RUNNING HEAD: ARTICLE RESPONSE ASSIGNMENT
The ABC’s of Managing Teacher Stress
Stress is common among teachers and seems to be a growing concern. There are many
factors that have caused the stress level to rise among teachers such as teacher workloads,
student behavior, and growing expectations of teachers. Workload stress can come from the large
number of lessons and instructional planning, growing class sizes, and lack of preparation time .
Student behavior has become more disruptive and even aggressive in some instances. Stress can
also come from administration and parents placing high and/or unrealistic expectations on
teachers. This article discusses ways teachers can manage stress by acknowledging the stressors,
behavior modification, and communicating.
Stress comes in different forms with all types of professions. Teachers have to think
quickly and make hundreds of important decisions daily. New teachers usually have a perception
of what their classroom may look like or how it may run, however, the reality of the classroom
may be much different. It can be overwhelming for new and younger teachers entering the
classroom, having several expectations and high demands. “One-third of all teachers report that
they would not enter the field of teaching if they had an opportunity to choose again (Greenberg
1984), and 30 percent of novice teachers exit the profession prior to their fifth year (Darling-
Hammond, 2001). Where it is difficult to determine the percentage of these teachers that are
leaving due to high stress levels, it seems that this could play a large role in teachers leaving the
profession.
A stressful situation that may arise for a teacher with the growing class sizes may have
more students added to their case load despite already having a full classroom. This takes away
from staff and students having an optimal amount of space, increases distractions in the
classroom, and can take important time away from each student. Lack of time and resources can
RUNNING HEAD: ARTICLE RESPONSE ASSIGNMENT
lead to stress in this situation. In this situation the teacher will want to limit unnecessary objects
in the classroom to space students in the best way possible, allowing each their own space,
placed where they can hear instruction and see any important areas such as the whiteboard. It is
important that the teacher in this situation remain calm, unfortunately stressing about the
situation will not change the outcome but will only make it more difficult to get through. Take
some deep breaths, think about time-management, lesson plans, and instruction, and keep these
things in mind when planning ahead.
In the ABC’s of managing stress, the “A” stands for “Acknowledge. “The first way
teachers can manage their stress is to acknowledge what exacerbates their stress levels.” (Nagel,
L. & Brown, S., 2003) It is important to take time to reflect as a teacher and recognize where
stress is coming from, it can be from large class sizes, inadequate resources, a heavy workload,
student behavior, and/or many other things. The “B” is for “Behavior Modification” which is
explained as practices such as exercise and breathing techniques that can help teachers deal with
stress. The third approach, communication, provides an avenue for teachers to prevent stress or,
when that is possible, minimize the impact of stress.” (Nagel, L. & Brown, S., 2003) Body
language is one form of communication and can affect students’ behavior and self-regulation.
“Teaching will always involve some stress.” (Nagel, L. & Brown, S., 2003) The
important thing is how teachers react and deal with the stress they are facing. Stress can be used
as motivation in the classroom for the teacher to find new and improved teaching strategies and
even motivate students in the process. Teachers being taught and learning how to deal with stress
from their job can reduce teacher burnout rates. “The key for teachers is to remember that much
stress is within their control to manage using skills such as we have outlined.” (Nagel, L. &
Brown, S., 2003)
RUNNING HEAD: ARTICLE RESPONSE ASSIGNMENT
References:
Nagel, L., & Brown, S. (2003). The ABCs of managing teacher stress.The Clearing
House,76(5), 255-258.
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-
journals/abcs-managing-teacher-stress/docview/196878004/se-2
Darling-Hammond, L. 2001. The challenge of staffing our schools. Educational
Leadership 58(8): 12-18.
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-
journals/abcs-managing-teacher-stress/docview/196878004/se-2
Greenburg, S. 1984. Stress and the teaching profession. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/liberty.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-
journals/abcs-managing-teacher-stress/docview/196878004/se-2
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