7 Things teachers should do to reduce that "End of the year Stress".

Teachers' job can be stressful, but we learned how to handle it our way. :)

We all know how our job as a teacher can be overwhelmingly draining. If you are a teacher, you  know exactly what I am talking about. Humans as we all are, we wanted to get that well deserved weekends and holidays! While we consider ourselves lucky if we get a national holiday one or two in a month but most holidays just don't happen instead we get make up days for the snow days that we wished it didn't happen in winter. Believe me, I always check my calendar and circle the holidays in red!


 It is probably one of the reasons why most people don't want this job because of the very minimal holidays we get during the cycle of academic year. On the other hand, I say that we are still lucky because we have the summer holidays. That, by the way, we all deserve after a tedious 10 months of lesson planning and grading and dealing with the different behaviors of children and parents on some occasions.

That remaining two months before the school year ends could be very very stressful. And so I came up with this list of things that teachers can do to somehow help us reduce stress while doing year end reports and forms to fill out, tons of test papers and students' projects to check and all other things that seem to be never ending. Hope these will help.

1. Listen to your favorite music. I have my earphones on and I have downloaded more than a thousand songs in my phone with all the music that I like from R&B to classical music, Latin music, Filipino music, pop music, etc. Music helps me stay in phase with what I am doing, and helps me focus too. This probably works to most people.

2. Make in between conversations with fellow teachers while at work. BUT pay attention to the time! Conversation is only a way for you to not drain your energy doing one thing straight for 8 hours.



3. Take a trip to the cafeteria and back. Walking can make your blood to get into full circulation  again after long hours of sitting in your desk checking and grading students' work.

4. Get those magazines and books handy. I have two on my desk. When you feel that you had enough for the day, but actually no..you just want to have break but it is not your break time yet because you're not even half way on the pile of tests papers that you need to check. Hey, grab that magazine or that book and read few pages. It will ease that feeling of "is it 4:00 o'clock yet?".

5. Change venue. Sometimes, it feels like I don't want to stay in my classroom to work. What I normally do is take all the urgent tasks that I need to do and work on it in the library, in the section where it is always empty and spend my time working on it. Believe me, you'll get significant amount of work done. 

6. Tidy up your work station! It is always pleasant to sit in your desk in the morning, with all your things in their proper places, rather than looking at piles of tests papers, work books and laboratory reports stack like mountains on your desk and under.

7. Start your day with a SMILE. Yes, I always do. And I believe it can make a difference. I greet students and fellow teachers everyday with a simple hello and a smile. I always feel the need to spread happiness and positivity around, especially like this time of the year when all requirements are set to due.

I can't wait for my most deserved summer break!

And don't forget to put the Philippines in your bucket list. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g294245-Philippines-Vacations.html