Playing soft, relaxing music when feelings of frustration are approaching can have a beneficial effect for both teacher and students. Some teachers proactively play soft music during independent study time.
Displaying posters throughout the classroom of attractive destinations can help keep you calm. You might put up pictures of beautiful beaches, snowy mountains, green valleys, ski resorts, or tropical islands to give yourself—and your students—opportunities for mini mental vacations.
Most teachers have certain lessons they truly enjoy teaching. When feelings of frustration or stress are approaching, try modifying your lesson plans and teaching a lesson that not only meets the student learning goals but also brings you pleasure.
Sometimes just taking a short walk around the school can be relaxing and can head off feelings of stress or frustration. This can also help students relieve pent-up energy. For instance, there may even be a way to integrate the walk into your current curriculum by turning it into a nature walk or a service project (e.g., picking up litter).
Difficult students can be a major cause of frustration. Allow yourself to ask for help by asking a neighboring teacher to take a difficult student for a short time. This strategy is one that you should set up ahead of time, making certain that your colleague is agreeable to this arrangement. Offering to do the same for the other teacher is a good way to begin using this strategy.
Strategically assigning independent reading time to students is another way to calm the classroom down and provide you with a break when frustration raises its ugly head.
For some teachers, one source of stress or frustration is a messy desk, submerged in various unfinished tasks. If you are one of these teachers, an easy way to decrease frustration is to clear off your desk and take time to organize your work area.
Frustration and stress often disappear when a supervisor or peer lets you know they value and appreciate your work. Knowing which colleagues you should visit to help validate your work is another technique to use in lowering levels of frustration and stress. Sharing staff duties can help too, as frustration and stress often occur when a teacher feels overwhelmed and behind. You should let your colleagues know you are willing to cover some of their duties and also let them do the same for you. Also, sharing other ideas with teachers on frustration- and stress-reducing techniques is a way to increase your repertoire of strategies.
Zehm and Kottler (1993) mention additional stress- and frustration-reduction strategies, such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle with good sleeping patterns, free of alcohol and drugs. They also advocate continued training and professional growth tasks, such as varying teaching assignments, taking a sabbatical, having a faculty exchange, engaging in team teaching, supervising a student teacher, going back to school, conducting field trips, leading research projects, writing grants, and instigating technology projects. In addition, they suggest keeping a journal as a reflective strategy to help deal with stress and frustration.
By: Melanie T. Tacaca | St. Francis II Elementary School
