Advice on Teaching Anxiety

[summers_off]

I second the post that said you can pretend to be an actor playing the role of a professor.   That distance can be very helpful.

I have also found it helpful to remind myself that the students do not know what I planned to do or how I envisioned the class to go.   To me, the session may have missed the mark, but to them the class was fine.

Good luck!

[Deacon_blues]

I also endorse the strategy of acting like a professor. I will often stop briefly outside my classroom, collect myself, and then enter the room as if I am ready and excited to teach. This "fake it until you make it" strategy really works, and by a few weeks into the semester, I no longer have to actively play the role. Also, I find that it helps to concentrate on the enthusiastic students and use their energy to get myself excited about teaching the class--that is, if you have any enthusiastic students in the room!  Sometimes you don't, I know.

[Hegemony]

Also note that anxiety does not translate into bad teaching.  That is, it is not a sign that you are actually inadequate — it exists independent of your actual teaching prowess.  I am always surprised by my course evaluations because they rarely correlate with how I felt I was doing.  Sometimes I was a bundle of nerves and self-doubt and the evaluations come out very positive.  So remember it's just a phenomenon of newness and nerves, and not a barometer of your actual impact.

[craftyprof]

I also endorse the strategy of acting like a professor. I will often stop briefly outside my classroom, collect myself, and then enter the room as if I am ready and excited to teach. This "fake it until you make it" strategy really works, and by a few weeks into the semester, I no longer have to actively play the role. Also, I find that it helps to concentrate on the enthusiastic students and use their energy to get myself excited about teaching the class--that is, if you have any enthusiastic students in the room!  Sometimes you don't, I know.

I take this approach a step further by putting on my professor costume before I teach.  Clinical anxiety is a different beast, but if that is well-managed, I find that having your own "Dumbo's magic feather" can take the edge off the usual nagging self doubt.  My professor costume is just my glasses, but it could be a pocket full of whiteboard markers or a powerpoint remote or whatever else makes you feel like you're in professor mode.

[Caracal]

I also endorse the strategy of acting like a professor. I will often stop briefly outside my classroom, collect myself, and then enter the room as if I am ready and excited to teach. This "fake it until you make it" strategy really works, and by a few weeks into the semester, I no longer have to actively play the role. Also, I find that it helps to concentrate on the enthusiastic students and use their energy to get myself excited about teaching the class--that is, if you have any enthusiastic students in the room!  Sometimes you don't, I know.

I take this approach a step further by putting on my professor costume before I teach.  Clinical anxiety is a different beast, but if that is well-managed, I find that having your own "Dumbo's magic feather" can take the edge off the usual nagging self doubt.  My professor costume is just my glasses, but it could be a pocket full of whiteboard markers or a powerpoint remote or whatever else makes you feel like you're in professor mode.

Oh, yeah, this is why I started dressing in a jacket and tie. It makes me feel like I'm in my role and I'm supposed to be there and gets me in the mindset of the edited version of myself that I present in the classroom.

[Professor Autumn]

Yes, I find that making sure that I have "that thing that makes me feel in control of nerves" really helps me get through. Mostly, for me, about dress, and often a particular bag (not necessarily "business-like" in the strict sense of the word).

[paultuttle]

Two things:

1. When I did my student teaching to fulfill my education minor during my undergraduate years, my supervising teacher knew that I was fundamentally anxious and nervous, so she gave me this advice: Remember that all their eyes are on you because they are expecting to learn something from you. Focus on that, not the fact that their eyes are on you.

2. You are the authority in your classroom. You set the stage, you drive the discussions, and you describe the behaviors you want to see (and don't want to see). When (not if, but when) you screw up, you will learn from those situations just as much as the students will when they see you modeling how to deal appropriately with mistakes.