Teaching is one of the most stressful jobs. There are so many requirements and expectations put on teachers. Add this to the negative student behaviors and lack of support and it's a recipe for teacher burnout. Use the 5 easy ways to reduce stress in teaching:

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Track your stressors

If you are feeling overly stressed by school or the number of hours you are spending outside school still working on it, the first thing I want you to do is to start tracking your stressors. Keep a journal for a week or two to identify which situations create the most stress. After you have identified the situation, now it's time to write about how you respond to them. Record your thoughts, feelings and information about the environment, including the people and circumstances involved, the physical setting and how you reacted. Taking notes can help you find patterns among your stressors and your reactions to them which will be a good starting place for helping reduce the amount of stress you're having at work.

5 tips for reducing stress while teaching:

1. Start Your Day off Right

After scrambling to get everyone ready and off to school, battling traffic, dropping kids off at daycare, etc- you're most likely already feeling completely stressed before you even start your day of teaching. In fact, you may be surprised by how much more reactive to stress you are when you have a stressful morning. If you can start your day off organized, with a common routine and in a better headspace, you are going to start your teaching with a much better mindset.

2. You Can’t Be All Things to All People—Control Your Time

I think this is one of the hardest things for teachers. We are led to believe that we should be able to do ALL the things ALL the time but the truth is that all that does is leads to burnout. It's okay to set boundaries and say no to being on extra committees and activities that are not mandatory per your contract. Obviously there are mandated meetings and activities you have to partake in but do not feel guilty for saying no to the ones that aren't required.

3. Prioritize and Organize

Set a timer for 5-10 minutes, write down ALL of the things that you need to get done. Once you have them written down, put them in order from most important to least. Once you have it organized, it will seem much more manageable. Focus on the first 2-3 tasks and set deadlines for when they need to be done by.

4. Problem Solving

Problem-solving is a coping strategy that involves taking specific steps when approaching a roadblock or challenge. These steps include defining the problem, brainstorming potential solutions, ranking the solutions, developing an action plan, and testing the chosen solution. It's similar to organizing and prioritizing but instead of your to-do list, it involves any active problems you are facing.

5. Form Positive Relationships

I had a professor that preached this almost EVERY class. Relationships are key.. Students won't learn from someone they don't like or that they don't trust. What about your admin and coworkers? If you don't have a positive relationship with them, work will be stressful. My biggest suggestion, is start actively listening to them. Ask them about their lives and then actually listen. Look at them, provide positive body language while they are talking, etc. It will not only lessen your stress, it will begin to boost the whole buildings morale.

I hope you have found these tips to be helpful. If you are looking for other posts about avoiding teacher burnout, you can find them here: