How Do You Feel About...

   Public speaking. You know the feeling you get? Your heart is racing as you walk to the podium, your throat becomes dry and scratchy even though you just had a sip of water, you stand behind the podium and look at the blank faces of your audience, some bored, some curious as to what you have to say. You look at your notes and feel the blood rushing to your face, you wonder, "Is it getting hot in here? Is it too late to go to the bathroom?" This is the moment you have prepared yourself for. You take one last look at your notes, fidget once more, look up, take a deep breath, and...

   This week's post is about, I hope you guessed it, **Public Speaking!**

   For many of us, public speaking, especially to a large crowd, is the equivalent to jumping out of a high speed plane into shark infested waters. Scary, right? The situation above applies to many of us, as it described me up until about last year. I was not a fan of public speaking. I know what some of you are thinking, "If you don't like public speaking, then why do you want to be a teacher?" It's a fair question, but I have always known that I needed to become comfortable with speaking if I wanted to become a teacher, so I conquered my  little fear of public speaking. I will admit, I still get jitters beforehand, but I walk to the podium with confidence and once I begin my speech, they disappear.

   I recently watched a video about public speaking. Its main idea to help you sound confident with public speaking, even though you're not. They have a method called the "Triple-P Method". The first P is to Prepare! You need to know whatever you are speaking about like it's the back of your hand. People will notice if you just worked on it the day/morning before. Know how you are going to present it. Certain topics work well with certain types of presentations (powerpoints, speeches, etc.) but others do not. Try to make a presentation that is appropriate to the topic. You need to hook your audience! Tell an interesting fact, tell an anecdote, capture the audience's attention. Finally, make your conclusion epic! You want to make yourself and the topic memorable! That's the whole point of making a speech or presentation! The next P is Posture and Physicality. You want to appear natural as possible, so don't slouch or look like you a steel rod strapped to your back. You will be uncomfortable and your audience will see that. Do not read off of your notes. It's okay to glance at them once in a while to remind you what is next, but I have noticed that reading off of notes will make you sound like a robot, monotone and boring. The final P is to Pander to your audience. Unless the situation calls for it, try not to be super serious. Again, do not read off your notes. Speak with a natural cadence and project your voice. You are in command of the room, so sound confident! Fake it till' you make it when it comes to sounding confident! Confidence is key! To help your nerves, make a joke. If that doesn't make anyone laugh, no worries! Make the fact that how your joke did not get any laughs a joke. Using these three P's will definitely help one's presentation sound amazing. I cannot stress how much sounding confident is important when presenting a topic. You want your voice to be heard and your topic to be remembered in a positive way, being confident will do that!


~Sarah



Here is a link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tShavGuo0_E

The Journey of a Teacher

Throughout the year, I constantly need to ask myself, "Is this what I want to do when I am older?". It is an important question that we must all ask ourselves when in any internship. This is what Honors Mentorship is all about. They take teens in high schools, place them in internships, help us become aware of the realities of our dream jobs with a mentor, and help us answer this question in the end. For a large part of my life, teaching was (and still is) something I have considered as my future career. Getting there might be hard and confusing, so some of this post will be dedicated to what I would need to do to become a teacher.

• Obviously, a high school diploma or a GED is required
• In college, after you complete your Core classes, go through the Education pathway/major and focus on whatever subject you want to teach (Social Studies in my case). Do required hours with a mentor, take subject test
• Earn a Bachelor's Degree in the subject area you would want to teach or in Education
• Teachers must have a license/certificate to teach in a certain state. You have to take a test for this certificate

Although my list is short, I figured that a basic, summarized list would be best because everyone's journey is different. These are just the requirements necessary for becoming a teacher, specifically, in Georgia. If you would like to learn more, I will attach a link to a website that has always helped me in the past and where I got this information from.

On a different note, growing up with a parent that works in Education, I have always known what the basic tasks of a teacher were. Also, being a student right now, I see my teacher doing what I would probably be doing when I become a teacher. Luckily, I'm not going in this blindsided. As technology is being used more in the classrooms, teachers (especially Mr. Cantrell) are doing everything online (which makes grading a lot easier). I had the opportunity this week to sit with Mr. Cantrell in a Canvas (online program for students and teachers) Meeting. Another teacher, Ms. Jones, sat with me and walked me through the program and taught me how to post assignments, grade them, and basically all of the useful tools Canvas offers. It is definitely a program I hope to be able to use in the future.  

~Sarah

https://secure.gacollege411.org/Career_Planning/Career_Profile/Career_Profile.aspx?id=Lke6IRyX7CbNKcfNlRibZAXAP3DPAXXAP3DPAX&screen=1