Know your strength
This is my fifth year teaching and every new semester I am nervous. To help calm myself I concentrate on one of my strength as I enter the room and greet the student. Take a deep breath, stand tall and walk like you are a queen or a king. The students are nervous too and your confidence will put them at ease.
Anne-Patricia-
I agree with you. Concentrating on whatever strength(s) you bring to classroom goes a long way in helping to bring a bit of ease to the students, as well. Sometimes this takes some work. I've taught undergraduate and graduate courses for almost 20 years, and I've had situations were it took me almost half the semester to finally get the students to have enough confidence in themselves to feel part of the classroom community. I guess what I'm saying is we should never stop modeling our positive approach to learning - eventually we will succeed in not only teaching, but also reaching our students.
Hi Anne-Patricia,
Way to go. Confidence breeds confidence. By having it your students will develop it as well.
Gary
