Ways to Stress Less While Teaching Art

I surely don’t need to explain the stress that can come with teaching a large number of students in a variety of different media and styles while keeping up with displays, clubs, and events—that’s the challenge of an art teacher. However, there are a few intentional things that I think can be really helpful in preventing stress within the realm of art education, and hopefully some apply to your situation. Ultimately, your students will remember not only the art skills you taught but also how you taught it. Were you generally peaceful and happy? Or were you a chaotic and perfectionistic teacher who never asked for help? Let this be a reminder to us all to seek help, let the little things go, and enjoy our jobs!

Ask Your Students

I think sometimes we think we need to do everything ourselves, but students (yes, even the older ones) love to help. Whether it’s putting up displays, organizing materials, or deciding what lesson to do next, students learn a great deal through helping and my students tell me they honestly enjoy it. Start voicing what you need to get done (or write it somewhere in the classroom) and explain to students that if they’d be willing to do that task, you’d appreciate their help! That’s honestly all it took for me. If I was ever deciding what lesson to teach or was between multiple ideas, I just ask the class and get their feedback which usually solidifies a plan and meant I didn’t have to think circles around it. Students gain a great deal from helping with displays, especially if you think out loud as you decide where to place things, how to create a good composition for a space, and what works compliment each other. All in all, students love to have their voice heard and feel like the classroom and school is theirs too.

Collaboration
Asking a coworker for help is often harder for us to do because we know how much work everyone has on their plate. However, there are many times that things come up in which collaboration would benefit everyone and someone just needs to be the spark!

If you have an art teacher to collaborate with, can you plan lessons together to save time? Can you both can be setting up or taking down a display together? If not, even having a teacher buddy nearby that can lend an ear of hand makes such a huge difference.

Letting The Rest Go

I think the biggest factor in maintaining a healthy balance lies in leaving work at work. Don’t have your work email on your phone. When you leave school, try not to think about school. If you couldn’t get something done during the day, maintain the conviction that it will have to get done tomorrow. I think the temptation to work at home comes when there is something we feel is necessary to do for the next day. However, if you don’t do that thing, and get there the next day without it being done, what is the worst that can happen? That you need to give your students work time so you can finish preparing something? Again, that leads to my first point. If you need to finish a rubric to show students for a project the next day, can you plan instead on having students help write it up? This scenario would benefit students as well! In the end, I think as you intentionally stop working when you leave work, you’ll stress less and find out that what seemed like a big deal to finish isn’t as important as your wellbeing.