Stress Management for Teachers Online

Course Description

The purpose of this course is for teachers to enhance student performance by minimizing the negative effects of stress in the classroom. Teachers learn an operational definition of stress, study the major research findings on the nature of stress, learn the major theories explaining its impact upon teaching and learning, and conduct a thorough assessment of stress factors operating in their classrooms. This knowledge is then integrated by applying strategies to identify and address specific sources of stress that undermine effective teaching and learning in the classrooms. In addition, teachers identify specific students experiencing debilitating stress and take actions to address these problems and help the student restore personal equilibrium and enhance their performance.

Objectives

• Develop a definition of stress.
• Distinguish between good stress/bad stress
• Identify the primary source of stress
• Define and use mediators to interpret stressors
• Recognize "killer" mediators
• Complete the "Assessment Format for Teachers."
• Assess the interaction among Life Events, Mediators, and Context
• Describe the mind/body connection
• Assess stress signals
• Connect stress to mediator
• List teacher sources of stress
• Assess student stress using tests
• Apply cognitive reappraisal to reduce stress
• Assess David Burn's Ten Forms of Distorted Thinking
• Develop a "Pre-Assessment" instrument
• Initiate a classroom stress management strategy
• Compare and contrast stress reducers
• Construct a Whole School Stress Management approach
• Compare the approach in Chapter Eight with course content
• Complete a Time Utilization Survey
• Connect teacher anxiety to Teacher Support Teams
• Analyze the flight or fight response
• Establish a functional relationship among major concepts
• Identify blocks to learning due to stress
• Assess the concept of problem ownership
• Recognize the need for student/teacher dialogue to reduce stress
• Review long-term stress reducers
• Apply a five-point approach to stress management
• Identify important stress management tips
• Create a Plan of Action

Curriculum Design & Time Requirements

Stress Management is a 13 week 3 credit graduate level or sixty hour professional development course taught online. Modules 1 through 8 will be completed one per week. Modules 9 and 10 will be completed over a five-week period so students will have time to revise and complete the final integration project.

Hardware & Computer Skill Requirements

Students may use either a Macintosh computer or a PC with Windows 2000 or higher. Students should possess basic word processing skills and have internet access with an active e-mail account. Students also are expected to have a basic knowledge of how to use a Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari, Mozilla Firefox etc.

Course Materials

Text: Building Resilience to Stress by R. Hayman Kite. The text and course materials will be provided for all students. In addition, selected Web resources will be read and reviewed.

Final Integration Project
Participants will conduct an assessment of stress factors in their classrooms, design a stress management plan, implement that plan, and report their experiences.

Session Outline

Session 1: The Nature Stress
Contents:

1. An Operational Definition Of Stress
2. Four Theories Of Stress - Person: Environmental Fit Model; Demand: Control Model; Effort: Reward Model; Fight: Flight Model
3. Stress, Survival Instincts And Brain Development
4. Psychosomatic Theory Of Stress
5. Eustress And Distress

Session 2: Sources of Stress
Contents:

1. Mind-Body Dichotomy
2. Psycho Cybernetics And Stress
3. Areas Of Freedom
4. Job Content
5. Work Organization
6. Lack Of Feedback
7. Uncertainty
8. Up The Down Staircase
9. Social Isolation
10. Bad Press
11. Fight - Flight Revisited

Session 3: Assessing Stress
Contents:

1. Identification Of Stress Indicators
2. Self-Assessment
3. Student Assessment (Classroom And Individual)
4. Prototype Questionnaire
5. Analyzing Results
6. Student Performance In Terms Of Measured Stress Level
7. Student Health In Terms Of Measured Stress Level
8. Teacher Health In Terms Of Measured Stress Level

Session 4: Stress Reduction Strategies For Students
Contents:

1. Prevention (Use Cognitive Behavioral Strategies)
2. Timely Reaction (After Assessment)
3. Rehabilitation (Enhancing Well-Being)
4. Changing Perceived Context
5. Changing Expectations (Demand Control Model)
6. Realistic Problem Assessment
7. Matching Strategy With Assessment

Session 5: Stress Reduction Strategies For Teachers
Contents:

1. Whole School Stress Management Action-Plan
2. Prevent, Reduce And Change Organizational Stressors
3. School Stress Review
4. Stress Management Training For Educators
5. Improving Job Satisfaction (Implementing Whole School Stress Management Action-Plan)
6. Effective Dialogue

Session 6: Stress and Learning
Contents:

1. Typical Blocks To Learning - Fear; Threat; Anxiety
2. The Neurochemical System Of Memory
3. The Casual Relationship Between Fear And Anxiety
4. Carl Roger's Explanation Of Perception Of Learning
5. Presentation: Review Of Research Findings On Stress And Learning

Session 7: Stress and Teaching
Contents:

1. The Gordon Method: Who Owns The Problem?
2. Evaluation, Critical Judgment And Stress
3. Acceptance And Stress
4. Action As A Function Of Choice
5. Meditation, Relaxation And Stress Reduction
6. Creativity And Stress
7. Teaching In An Age Of Terrorism
8. Eustress And Teaching
9. No Stress - No Learning

Session 8: Effective Dialogue: A Means Of Reducing Student Stress
Contents:

1. Dialogue Defined (Quotation From Friere)
2. Dialogue As A Human Need
3. Time Management - Fractionalizing Ourselves Into Incompetence
4. The Process Of Interpersonal Communication
5. Listening Skill And Practice
6. Self-Disclosure Skill And Practice

Session 9: School As A Source Of Stress For Students
Contents:

1. The Four Social Groups in Schools:
• Academic Culture
• Elite Culture
• Adapted Youth Culture
• Isolates
2. Social Rejection As A Cause Of Student Stress
3. Teenage Maturation
4. Competition; Sorting; Status; Performance; Testing; Life; Decisions

Session 10: Synthesis
Contents:

1. The Sources Of Stress
2. Assessment Of Stress
3. Strategies To Reduce Stress
4. Coordinating Whole School Stress Management
5. Back-Home Action-Plan
6. Measuring Improved Student Performance (In Stress Free Context)
7. Long-Term Considerations

Grading

		Assignment	Points			Grading Scale
		Forum Participation	30			100 – 93	A
		Reading & Reviews	30			92 – 85	B
		Final Integration Project	40			84 – 77	C
		Total Points	100

Student Requirements

	1.	Participation: Participation in all Forum activities and dialogue with colleagues.
	2.	Reading Assignments: Students will complete all assigned reading in the textbook, Web sites, and research articles or best practices and answer questions in the appropriate Forum thread.
	3.	Culminating Activity: Final Integration Project: Participants will conduct an assessment of stress factors in their classrooms, design a stress management plan, implement that plan, and report their experiences.

Student Academic Integrity

Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by our partnering colleges and universities and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Register

To register to take TEI's Stress Management for Teachers Online course, go to the Course Registration page.