrying armloads of school supplies and decorations, as well as balancing a head full of ideas collected from Pinterest and teacher blogs over the summer, I'm certain it isn't a dream because surely I would have awakened by now, right?

Getting back into the everyday routine of "back to school" is not only hard for students, but often, it is a time of uncertainty and anxiety for teachers, as well.  The frustrations teachers face are diverse from year to year and from place to place, but more often than not, teacher "stress" is the norm, not the exception for teachers everywhere.

Waiting for an on-going maintenance issue to be corrected in your classroom or waiting for more textbooks, workbooks etc. to waiting for technology to be "connected" and usable, all can contribute to a teacher's stress at the beginning of a new school year. 

Whenever you have a myriad of things to do, one more thing can seem like a huge weight giving you an overwhelming feeling that everything is spiraling out of control.

Even though I consider myself a veteran teacher with twenty-three years experience, it's still the same.  Obviously, I've learned to react a bit more calmly through the years, but the stress is still there.  So, what can a teacher do to alleviate the inevitable stress that, more often than not, comes with a new school year?

I certainly don't have the panacea, but I have learned a trick or two over the years.  I try to think of it as expected stress, and stress, when expected, can often be channeled into positive adrenaline, and let's face it, when you are expecting something, it's not quite as daunting as when it sneaks up on you.

My wish for all the educators for this upcoming school year is to realize that you aren't alone, when you feel overwhelmed.  The teachers and administrators surrounding you are most likely feeling the same way, even if they look like they have everything under control.  Most likely, your neighbor thinks you have everything under control, as well.   I like the following quote from S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders:

        “Rat race is the perfect name for it,' she said. 'We're always going and going and going, and never   asking where. Did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? So that you couldn't want anything else and then started looking for something else to want? It seems like we're always searching for something to satisfy us, and never finding it. Maybe if we could lose our cool we would.”

― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

Note:  To "lose our cool" can be interpreted two ways.  Obviously, one interpretation is to get angry, but the kind, I believe, Hinton is speaking of in this quote is to lose the "illusion" that we have to always look as if we have everything together.  Maybe if we communicated more with those around us, we would find out they are going through the same stresses and problems we are.  Obviously, as teachers, we have to maintain a certain degree of composure, but sometimes it helps to take some time to identify with our colleagues, which can, incidentally, relieve some of our own stress.