I used to teach elementary school before I had children. I loved each of my students and looked forward to teaching them each day but the stress that came from working for my principal was horrible. She was always watching and always on you about something. I can remember her pulling me out of my fifth grade classroom one day to discuss my shoes. She even brought another teacher along so that she could compare our shoes in order to give me an example of what the “correct” footwear looked like. She wanted us to wear solid colored footwear that didn’t show any kind of symbols such as the Nike Swish, etc. She said that the children in our school didn’t have much money and she didn’t want them to look at the teacher’s shoes and feel bad because they couldn’t have name brand shoes like ours. That day I had on a pair of white Fila athletic shoes with a hint of red down the side that said Fila. She brought the librarian with her to point out her solid black shoes no name brand shoes that looked as if they didn’t have any support in them.
I was pregnant and stood on my feet all day in the classroom. I told the principal that I could buy the shoes like the librarian had on and sit at my desk all day or I could wear comfortable athletic shoes and teach the children. She was not fond of my answer and insisted on why I didn’t respect her. She said, “Do you think I treated my principal this way when I was a teacher?” It’s hard to respect someone when they talk down to you and do you wrong on a daily basis. As I said, I loved my students and loved being a teacher, but as for the stress level my principal laid on me, I am very glad to be work from the house these days.
The infographic below is a great way to describe the stress that falls on both the teachers and the students.
Nova Southeastern University Online Master’s in Teaching & Learning