No Stress Learning: The Inspiration

No Stress

This year I was blessed to serve our community as one of the middle school wrestling coaches. One day after practice I informed my other coach on the dozens of wrestling moves we needed to teach in our short eight week season. After ten minutes of my analysis (and non-stop talking) of the most important techniques I was told by my colleague, “Coach…no stress my brother. We are going to have a great season and the kids will do great.” I thought to myself, “NO STRESS?!?! How are we going to be ready for competition?” I actually felt more stressed after hearing this idea of having no stress. However, when I saw how calm my colleague said, “no stress,” and brainstormed solutions to help the kids, I kept an open mind.

When I encountered challenging moments that required me to help meet the needs of my special education students in the classroom I began telling myself, “no stress.” When feelings of uncertainty concerning the management of a student's behavior or the fear of a student not passing their state exam entered my mind I said to myself, “no stress,” and found myself feeling calmer as I explored avenues to meet the needs of my students. This concept of no stress was helping me stay grounded and patient.

I do not believe that we should say, “no stress,” and disregard the challenges we face as special educators. Saying this statement can be used as a technique to help ground our feelings, make us stay calm, and be less reactive in our decision making. Ultimately, allowing us to have patience with our students and develop effective solutions to help meet their unique needs. So next time you are met with that feeling of uncertainty of not finishing the curriculum on time or the frustration of that student who has not completed their homework (again) just say…“no stress.”