I thought I would expand on what I found that may have been holding me back all these years, the reason for my nerves when I have to present material or talk in front of a group.
I believe the reason I have always had a hard time presenting in front of groups, as well as talking in front of large groups, is because I have a fear of being wrong and I do not want to appear as a failure to others. I will admit, that I do not like to say when I am wrong, and I do not want someone to point out that I am wrong either. I also do not like to fail, I am very much a perfectionist at heart! It was really interesting for me to realize that this may have been the source for my nervousness in front of groups! I always just thought it was because I don’t like public speaking – but I seem to thrive on talking in front of people (when I feel comfortable with what I know).
Now that I know this may be one of the reasons I do not enjoy talking in front of people, I hope to take what I have learned, and realize that it does not matter if I do say something wrong, or if someone points out a flaw in something I may have said. It is not about being perfect! I realized that I admire my professors who are willing to admit when they do not know something, but offer to look it up for you. Now that I know this, I hope to use this as well when I talk in front of people- I will admit if I don’t know something, and will offer to look into it. It is SUCH a relief knowing this!
A few additional thoughts on previous classes as well as questions that have come up:
The day of biology. This was my least favorite class when I was in Intro to Psych. Science was never my favorite subject, but if I had Dr G teaching this class, it might have changed things.
I noticed on that day in class, everyone was sitting in the seats (and not behind everyone, where the TA’s sit). This was a great start to a great class. Dr. G used student questions throughout the class time as nice transitions from one point of topic to the next. I believe this made it much easier to have the students’ trains of thought follow what he was presenting. I also think the mardi gra beads were an excellent way to get students engaged. I noticed a few new people who do not usually talk in class, offer to participate (perhaps because they wanted the reward of the mardi gra beads).
Something that crossed my mind at the end of class. Dr G talked about the myths at the very end of class. I see this in a beneficial way, as well as perhaps a downside. It would be a good topic to end on because it gives them something to think about as they leave the classroom, however, it might be the last thing they remember from class because it is the most recent thing they were shown. I would be curious to see if what a student remembers the most from a class depended on when it was presented in class (whether it was earlier in the class, or in the middle even).
Great self analysis. I think it is really difficult to put oneself in a position where once could be wrong. The good thing about teaching is for the most part, you do know more than the audience or even better THEY think you know more. : ) Of course there are always some who think they know better and that then is the real thing that takes practice. How to deal with that or those students. A good topic for one of our discussions.
Thanks about the beads–i like that touch. Fun for all (and then we had balloons yesterday–should have had more).
Myths….funny you mentioned that. I normally have it first but when I reorganized the session i thought it may be a nicer note to end on. Which is better? an empirical question.