Imagine this. Your district supervisor walks through the door ten minutes before classes start for the day and requests an on-site inspection visit to see how you handle stress at school. You get up from your desk and lead the way with confidence.
As you leave the office, you see hallways flowing smoothly with students. You hear gentle voices in the air and you feel a comfortable peace. Despite the smile that tugs hard at the corners of his mouth, he maintains his dignity as he leads the supervisor down the hall. In each room, he pauses, opens the door, and presents a serene atmosphere. You don’t even hesitate in the baths, sure none of the five senses will be offended.
You are in a dream, right?
No, it is reality, the kind of reality that I learned to create when I had the privilege of being a principal and managing stress at school.
Innovative ways to manage stress in schools
Principals must manage stress in schools, but how can they do it? With drugs, guns, and a host of more common stressors, how can you expect me to handle stress in schools? How can you master all the stress management techniques in schools?
Let’s look at some innovative ideas to get you started. For the sake of readers around the world, I will use plain English on purpose.
1. Value of convictions
Top managers have the courage of their convictions. They strongly believe that a principal should manage stress in schools. They exercise the courage of that conviction.
Make managing stress at school a priority. Set a goal for when and how stress will be managed at school. Don’t let anything or anyone stop you from reaching that goal.
2. Be proactive
Thought directors are proactive in learning how to manage stress in schools. They don’t wait until stressors create massive anxiety. They hope to handle stress and they set out to do so.
Take steps to manage stress before you are born or in infancy. Find ways to avoid stress. Meet him head-on. Involve school staff and students in proactive efforts.
3. Drive your example
Successful principals manage personal stress and hope to manage stress in schools. The best way to help students and school staff manage stress is to practice stress management techniques yourself.
Control your schedule and workload. Force yourself to take a 5-minute break every hour to stretch and breathe deeply. Maintain an uncluttered office with calm pictures and soft, gentle music.
4. Manage your atmosphere
Capable principals recognize the importance of a positive atmosphere in managing stress in schools. They know that noise and confusion are stressors that need to be controlled.
Reduce noise in hallways and bathrooms by broadcasting quiet classical music through your public address system. A school that introduced classical music to a building full of rude and noisy students dramatically reduced noise and brought tangible peace to the daily atmosphere. Use positive words and phrases on signs, serene tapestries to manage stress at school.
5. Manage security
Wise principals recognize that one way to manage stress in schools is to provide safety and security. They seek to address all areas, including but not limited to bullying, hazing, alcoholism, terrorism, violence, drugs, and safety on the playing field or on campus.
Assess your school’s security needs. Ask students to anonymously list the security issues that concern them. Ask the parents for their perspective. Have an independent consultant evaluate your school. Then take steps to monitor safety inside and outside the school. Reducing safety concerns is a great way to manage stress in schools.
6. Clarify expectations
Distinguished principals, like great corporate CEOs, clarify the expectations of students, teachers, and other school personnel. They provide written job descriptions in addition to regulations, knowing that when everyone knows what to do, it helps to manage stress in schools.
Students, in particular, are likely to respond positively to written descriptions, rules, and work schedules. Draw a parallel to the world of work and point out that your school is a workplace for all concerned. When everyone does what they expected, according to your job descriptions, things go smoothly and you handle the stress in schools.
7. Grant control
Intelligent principles know that a vital human desire is control. Lack of control is a stressor. The more control you can give students and school staff, within reason, the more capable you will be of handling stress in schools.
Grant a measure of control in matters such as discipline. Let students choose between staying after school, tutoring a younger student, or reading to very young students. Grant a measure of control on academic goals. Students who set their own goals with guidance will work with less stress than those who have goals set.
8. make neon boundaries
As expert directors, they know that limits are vital. As much as students may feign annoyance, they are more peaceful with boundaries. They don’t need to be fences or walls, but instead make behavioral boundaries shine as brightly as if they were tall, tangible neon-painted walls.
Boldly set inescapable limits on unwanted behavior. Practice zero tolerance in a loving way: tough love. Students and teachers who have clear boundaries and stay within them have less stress. It takes a firm hand to erect these limits, but they will be indispensable in your efforts to manage stress at school.
The eighth point is perhaps the most powerful tool in your effort to manage stress in schools.
You are probably familiar with the “boundary” study done many years ago with a kindergarten class. The schoolyard in the study was surrounded by a chain-link fence. The children were allowed to play anywhere on the playground, and they did, right up to the fence. Every day, they ran and played happily, using every inch of the large playground.
Then the fence was removed. The children went out to play as usual, but soon became stressed. They sat or stood near their teacher. When he urged them to run and play, some wandered away, but not very far. Some began to cry and clung to their teacher. When he again urged them to run and play, several did, but none strayed very far from the teacher. The great playground had become terrifying because they no longer knew where the boundaries were.
How do principals handle stress in schools? There are a myriad of ways, but these should get you started.