What if you were assigned 10+ assignments per week, with no time for rest or relaxation? Read this story and learn how students in high expectancy schools deal with monitor their workloads. Learning these lessons will help you be continually stressed out by their workload or burnt out in school. About 64% of the students at SHA said in a recent poll by the journalism class that their mental health interferes with their academics at least half the time. The amount of workload that burns out a student changes from person to person.  “While there’s no one-size fits all approach,” said Mr. Houpert, “it’s important to give everyone a chance to succeed by having the weight of expectations/workload set just right for them.” 

1. What is burnout? Burnout is a term used to describe a state of work-related stress. It affects you in many ways including increased anxiety and depression and makes it hard for you to do what you are supposed to. “Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.” According to helpguide.org “It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.” If you feel like this frequently or all the time, then you might be burnt out or about to be. There are many ways to deal with burnout. It’s fine if you are burnt out, but you can’t let it control your life and you need to tell people if you are struggling. 

 2.How do you know if your work is too difficult for you? This is different from being burned out because burnout is when you are exhausted by your workload. You can find the work to be too challenging but not be exhausted by the amount or stressed about it to the point of breaking down. Work is too hard for you if you don’t understand it at all or how to even do it. “What is “too hard” for a given person or any given persons on any given day depends on a lot of factors including the person’s mood and current experiences,” According to Mr.Eichenlaub a teacher who helps and tutors’ students with their writing assignment “in addition to their habit of reacting to challenging assignments.” He is saying that what’s too hard for a person depends on their situation and may change on any given day. 

3.How do you get outside support for your work when you are really struggling? If you want outside support for your work or life in general, all you have to do is ask. I have trouble asking for help, but when I do, the teachers always do the best they can to help me in whatever situation I am in.“The school does attempt to help me and other students with mental health.” said Alyiah Mohamed “There are multiple counselors and teachers who provide safe spaces for me and other students to vent cry or help us with our work if we need it.” The teachers and counselors help you with your work and let you let out your emotions if you just ask for it.

4. What do you do when your work is too difficult for you? Besides the obvious things like asking your teacher for help or getting a tutor, this is how to do difficult work on time before your due date. Like getting better time management skills where you put aside a couple of hours a day after school to just get your work done or studying. When you are doing that don’t sit on your bed or in a place where you can get easily distracted. Sit in a quiet place where you can do nothing but focus on your work. Make sure that you take a 15–20-minute break every hour. “Tackle the hardest assignments first.”  According to Nemours KidsHealth “It’s tempting to start with the easy stuff to get it out of the way. But you have the most energy and focus when you begin. Use this mental power on the subjects that are most challenging. Later, when you’re more tired, you can focus on the simpler things.” Tackling the hardest stuff first and doing the easiest stuff last is good for homework assignments, if you are doing a test do the harder questions last.

5. How do you deal with burnout? If you want to prevent or deal with burnout what you have to do is once again ask teachers for help. You can ask them for extensions on assignments. A teacher can usually tell when you are facing burnout or really struggling with your work and if you ask them, it’s more likely than not that they would help you understand the topic better. When you are feeling stressed with your work or studying session, take a short break. Get a snack, drink some water and try your best. Don’t spend too much time studying because it’s not good to overwork yourself and overworking is the main cause of burnout. Don’t study through the night. It’s actually better for you in every way to get a good night’s sleep instead of cramming for a test.  Teachers will help you if you need it “I can sense when burnout is occurring the student will not be engaged in their learning and will literally shut down.” According to teacher Mr. Extine “I try to encourage extra help during the academic lab or after school.” You can ask for help or even an extension if you are struggling.

6.How do you stop procrastinating?  The 6th and final way to improve your mental health with schoolwork is to stop procrastinating. Don’t do all the work at the last possible second. It shows that you don’t really care about it and that it’s not your best work. Try to do it as quickly and effectively as possible for you. If that really is doing it all at once, then that’s fine but it’s not the most effective or best way for most people to do all their work. if you do work when you’re just stressing about getting it done it won’t be your best work. Hannah Nguyen said, “I actually do the opposite of getting everything done all at once and try to space them out as much as I can to produce the best quality of work for every assignment before the deadline.” This is the best way for her to do her best work on time, but that’s not true for everyone to do it as effectively as possible for you to do on time.