The Nurturing Teacher

Managing the Stress of Caring

By (author) Kjersti VanSlyke-Briggs Foreword by Stephanie Paterson

Publication date:

16 February 2010

Length of book:

116 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

242x162mm
6x10"

ISBN-13: 9781607093978

The Nurturing Teacher tackles the concerns of stressed teachers. Whether from nurturance suffering (stress related to caring for students) or from the piles of paperwork yet to be tackled, this text helps the reader sort through the causes of stress, the emotional, physical and social reactions to stress and how one can begin to plan a stress management plan. The book includes a historical overview of feminist education, the perception of caring teachers in the media and a look at emotional labor and the impact on the teacher.

Chapter 1 Foreword
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 How We Came to this Place: Emotional Labor and Stress
Chapter 4 Coping with Nurturance Suffering
Chapter 5 Case Studies
Chapter 6 Revive Yourself
Chapter 7 Continuing to Care: Nourish Yourself and Your Classroom
Chapter 8 Honor Your Work

Kjersti VanSlyke-Briggs discusses why we too often tend to make ourselves miserable by taking our professional life and students' problems to heart. She begins by helpfully explaining how cultural expectations for teachers to be saints or superheroes have developed historically and are perpetuated in the popular media. Teachers can learn from the discussions that follow several brief case studies emphasizing several plans of action from individual coping strategies to collective, group support. Chapters discuss both immediate and long-term plans for nourishing our teaching selves. I cannot imagine a teacher who, after reading this book, would not gain insight about how to feel better about teaching.