Student Stress Not Just For Kids Anymore

I have never been one to let my work overwhelm me. At least I thought I wasn't. That has changed over the past few weeks, though. I can honestly say that this is the most I have been stressed out in a very long time. I am entering my fifth month working towards a master's degree in technology education and the workload of my own school work is starting to combine with my other responsibilities to make life extremely hectic. My job and student responsibilities are starting to overlap in a perfect storm of super-heavy workload.

With the end of the school year I find myself racing to make sure that my students have all the information they need to show mastery of course standards in preparation for final exams. Our staff seems to have a ton of pointless meetings that take away from planning periods, and our administrators are piling on new work seemingly daily.

Soccer season has just come to a close and wrapping up the season becomes more time consuming each year. Equipment collection is a daily hassle, and preparing for the team banquet is a lot of work. Spring practice for football also cranks up this week with practices both before and after school. Preparing for those practices can be more time-consuming than daily class lesson plans.

To add to all of that fun, I have just started a new course in my master's program. With these eight-week courses, I feel like we have to move on to a new course just as soon as I get the hang of the previous one. I enjoy the content and what I am learning, but the quick course times and schedules can be difficult to keep straight.

I know there are other educators out there that are having similar issues. What do you do to cope? How do you handle the "race to the finish" in May? What's the best way to balance your own schooling along with your regular work load? Let me know what you think. I'm open to any and all advice.