My response to you would be stick to your syllabus ,because it gives you the structure you need and the time frame to complete it. Prioritize your work along with your hour by hour lesson plan. Therefore, you will eventually have some control of certain things you can accomplish during class time.
I constantly think of activities that are relevnat to the course topic or reviewing with them after doing lecture
Hi Sandra,
You are my kind of educator. These are sure ways to reduce anxiety. Thanks for having the right teaching attitude.
Patricia
One of the best ways is to make sure that you have prepared for the class and that you are comfortable with the information you are presenting. Also being at least 30 to 60 minutes early provides you with the opportunity to be prepared to greet students as they arrive with the learning objectives already on the board, your technology already to go and more importantly that you are ready to begin on time. Additionally, it also provides additional time to revisit the information that you will be presenting.
Hi Debbie,
Preparation is key. It is always best to have way too much material than to not have enough.
Patricia
Practice delivery of material ahead of time, always be prepared and have plenty of material to cover in case the course moves at a fast pace because of speaking quickly.
Im only nervous when it is a new group that I have never taught before. Doesn't matter how prepared I am. I have taught the same materials for 3 years now, so i am very familiar and prepared. Just the not knowing of what kind of students I will be dealing with. Most of my classes are 4 hr classes, so after our "ice breakers" we have plenty of time to go over the syllabus, explain class rules, and I have the students go ahead and read the first chapter so when I do go over the materials they are familiar with what I am talking about.
Hi Susan,
At what point during the firt day do you feel comfortabe enough to begin the lesson or go over the syllabus? Just remember, if you are prepared the nervousness will go away quickly once you get started. Dive in!
Patricia
Hi John,
You are right, calm is strength. You should never let your students see you sweat. If you are chaotic, it sents the tone for the entire class to be in an uproar.
Patricia
I am always nervous the first day of class when I have a group of new students, so we play lots of ice breaker games. (Plus it helps me remember their names). One game we play is I have a bowl full of M&M's and have everyone take a spoon full. I then put a question on the board for each color ex. green- what is your favorite restaurant, orange- if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go....... I then have everyone with a green M&M stand up and say their name and answer the question then when everyone has answered they can eat all the greens and so on.
Another games is I go around the room and have everyone tell 3 stories about themselves- 2 of which are true and 1 that is a lie and everyone has to guess which one is the lie. This also shares a little about the person that others may not have known.
Calm is strength. (especially to a possibly troublemaking student who might want to see if you rattle easily as a hobby.) You must make your class a comfortable place for your students. Don't be afraid of public speaking. Misspeaking is inevitable, but always be willing to acknowledge your missteps.
Hi Glenn,
I love positive energy. Positive energy can be very contagious and that is definitely a good thing.
Patricia
Hi Matthew,
Preparation is number 1 on the list. An instructor has to be prepared in order to be effective.
Patricia
Hi Philip,
Students need to hear information that is real. When things are real, students tend to get a better understanding.
Patricia
I always try to find relevant topics that apply to students real life situations. Teaching composition writing is a challenge and presenting everyday problems through literature help me create good motivational arguments
Preperation. If you are prepared for every possible potential problem and are prepared for the class or lecture, there should be no anxiety.
This is a very interesting and clever idea. I believe that encourageing the positive in the class is critical. But the positive seen from one student to another takes the idea to the next level.
The issue of preparing cannot be overstated. The more you prepare, the more you feel you know what you are doing. Check your roster. What kind of information can you determine about your learners? Are you in a new room? Check it out early. Does all the technology work? Got your markers? it's the little things that will trip you up and cause you to lose confidence.
Hi Jay,
The anxiety level definitely decreases with time. The more you do it, the more comfortable you will become. Preparation plays a vital role in reducing anxiety.
Patricia
The best way to reduce instructor anxiety is to be experienced. After you do something a couple of times it is no big deal and the anxiety level goes down to next to nothing. Howevery if you are new to something (teaching for the first time, a new subject, a new grade level, etc.) make sure that you are prepared with syllabus, lecture material, hand outs. I love the idea of having double the amount of material that you think will be necessayto fill the allotted class time. The class will fly by and the students will never know you are nervous.
