Genius Hour Reflection 2

As I have continued to research and explore new ways to stress less, my life has become surprisingly more stressful. As the school year ramps up and the workload becomes heavier than ever, I'm finding it harder and harder to find time to devote to my Genius Hour Project. However, this time crunch has taught me an important lesson in stress-management; the importance of prioritizing. As a fifth year concurrent education student, I have a lot of experience with juggling an over-full-time course load and have yet to master how to handle it in a healthy and effective way. Each year, I spread myself too thin and finish off the year exhausted, unhealthy and in desperate need of a vacation. This year, I wanted to change things not just for myself but for my future students as well. When I look back on my educational career, I can recall times as early as the second grade when I was stressed due to schoolwork. This is the last thing I want for my future students. When I consider different strategies to deal with stress-management, I constantly find myself coming back to the importance of prioritizing. When I decide to go for a run, I'm dedicating precious time to my mental and physical health over time that could be spent on schoolwork. However there are times when mental health trumps academic success, and it's important for teachers to provide students with the necessary skills to find stress management strategies that work for them. An important stress management strategy that can be beneficial for all students is time management. Regardless of which strategy, hobby, or activity a student uses to de-stress, they must learn how to manage their time and dedicate time to both work and play effectively. Here is website that describes the top 15 time management apps and tools. Using apps and digital tools in the classroom can be extremely beneficial because they're usually free or inexpensive and many schools today provide classrooms with digital tools such as Chromebooks and iPads. Using digital tools also provides students the freedom to explore and discover a variety of stress management and time management tools. Every student is different and a strategy that works for you might not work for all of your students. I believe first and foremost a teacher should focus on time management to help their students to use stress management strategies effectively - this is to say in a way that positively affects their mental health without negatively affecting their academic goals.