Does anybody really want to stand up in front of large groups and perform? In hindsight, I wish we had done more presentations for class projects in school. Having more experience presenting in different settings could eliminate the amount of anxiety I get the day before, the hour before, going on stage. But I try and take every opportunity to do it. It's not like being in the classroom. I used to get sick anxiety before every class.
Students are unpredictable and high schoolers are especially moody. It's not entirely their fault. It's science! When I would get frustrated with a group of students I try to remember how imperfect I was in high school. I wasn't really interested in proper headings on essays or focusing on lectures either. Regardless, it took about three years getting up in front of a large group of students for me to finally be confident enough to walk into any strange classroom and take over. Adults are a more difficult sell. Teachers are even worse.
I'm no exception. I loathe sitting still and listening to anyone talk! I'm more accustomed to being the center of attention as any teacher would be. Tomorrow I'll be presenting a mediocre sliver of information (6 power point slide) and I'm still teeter-tottering between anxiety and confidence. Luckily, I spent the day preparing.
Preparing through the day for tomorrow's presentation:
- Woken by cat at 8 AM
- Sat on couch reviewing slides on iPad while watching Salt
- Half-way through Salt started typing notes on opening slide
- Continued typing notes on opening slide while watching E3 game trailers on Hulu
- Continued typing notes on opening slide while watching The Other Guys
- Had anxiety attack
- Cleaned cat box
- Pulled out laptop in the kitchen
- Got hungry for lunch and ate a box of Cinnamon Toaster Struddel
- Decided it would be a good idea to watch some professional speakers and used Netflix to watch Kevin Smith's Too Fat for 40
- Had a sugar crash and fell asleep during Kevin Smith's Too Fat for 40
- Did laundry
- Tried recording myself talking from memory
- Shortened notes
- Wrote bullet points on hand
- Played BlackOps
- Rewrote bullet points on hand because they rubbed off from sweaty BlackOps palms
- Forced to stop playing because of hungry cats
- Did more laundry
- Cleaned cat box again
- Cooked a real dinner to negate the effects of the sugar
- Pulled out ironing board and clothes to iron for tomorrow
- Watched Family Guy reruns and practiced in-between commercial breaks.
- Still haven't iron clothes
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