Stress
It's importamt to identify stressors early on.
Tell me more, Russell. Why do you think it's important? How do you identify stressors early? Who is responsible for the identification? Who's responsible for following up?
I agree early identification is critical to successful intervention. At our school we assign student mentors. Mentors are "instant friends" that help new students find their way around. Unfortunately, we have no mechanism to determine how much difference the mentors make.
Mentors can be a very powerful force for a new student. How are they selected and trained? Who monitors the mentors? Have you thought about splitting your entering classes, with some having mentors and others not? This may provide some data re: the programs effectiveness. Another approach is to simply ask students whether their mentor was important to them.
we have a committee of three individuals and the students and advisors all have input into the selection of the mentors. Training consists of a one to two hour session which each of the three leaders talk about mentor expectations. No we haven;t thought about it although some new students just choose not to even associate with the mentor or advisor, so I guess we could use that info to decide on the effectiveness.
Try matching mentors and students by age and gender where possible. 40 year olds might not like being mentored by 20 year olds.
And, it takes EVERYONE in the building to participate in stress indentification...
Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Records and Directors.
What does your school do to get everyone involved, Diana?
This is a tough one. Stress and the ability to cope with it is in fact part of everyday life. Most faculty feels frustration on one hand because parents and general life experiences should have somewhat equipped our 18+ year old students to deal. On the other hand, teaching them to "never let em see you sweat" creates better future employees and representatives of your school. It's a really tough balance.
As you know, Brandy, employers are expecting our graduates to have the ability to survive in the workplace. Of course, that includes a lot of the “soft skills†like communication, problem identification, decision making, etc. Unfortunately, in many cases entering students come from backgrounds where their role models don't any experience or skill in these areas; they're starting from square one. How do you and your colleagues find that balance that you referenced?
Everyone should be involve since a student may not respond to a particular person. It does not matter who they respond to as long as someone can assist the student and guide them in the right direction.
I think that all members of the staff from instructor on up needs to be watching for stress indicators. It is an on going situation and We have a vast difference in maturity, intellect, financial and motivational factors with in our student body. I think we are doing a good job but we can always do better.
What sort of indicators do you look for, Todd? Do you share your observations with other instructors or support staff?
I would like to share with you an experience I encountered. I had a student that historically had been struggling.
I sat down with her on a daily basis and spoke to her about what I thought she her problems were. With all of the discussions we had, she felt that her mind was just not focusing on the work. My superiors and I suggested that she go to the doctor and eliminate the option that something medically was wrong with her. If she found that her problems were due to stress, we needed to come up with another plan, perhaps changing programs within our school's programs.
After going to the doctor and the emergency room, the doctors concluded that it was, indeed, stress related. As it turned out, this student was not cut out for the program. I suggested that the medical coding program would be a better fit for her. She came in today and signed up for the program. She is excited and thankful she is out of the her my program and on to something she is capable of succeeding in.
My point of the story is: MaxKnowledge RT101 specifically addressed the stress factors that affect retention. "Regardless of the origin of the stress, if the student is either unwilling and/or unable to successfully respond to the issue, they may decide that they can ease their stress level by withdrawing from school. Understanding stress dynamics equips school personnel to intervene more effectively at the point at which a student is formulating his/her decision."
"The challenge is to help the student identify the actual source of stress and develop a remedial course of action before the problem becomes too acute."
I haven't completed the course as of yet, however, what I have completed is very enlightening. It is so important that we nurture positive, constructive, hopeful paradigms among our students.
Although I was not able to retain the student in our program, I was able to find a program in our school that was a much better fit for her. She is very happy she made a change. Her state of mind is now healthy and she feels the burden of stressing over our program has been lifted.
I agree with watching for stress indicators. I use as much positive reinforcement as possible to combat a stressed out student. You’re doing a great job is sometimes all it takes!!!
