Stress Busting

Father of three, Michael Papworth has taught in schools for twenty years. He runs workshops on "Taming Teenagers" and "Overcoming Underachievement" and runs his own training and consulting company, Accelerated Learning, Mathematical Thinking and TeacherTraining.

• Part 1 About Stress: What is stress?; How do we get stressed? What's particular about teaching?; How does stress affect us?; Acute stress and chronic stress; What are the dangers of chronic stress?. Part 2 Reduce your stress with ARC: The meaning of ARC (Avoid, Reframe, Cope); The 80-20 law (80 per cent of the trouble at school is caused by 20 per cent of the pupils); How to avoid stressors - problem children, huge amounts of paperwork; How to reframe stressors - seeing pupils, colleagues and workload in a different light; How to cope with stressors - being physically and mentally prepared. Part 3 Physical resilience: Introduction - how to use the below techniques while continuing with a busy lifestyle; Breathing; Nutrition; Weight; Excercise; Rest; Deep muscular relaxation. Part 4 Mental resilience: Introduction; Creating a calm switch - in the staffroom, classroom, car park etc; The sanctuary - finding a place to really relax; Self-speak - have a positive self attitude; Music - music in the classroom can be calming for everyone; Mental imagery - think positive; Meditation - letting go of school; Journal keeping - get problems into perspective.