Classroom Stress

Is classroom stress affecting your child? Does your child ever come home from school complaining about how much yelling goes on in their classroom?

Do they complain of headaches or feeling nervous or afraid?

Do you hear things like:"the teacher doesn't stop yelling, it's the same thing everyday. She never talks to us, she just yells."

When this first starts happening in the Fall perhaps you assume it's because the teacher is new and wants the class to see that she won't tolerate any nonsense. But, what if the yelling doesn't stop?

Why Do They Yell?

Teachers often complain that their classes are too large and many of the children just don't listen.

They blame parents for not parenting. While this could be debated in some cases, the bottom line is there is far too much yelling in some classrooms and it's stressing our children.

They're coming home with headaches, anxiety and in some cases discouraged. How much learning can actually occur in this type of environment?

How fair is this environment to the majority of children who pay attention and do listen to the teacher?

Teachers are people too

It's not to say that some classrooms aren't difficult. Obviously, teachers are people too and can have bad days.

In the majority of cases, teachers do the best job they can. They work hard and are caring.

There are those who, for whatever reason, are stressed and think yelling in the only way to control the classroom.

However, when the yelling is on a daily basis, it can be too much for young children to deal with.

In the end, it's the children who suffer.

Teachers need to be made aware of the amount of yelling that actually goes on and what this classroom stress is doing to the children.

When confronted with the idea that they yell too much do some deny it? Do others try to justify it? Are there those who say that’s the way you have to be to get the bare minimum done in the classroom?

When parents confront the teacher or principal, does anything change? Does the yelling stop temporarily, only to start up again in time?

How Does This Stress Effect Our Children?

Classroom stress causes some children get to the point that they are afraid to:

-ask to use the washroom

-ask questions

-answers questions

-make mistakes

-move their chair

What Can Be Done?

How does this environment affect children? How is their self-esteem affected?

These are questions that need to be examined to fully understand what the yelling is doing to our children.

Class size is an issue that must be dealt with. Schools boards and districts can’t continue to cram the maximum number of children in the classroom and expect that the children don’t suffer because of it.

More awareness is necessary among teachers so that they realize how much their attitude and words shape the children they see every day.

This quote sums up these thoughts well:

"I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.” ~Dr. Haim Ginott

From Classroom Stress to Teaching