As nursing instructors it is so important for us to be able to get involve in some form of stess reduction management. We not only have to deal with our students, our patients, our co-workers, but our family as well. When we walk into the class room stressed out our students can see it right away, and the rest of the day is down the drain. This inservice was so helpful, we know this but revisiting this topic was very timely.

You are not their friend, buddy or therapist and nor should be their employer, supervisor or subcontractor. I believe in religiously avoiding having any sort of dual-relationship with my students if humanly possible. I am their teacher and nothing more. Being in any type of employment or social situation with a student is undesirable as it creates the potential for a dynamic that "no good shall flow from"--avoid them altogether and you'll both be happier. Example: A fellow professor hired a student (and their team) to paint her house. The professor was unhappy with their work. The student later claimed that the teacher retaliated by giving them a low grade in a class.

Some "cheating" is innocent and reflects novice students' lack of familiarity with the need to properly attribute sources or a misunderstanding of the requirements of needing to do original work. Calling them a "cheater" is counterproductive. Even those who blatantly cheat will be reactive and hostile to the term. Diplomatic word usage is strongly advised until you can determine if they erred out of ignorance vs. out of malice.

"Selling the move" is a professional wrestling term that refers to the need to make the act convincing in order to keep the audience engaged while not actually harming your opponent. In teaching, the term means to convince your students that the subject matter is worth caring about and being involved with; this task is particularly crucial for general education classes like history that students are only taking because they have no other choice. Remember that just because you might love the subject matter, it doesn't mean that they do.

I like to send students who miss deadlines humorous "threatening" emails reminding them to get their work turned or that they will face some wildly improbable but unpleasant consequence as a result. Frequent mention of specially trained ninjas, flying monkeys or the Inquisition (because nobody expects the Inquisition) is usually sufficient to get their attention (or at least a laugh or two).

One of the stresses that I have experienced have ocurred when students fail to apply the basic techniques and skills they learned from previous classes. Even when I review and demonstrate the techniques and skills again for them, they tend to forget what was just covered.

I have been privileged to adopt a consistent routine of quiet reflection usually first thing in the morning. This helps to relax you and set your frame of reference in a positive tone for the rest of the day. The process of meditation will help the individual stay focused on what is essential in their health and their mind. The focus is on the individual. We must realize we cannot control the the thoughts or actions of others. Instead we should strive to deal with stresses and conflicts the best we can without changing others behaviors. The old addage 'kill 'em with kindness' has merit even today.

Most students prefer a roadmap or outline for their day in class. I always write on the board the topic for each hour and identify which topics will require student participation either on their own or in groups. By letting the student know what is expected of them at the beginning of the class, they will have chance to organized and become more efficient in the learning process and ultimately save time during the classroom period.

Stress is not a bad thing in of itself it is the way we cope with it that will determine the effect it has on our lives.

I find that when working with an office mate it helps to be well organized, therefore we both can find our material. Color coding binders, folders and office supplies work well also.

How does one cope with stress? This module have giving many guidelines to cope with stress. Each individual decide which is best for them.

I do agree that procrastenation is on of the drawbacks of time management. I think that as nursing instructors we have to always watch out for this it can really ruin an instructor's time management.

I do not create "buddies" with my students.

I usually walk around the room during a test. I will try to stand in the back of the room during a test. Does this work for anyone? I definitely do not do anything else during an exam.

I do find that they younger learners in my classes are the ones that are the "inattentive" students.

Students that are absent on the day that assignments are due must turn in that assignment the next time that they are in class. If they do not, they receive a "0".

A great idea is to redirect the focus.

I just thought I’d pose a question and my personal response to the topic of the severity of late work punishments and see what others thought on the matter. Is it more important to teach students the age old “deadline” concept by having harsh late grade punishments or is it better to have more lenient punishments that encourage students to still finish their assignments regardless of it being late? During my time as an instructor I have played with a few different approaches to the punishment of late work. At first I gave very harsh punishments. As an example I took half off for being late and zero’s for anything more than week late. I noticed that when the punishment was that harsh the student will simply give up and not even attempt to complete a late assignment as it will feel seemingly meaningless to them at that point. This changed, however, when I took from them only 10% per assignment regardless of how late it was with one restriction. Anything handed out before midterm was due by midterm or it was a zero and anything handed out after midterm was a zero if not turned in by the final. Usually this still encourages the students to finish the work and I have seen some really impressive work from students who were trying to make up for the 10% off they knew they were already getting. Being that the courses I teach are art related, all my grading deals with projects as opposed to papers and tests. Most of the projects are a prerequisite of skill sets that will be needed for the next assignment and so on. When the student misses one assignment it usually throws off the quality of their assignments the rest of the semester. If the late work punishment is mild, usually the student is more encouraged to finish their assignment and thus learn the material. With a harsh late grade policy you can pretty much guarantee the student will just accept the zero and move on, greatly decreasing their ability to learn the material. What do you guys think? I’ll make myself clear and say in no way am I suggesting the removal of late grade punishments, I’m just suggesting that I believe the ease of the punishments are directly related to the completion of late work. I personally find it more important overall to the student’s learning process that they finish all their work rather than reiterating the same harsh life lesson that they should have learned a thousand times before.

As the module stated "stress is between our goals and capabilities." It is true as an instructor that we have many goals to accomplish. We all know trying to accomplish these goals tends to stress most of us to the max. Knowing that these goals needs to be accomplished, the signs of stress is dismissed. We try to deal with it. I would like to do a survey on how many instructors who have high blood pressure? Do most of us just treat this with medication; or do we realize that the stressors we encounter as an instructor causes us to have high blood pressure and try to eliminate some of the stressors at work.

Everyone has there own style. Staying within the accepted boundaries, instructors should avoid the cookie cutter role and be themselves