- Take deep breaths before you enter the classroom
- Stretch your arms
- Recite nonsense ("My baby does the hanky-panky"). Once you start the performance, as every pianist, actor, or athlete knows, your body will calm down. That's why performers plan grand entrances, and late-night comics do monologues. Start your class with laughter if you can, but weepy or disgusting can also be riveting.
- (my additions) Look people in the eyes
- Focus on someone out there rather than how you feel
- Start with what you know and are comfortable with
- Smile
- Treat people with respect
- Take every question seriously
Thursday, March 12, 2009
That first day of teaching
Teachers face this every day. Ms Mentor over at the Chronicle for Higher Education has a great post on how we might cope with stage fright.
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3 comments:
I wish someone had told me this before I started teaching. Some of it is common sense, but I never thought about the whole grand entrance thing very much.
That's why liturgy is easier, I guess!
Good advice for preachers, too...
...just don't slip into saying "my baby does the hanky panky" outloud from the pulpit!
Peter+
And then there's the whole microphone thing...are you wearing clothing to which it can be attached both around the neck and at the waist? It is on or off? Is it loud enough?
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