As winter break quickly approaches, students labor to finish all their assignments on time, but they are not the only ones under immense pressure.

Teachers are in the classroom the entire school day, and they also have to manage time with family and friends and other academic (and non-academic) activities like tutoring. This makes trying to get all grading done within the two week grace period difficult.

“Teaching is like being an actor because if you forget your lines, you look foolish in front of your class,” French teacher Helen Harris said. “But as a teacher, you have to keep on top of the grading, all while making our classes engaging, keeping our students’ interest and vary all of our lessons, which can get exhausting sometimes.”

Another teacher, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he had considered dropping his job completely because of the pressure to grade and lack of family time. Student complaints near deadlines like winter break also made him consider quitting.

“There have already been two instances this school year where I’ve thought seriously about withdrawing from teaching because of all the stress,” the teacher said. “We always say that it’s never the student’s fault, but sometimes it does come from the students as well. You give a lot, so it’s difficult when you get a feeling of resent.”

Despite the stress, most teachers continue to go about their lesson plans because they enjoy the positives of the job, including the impact they have on student success.

“A lot of people work with print or numbers, but we work with people,” science teacher Peyton Ford said. “You don’t always know where the lesson is going and that’s kind of fun. As a teacher, you’re developing people on a daily basis, and that’s always interesting.”

Teachers also do not receive a full break over the holidays because many will be busy grading during their time off.

“I do have a lot to do over winter break,” math and economics teacher Stephen Hays said. “I think family is very important, so I’ll try to get work done before the break, but I’ll definitely be putting in a good amount of time into it over the holidays. I don’t like grading, but you have to have something to motivate your students to do work.”

Part of this stress comes from Whitman students’ focus on high achievement and college preparedness, but at times, students badgering their teachers about small things becomes excessive, according to several teachers.

Despite incidents like these, Ford said that he would not trade teaching for anything.

“A couple of kids have come back recently to tell me they got into the college of their choice,” Ford said. “To see students building towards something with enthusiasm makes me feel like my teaching is worthwhile.”