My hands were shaking. I struggled to keep my smile in place. I told myself that I wasn’t actually on the stage so how could I have stage fright? It didn’t really help that much, but I did my best to pretend I was happy to be in front of such a large crowd.
This month my class and I are in charge of running the twice monthly all elementary assembly at our school. It only lasts about an hour and I don’t even have to do that much talking. It was my job to see if anyone wanted to present, to email out the agenda for the assembly, and then to introduce the people who would present.
I still had to stand in front of 150 elementary students, about ten teachers, a handful of office staff, the principal, the director, and some parents and lead the assembly. Whew! Was I happy when it was over!
My students interviewed each other about the importance of International Day at our school, took videos of each other, and I was even able to talk one of them into interviewing his mother since she was co-chairing the event. Then my amazing TA edited them all into a short 4 minute video! My students loved seeing themselves on the big screen at the assembly and it gave everyone important information about International Day which was happening the next day (today).
I got through the assembly. It went smoothly, the students were happy, and everyone did what they needed to do. Now I just need to do it one more time this month and I will be good to go until next year! hahaha!
Please comment! I don’t know why I am perfectly comfortable teaching in front of 20 or so students, but any time I get near a stage when I know parents or peers might be watching I get a case of stage fright! Is anyone else like this? Do you have any steps for getting more comfortable being on stage or in front of large crowds of people?
Teaching Wanderlust 
I am the same way! We just had to perform at the poetry slam and I hated it! I think it’s because I spend time in my classroom creating a family where we laugh joke and support. When you’re in front of everyone else there is no guarantee!
LikeLike
True about creating a family in the classroom. There is a girl in my class who never spoke above a whisper and now she is speaking loud and clear!
LikeLike
I did speech and debate and coached it. It’s never gone away but I’ve never liked having the attention on me!
LikeLike
In high school I took a speech class and even competed once or twice, but I pretty much hated it (still got good grades though!). hahaha
LikeLike
This is so true! I know being in front of adults is so much harder than being in front of kids. It gets easier with repetition – though not MUCH easier..
LikeLike
I guess I will just have to force myself to keep practicing!
LikeLike
I used to be so scared to speak in front of a crowd. But after a few years of teaching high school, and a few presentations to colleagues at conferences, I got over it. Unless I’m speaking Spanish to a room full of parents. Then I tend to talk too fast and trip over my words! I’m not nervous, really, but am not at my best! It sounds like you did great, and there’s only one this year! YAY!!
LikeLike
I’ve even been too nervous to speak at conferences! It is my goal to present at VANAS (a teaching conference for teachers at international schools in Venezuela) before I leave my current school. Hopefully I never have to present Spanish in front of the parents because just the idea of that is terrifying!
LikeLike
Hello, I never did any sort of speaking until I became a teacher just over a year and a half ago. I really wanted to try teaching and so when I had to do my first lesson on my own, I just plucked up enough courage to do it. The advice given to me was to show that you were not nervous, and it helped that the students were young around 5-6 years of age. Once I started teaching, it started to become easier with each class to get over the nerves. I went from teaching approximately 20-25 students to teaching classes of up to 50-60 high school students. Which amounted to approx 700-800 students in China. I had 14 classes to teach. I think now that I could stand in front of more people and speak, although thinking about numbers would be a bit intimidating. But to get over this I would just become a bit analytical about what I need to speak about. If it makes sense and the info is accurate then I can’t see how you can fail with getting up and speaking in front of so many people. I think that this is the trick. So it can be 100 or 1000 people, it really wouldn’t matter.
This would probably not work if you were put on the spot and had to speak in front of an audience without preparation. For that I think that it would take awhile to be able to do this without being nervous and stagestruck. But each time you get up there and your message is well received then this should boost your confidence levels. I hope this helps you.
LikeLike
I think one of the reasons I don’t have problems speaking in front of students is that I am there for a job and I’m convinced that whatever I’m telling them is something they need to know. Maybe if I can think about public speaking outside of the classroom it would help. Also, like you said, if each public speaking event is as well received as this one was, I might become more confident!
LikeLike