Stress, it rises and falls

My stress level is finally dropping after going through the school's re-accreditation process- and I was only minimally involved.

Everyone here was jumping through hoops, trying to get paperwork together for classes and instructors. The students were prepped on what they could expect. Some of them were going to be surveyed. Instructors were asked to prepare highly interactive class sessions instead of relying on book work or lecturing. The building itself was cleaned.

The tension was palpable in the air. I have been questioning if I am any good at this teaching stuff and wondering whether I was going to be observed and judged bled into my post school life, leaving me cranky and on edge.

And the visit itself was a breeze. The committee was largely focused on paperwork. My class was selected to be surveyed but not observed.

The visit did help me organize my thoughts and plans on my classes though. We're wrapping up the term in the next few weeks and I need to work on editing my materials for the next time I teach these courses, putting things in better, more logical order. Revising the syllabus to reflect the assignments I give them and their weights.

And there's not a lot of time.

See? Stress.