Managing student stress

Teachers carry the burden of the stresses of their students, whom they strive to care for and help succeed. Teachers are expected to accomodate all of their students, but with the additional effects of the pandemic, this task has proven to be far more strenuous than in years prior.

With remote and hybrid learning environments, the structure of classes often looked drastically different than in the past. Many teachers shifted towards more group work or project-based learning to account for the lack of major assessments.

Lantos said the transition back to a more traditional structure of teaching has evidently been difficult for many students, and as a teacher he has struggled to find a balance between easing students’ stress and pushing for a return to normalcy.

“There’s particular anxiety and stress for students about doing what we teachers would call ‘regular assessments,’ like tests and quizzes. Since last year was mostly on Zoom and mostly group work, there were very few, if any, what we would call, full-on tests. So now that we’re back to school, I feel the stress that the students feel because we’re trying to get back into school as we know it,” Lantos said.

Sophomores have never experienced what many consider to be a ‘normal’ year of high school, so these challenges have been amplified for them. Lantos also said the gaps in students’ learning have been difficult to make up for, especially as a 10th grade teacher.

“Last year was a bust. We teachers who teach mostly 10th graders are finding it a challenge because not only did they lose the continuity of doing school and the expectations of doing school, I find since chemistry has parts of it as math it is like I really have to go over things that in normal years, I wouldn’t have to go over,” Lantos said. “That’s been a stressor since the beginning of the pandemic.”

Gorlin said a crucial part of helping students adjust is understanding how and why they are struggling.

“How do we spot how our peers are feeling or who wants to talk? A lot of students have been really isolated and just feeling out of the social landscape,” Gorlin said.

Hayden said this year, it has been particularly difficult to pinpoint where students are and what they can handle.

“I never get to the end of my to-do list. I’m trying to sort of diagnose why this is happening. I’ve taught long enough that often I can say, ‘I am assigning too much’, or ‘These students are struggling with this’ but it’s actually been a little bit hard to diagnose this year,” Hayden said.

Hernandez said she feels very supported by her students, even though many students are still struggling with readjusting to full time in-person instruction.

“My students are very in tune with my needs. As much as I’m checking in on them, they’re checking in on me. I feel like I have all of my students always being like, ‘Hernandez, how are you today?’ Just that simple question lets me know that they care about me as much as I care about them,” Hernandez said.