By Tyler Lin
School has always been a stressful time for students, but it’s often the same case for teachers.
“Just as you all are as stressed about grades at six weeks, we’re stressed about grading at six weeks,” said Caitlin Reece, who teaches 9th- and 12th-grade English.
Reece is as stressed as her students when it comes to grades, but the stress also keeps teaching interesting.
Yvette Perez, who teaches Geometry, Algebra 1, and Honors Geometry, struggles with students and their questions.
”I mean, having to answer those questions over and over to the students and then … if I don't manage the students the parents will start calling the principal, then I will start hearing from the principal, so it's just a lot to manage,” Perez said.
Even with all these difficulties, teachers will always try to have a smile on their face. Kent Coffee, who teaches freshman biology, said, “Even though it's called your job, if it's something you enjoy doing it's not really a job, it's not really work.”
Coffee, who always cracks jokes to make students laugh, loves his job and loves it when he sees students figure out the concepts he teaches. “I know life is hard enough,” he said. “Don't take things too seriously. As bad as some things get, you gotta remember there's other people going through a lot harder situations and things could always be worse.”
When it comes to stress, teachers have different approaches to dealing with it.
“I read or I play guitar, those are my kinda two go-tos,” Reece said. “Or I play a lot of Nintendo.”
Coffee does “a lot of stuff outdoors” such as walking or jogging.
“I will go out after school, do between 4 and 5 miles, start off walking, then jog,” he said. “It just helps relieve stresses that build up throughout the day or the week or so. It's very therapeutic for me, it clears my head.”
With a laugh, Perez said that, ironically, work helps her relieve stress: “I guess entering grades and replying to emails and just making sure everything’s done helps reduce the stress because then I don't have to stress about it and that's about it.”
Perez also recommends self care: “It can be as easy as feeding yourself or it can be meditation or exercise, just find something that works for you.”