As a teacher in a public secondary school teaching 1,800 students coupled with being a class teacher, Emis Officer( in charge of the school's record), edupack officer(in charge of computational results of the students, database and so on), Secretary(typing and printing all official documents) and teaching Js1 -Js3 ICT subject, all through the session, facing a tedious workload,classroom management, shouting from morning till the close up is a stress filled job for me. But, with the stress align with my kind of work, I still have to find my ways of reducing the stress. God forbid, if anything happens, schools would not close as a result of a teacher collapsing or lost his/her life in the process of being hardworking.
Do you handle it well?
Yes, I'm someone who is very hardworking and diligent at doing my work as expected. I hate to be found wanting in the areas of assignments or tasks given to me. I create a schedule and set realistic deadlines to avoid feeling overwhelmed. I multitask under any circumstances. Even though, I have complained to my supervisors about my workload and the challenges I'm facing. However,the only solution is if the government can employ more teachers to reduce the workload of some teachers.
Has it lead to health discomfort?
As a result of standing for too long, my legs are always hurtful, most especially, whenever I get home. I visited a doctor who told me to reduce my way of standing for too long. But, it is not in the ethics of teaching profession to seat while teaching. God help me🙏
Has it caused problems within the family?
No. My family understand the nature of my job.
Would you prefer to do your office work from home?
As a teacher, I don't think I would like to work from home. Why? Because I don't want a digital classroom to replace the physical classroom. The technology is advancing day by day and I think it will still come to that level whereby there won't be any physical classroom but before that, I want to see the result of what I'm teaching immediately. There was a time of COVID-19, we tried working from home as a teacher in Nigeria government school, hmm! Did it work? Did we achieve the aims and objectives? No!
We were faced with difficult challenges in the areas of the students. Some students not having Mobile phones to use, some were living with grandparents who are illiterate, some have no data coupled with no electricity. As for the teachers, we battled with electricity to use and no reinforcement from the government.
So teaching from home is not advisable until many things are inorder 👌
How do I handle the stress of being a teacher with high population of students?
My self care,to be a teacher is not an easy thing coupled with waking up very early and sleeping late at night Monday to Friday. As sides from the days of going to work, Saturdays and Sundays are for myself. I usually engage in activities like relaxation, partying ,exercise, meditation on the word of God,spending quality time with my family and also reading.
I have a mindset of work and life balance, I prioritize clear boundaries between work and personal life and I tried to avoid bringing work-related issues home. Bringing work related issues home can hinder my rest, self-care and leisure activities. I try to organize my to-do-lists and prioritize them very well. Stress is not a good friend to the body.
Identifying the source of the stress, anytime I have things bothering my mind or am having pimples or going through mood swings, it's away of knowing I'm under stress and the next thing I do is to tackle the source of the stress,and reduce whatever that contribute to it. Sometimes, this has a way of relieving stress.
Taking enough water has a way of helping me. As a teacher, we talk a lot so this requires, we must drink water to stay hydrated. I eat lots of fruits too, take a break from standing to sit sometimes, stretch my body, fingers and back after working on the computer system for too long. I'm a teacher and a Computer operator.
📝Contrary to question 1, despite how strong your work may be, do you take it as an escape from the everyday tasks of the home?
Despite the tight schedules of my job most time, I still handle my house chores as expected. I wake up 4am everyday to prepare my children for school, both are still in primary schools, take them to school every day before heading to my place of work. Then, I pick them in the evening back home too and immediately we got home, I will bath them, prepare their food and attend to their homeworks. After that, enter the kitchen again for dinner, feed them and prepare them to sleep. And I must finish all chores,like doing the dishes, wash their used uniforms and sweep before finally retiring to my bed, all this done can be 10-11pm at night. I am type of person who hates to be unstructured 👌
With all these house chores and the likes, my health is paramount to me. I live to work not work to live. I practice the three A's which are Avoid, Adapt and Alter.
All images are mine
My participation in the #ladiesofhive weekly contest. All thanks to @marivic10 for amazing topics for the week 👍
Thank you for reading my blog today, I would appreciate your feedback in the comment section.
Yours in 💕
Wes & Grindan