Build up your confidence
Public speaking is a big part of being a teacher – we speak to classrooms full of impressionable, tiny humans every day!
From classroom lessons to parent teacher conferences to assemblies, you have to feel confident speaking to a crowd. That is why World Class Teachers offers some public speaking tips for teachers below:
Remember, you have the knowledge
As a teacher, no matter how afraid you might be of speaking in public, you already have an advantage of others with the same problem: you are passionate about your subject.
While you probably don’t have speechwriters like politicians, you don’t need them as you already know more about the topic than most of your audience!
However, knowledge is only one part of being a teacher; the other main component is effectively expressing that knowledge by speaking.
Don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know’
If it’s the potential questions that frighten you the most, remember you don’t have to, and you will never, have an answer for everything. It’s just the maths.
Don’t worry about not sounding official enough if you don’t know the best answer to a student’s or peer’s question; just say that you will have to look into it further. To be a teacher is to learn twice, after all!
Preparation is the key
Preparing the lessons is one of the easier parts of speaking in public. No one knows what you will say aside from you or a fellow teacher, and your pupils are nowhere as near as an authority figure on the topics of your lessons. Use notes for everything and don’t be shy about utilising them.
Incorporate some questions into your lessons to remove some of the focus from you. By allowing your students or audience to participate, you are automatically creating a more engaging lesson.
Take an acting class
If speaking in public to a crowd larger than your class really does keep you up at night, try acting classes on the weekends or during school holidays.
Acting, as Drama teachers know, is all about loosening up and being comfortable doing uncomfortable things primarily through speaking and movement.
Do you have some tried and true public speaking tips that have helped you as a teacher? Share them with us here!