Stress should not be taken for granted. It should be addressed properly. It may greatly affect how you think, what you do and how you feel about your family, other people and most especially about yourself. Indeed, sometimes stress could be lethal.
I had been in the teaching profession for more or less eight years now. As idealistic as the newbies in the teaching field, I really thought that teaching is that simple. But I was wrong. Teaching young children is not that easy. It requires a lot from us. It needs the courage, dedication, commitment, great efforts and even our hearts just to perform the duties and responsibilities that our job calls. Yes, with all those things that teachers are asked to do, sometimes it would lead to too much stress on our part.
Why am I talking about this?
For how many weeks now, my news feed on my social media has been full of resentments, ill-feelings of my colleagues towards our department. Well, I really can't blame them. Even I, myself, would agree with them at some points.
I actually feel saddened about the things that are happening in our teaching field.
See related links here:
http://www.philippinesbasiceducation.us/2018/07/news-of-newly-hired-school-teacher-at.html?m=1
It was said that this newly-hired teacher has committed suicide because of too much stress from work. She was a teacher in our Division. It was actually the second time that we heard a news about teachers committing suicide just near my place. So, we are really affected by this.
One teacher even hanged herself outside her classroom.
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See link below:
As you can see, teachers are bombarded with stress and pressure from our work which sometimes could lead to a certain death.
Just recently, a newly-hired reacher in our town expressed his thoughts on giving up his career by submitting a resignation letter. He was just in the field for one week yet he already felt tired and fed up with all the things that teachers need to do and with all the reports that we needed to submit instantly.
Yes, there are many things that our job requires us to do, but are those reasons enough to commit a crime? I am not here to realy judge those people who easily give up. I just would like to express my thoughts about these issues.
Maybe some would ask what do teachers need to do that could put on huge weight on our shoulders. Let me tell you some of them:
We teach children in school.
In teaching the kids, we need to prepare at least 7 leasson plans everyday for monograde levels and at most 24 lesson plans for multi-grade classes. Then, we need to prepare instructional materials for each subjects. So basically, most teachers especially those newly-hired ones would sleep very late.
And because the Department is encouraging us to be 21st century teachers, we are also asked to use multimedia in delivering instructions. So, another task would include preparing powerpoint presentations and downloading videos for instructions which could eat up our supposed to be rest time at home.
We provide our own tools needed for multimedia aided instructions.
To be 21st century teachers, we need to provide laptops, projectors, televisions, printers which we use to facilitale learning in school. Good for those who were able to solicit funds to provide those things but some would buy them on their own through lending money from banks via salary deductions just to offer the best to our learners. So, the tendency is, less salary will be received by those teachers which could greatly affect their way of living.
For a Teacher I whose basic salary is only more or less 20,000 a month, this would really be a burden. Our salary cannot really suffice all our needs from food, education, utilities, bills, transportation and all those basic needs. Even our instructional materials used in school are taken from our own pockets. From manila papers, bond papers, even with ballpens, papers and pens of our underprivileged children in school. That is how we extend our pockets with our kids in school.
Most teachers are also stressed with classroom observations and evaluations with school heads.
Classroom observations are usually done by school heads and master teachers to help them improve their teaching and to provide them with technical assistance. It is done monthly or even weekly and we are rated with our performance. So teachers tend to be pressured every now and then especially when it is a surprise observation.
Classroom evaluation would require us to comply with all the requirements listed on the checklist which would of course require us to spend lots of money just to improve our classrooms because it will be rated and would reflect in our performance.
Lots of urgent reports are needed to be complied ASAP!
Some of these reports are:
SF 1, SF 2, SF 3, SF 4, up to SF 10
Form 138, Form 137
Monthly accomplishment reports
Narrative reports in every activities
AIP, SIP
Reports for evaluation:
School-based Management Level of Practice
Eco-Friendly
Gawad-KALASAG (Preparedness)
and many more...
As you can see, our job does not only stop in merely teaching our kids in school. We need to do many more things for our school as required by the Department.
What makes me sad is the fact that sometimes we even forget to spend quality time with our own family because of our work. We spend our free time checking papers of our children, planning our lessons and doing other things.
And for me, we are really paid low. But good thing the administration is promising us of an increase in our salary which I really don't know when would be granted or if it will really be granted.
So as you can see, there are lots of things that teachers really need to do. So I can understand those who would just quit.
I know our job can be so stressful but this is our job and we need to fully accept it. We need to do our best because as what they say, this is our bread and butter.
So, we shouldn't let stress and even pressure defeat us. Let's fight it through doing the things that we love and being with the people whom we love.
We should think that we are always greater than STRESS itself. Let us not ruin ourselves because of stress. Stress is anywhere and all people experience it. So, we just need to find ways on how to really cope up with it.
Thanks for reading.
Love,
@yanzel4lyf ❤
I heard and read about all of these. Sad truth but engaging to death is not the key to solve all of these. I just hope they are the last and no more add-on to the number of teachers committing suicide not unless they will just send their resignation and look for another job.
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I ahve read the first one sis but the second not yet. My mother is a retired teacher. People were expecting us, her children to follow her steps or my father who used to be a policeman. Never in our dream. Saw them always in pressure especially with the endless lesson plans.
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Hi..we're sorry for the situations you are all in. If death is the answer for some teachers, it sounds feasible to change profession if this is a national issue. Instruction materials must be provided by the school..or at least must be reimbursed.
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