How can I stop the nerves I get when teaching?

I'm having real trouble with this. It tends to be a lot worse when it's the first time I'm going to be taking a class, which is reassuring considering there's only so many times I can first take a class. It's really bad though, and it's really ruining my ability to perform at my best.

It's stopping me sleeping and it's realllllly bad the hour before a class. So much like I need to be sick or faint. I have anxiety which doesn't help. I have medication I normally take in everyday situations when I get like this, but it makes me drowsy and I also don't want to have to rely on it all throughout my teaching.

Anyone any advice on this?

Reply 1

Professor Purple

Original post by Airfairy

I'm guessing you're just generally nervous when you are the centre of attention?
You should build up your confidence when speaking to other people, such as friends and family and then strangers. That way you'll have no problem teaching!

Reply 2

Angelil

It will get better with experience, I promise. I think most teachers are nervous when they first start teaching, and even still a little as the years go by and they meet their new classes every September. It does get easier over time :smile:

Reply 3

ChaoticButterfly

This is pricey why the government t could never throw enough money at me to become a teacher.

Reply 4

Angelil

^^ because nerves can never be overcome? I'd say we do things not because they are always easy, but because they are worthwhile...

Reply 5

Andy98

May sound a bit creepy but I imagine my audience are taking a dump

Reply 6

kara2014

You're the teacher you're in control. Its normal for you to be nervous especially if you new to the role. It gets better with time and once you start getting familiar with the class.

Reply 7

Tori_Emma

Just think that the classroom is YOUR space, you have allowed the students to be in their and participate in the lesson. What ever you say goes. If you want them to be silent then tell them and wait for them to be absolutely silent before moving on (it feels like an eternity before they shut up but eventually they will).

Also just be yourself!! They will know if you're trying to be the teacher you think you should be and not the one you are!

If you are really really worried then speak to your mentor or the class teacher or even their tutor just to get some inside info on the kids so you know who to watch out for and what sort of stuff they respond well too. e.g. never put john and jack together because they will try to kill each other!

Oh and deep breaths! It won't ever be as bad as you think it's going to be!

Reply 8

Squoosh25

I suffered from anxiety issues last year at a bar job, and honestly I would draw a clear distinction between nerves and anxiety. All the posters in this thread are responding to 'nerves'. Nerves are rational; nerves are normal; nerves will dissipate over time, the more confident you get. Anxiety is the opposite. Anxiety gets worse over time, because it is irrational and has a sort of snowball effect. With my bar job, I would feel absolutely terrible an hour or two before my shift started - with my stomach doing somersaults - however, as soon as the shift began I was completely fine and calmed down instantly. This would happen every week - but it got worse and worse over time, and my brain came to associate the horrible dark cycle ride to work with these negative feelings, until it became unbearable. Because of how irrational this was (the fear seemed to have no reasonable connection to the job) - it wasn't just a confidence boost or practise I needed, but some other kind of technique to train my mind to disassociate my journey to work with the things I was feeling. What I should have done - for example - is alter my routine and gone to work via a different route.

So I guess what I'm saying is that you need to work out whether what you have is the normal, natural, rational nerves that everyone has when starting an intense, difficult and important career which requires a massive amount of self-confidence, or the more serious and lingering problem of anxiety - which (if left to fester) is the first steps on the road to depression.