How to Participate in a Class without Fear

How to Participate in a Class without Fear

Are you scared of partici­pating in class discus­sions? How do you train yourself to confidently take hold of those partici­pation points, rather than ducking to look at your doodle whenever the teacher looks at you?

The first step

Initially, in order to drop the hitch start by trying to participate once a week. “It is entirely normal to feel anxious and fearful because the natural tendency is to avoid these potentially threatening situations,” University of  Virginia Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology Karl Flia says. By participating more a student can begin gathering evidence that these feared situations might, actually not be as bad as he/she originally thought. If you start changing your focus you’ll realise that, you care more about your own participation and not your imaginary haters.

Front runner

With change of seat from the back of the class to the front you start gain­ing confidence. If your teachers see your face everyday they’ll certainly feel more positive as you gain brownie points. Even if the teacher still carries some doubts regarding your ability, they can’t deny that you’ve been to every lecture.

Sitting in the front auto­matically makes you more acceptable to every teacher. Also you will focus more and take better notes.

Don’t dodge

Learning how to partici­pate in class comes only when you stop dodging questions about the read­ings by running off to the bathroom or searching for your pen in the bottom of your backpack. “When I was an undergraduate I was very nervous about speaking up in class. I’m a very out-going person, but I also hated being wrong or looking silly. It was only when I started working on my books and revising lessons that I gained confidence and this confidence helped me in making better par­ticipation in the class.”

Peer points

Honor the opinion of your friends and mates as they will also at times give you very valuable suggestions. Get some­one’s opinion. Share your own opinions with a lot of other people. It will help you to be extremely confi­dent in what you’re saying and you will have varied views for the same context that you can share in the class. A little research on topics being taught in class helps you understand material and get you fired up to start participating in class.

Speak up

If you can’t take the leap and raise your hand in class at least you can form a quick question at the end of class. A teacher dealing with such stu­dents must overlook the nervousness that went into making a comment. Using your voice to par­ticipate lets your teacher know that you’re more than two eyes and a T-shirt. If you continue the conversation outside class, you can get away with the in-class silence.

Learning to speak up in class can be a start towards finding your voice in all kinds of situa­tions. Leave the lip biting in the bedroom, and instead of eating your words, raise your hand.