First Day Jitters
Every time a new class comes in, there is always that Anxiety of how the students will see you, how you will react, etc. I think of them as first day jitters. What i like to do, is go around the class, one by one, and have the students Tell me about themselves and more importantly what they expect to learn/take from the course. this allows me to take notes on students and see where there heads are at from the beginning.
Hi Alexandra,
If you are professional, confident, knowledgeable, caring, prepared, organized, and firm your age will never become an issue. I too was 22 years old when I started in this industry and age never became an issue, simply due to the way I carried myself.
Patricia
I myself as a new instructor and being 22 years old had "first day jitters." Having students ask me the question "Are you our instructor?" made me all that much more nervous. During our first class I held a get to know eachother session where I too like Chris was able to take notes on students to get a baseline as to how much the students already know about the subject. It was then I could also tell them about the experiences I had when I was a student, those experieinces I've had in the field, and why I decided that I wanted to be an instructor. After the students learned more about my experience they immediately changed their attitude about my age.
Hi Cynthia,
I've been teaching for over 22 years, and the first day jitters have left. It typically is common amongst instructors, just be prepared and cofident and the nervousness will wear off very quickly.
Patricia
I also have the students introduce themselves. There is usually something that they mention in their introduction that helps me put names and faces together.
I have been teaching high school and college for many years and I still get first day jitters.
Hi Chris,
Even instructors can have first day jitters. Use a calming approach that works best for you and never let the students see you sweat. I like to introduce myself first and then let each student introduce him or herself as a first day calming approach.
Patricia
