An instinctive response to novel or difficult circumstances is nervousness. Students are typically brought up in conversation when we talk about teaching anxiety. What about teachers, though? Do they ever experience nervous when teaching?

Teachers of all ages and levels of experience can suffer from social anxiety disorders, so if you are one of them and are having difficulties, know that you are not alone. Please read this article carefully if you want to learn how to teach with less anxiety.

Why Do You Need To Overcome Nervousness While Teaching?

You are accustomed to meeting the needs of your students, coworkers, and family as a teacher. As a result, you might have struggled with anxiety in the classroom for years without ever giving attention to your own needs.

So the question is, why do I have to manage my anxiety while teaching? There are a lot of important reasons, though:

• Reducing your anxiety benefits yourself, both physically and mentally
• Reducing your anxiety benefits your family
• Reducing your anxiety benefits your students
• Reducing your anxiety benefits your colleagues
• Reducing your anxiety improves numerous personal and professional outcomes

How To Be Less Nervous When Teaching?

Understand The Root Of Your Nerves

Understanding why you get nervous in the first place is the first step in learning how to be less nervous when teaching. You can start focusing on resolving those specific problems once you are aware of what makes you anxious.

Nerves can be brought on by a variety of fears, including a fear of public speaking, a fear of not being good enough, or a fear of being judged.

Get Organized And Be Prepared

Being as prepared as you can be is one of the best ways to calm nerves. Check to see that you have more than enough supplies for your lesson. In this manner, if you do become anxious, you can concentrate on your students rather than fumbling for a worksheet or worrying about what will happen next.

Try to have a backup plan for everything, and arrange your materials and resources in a way that makes sense to you. If you’re concerned about losing your place, for instance, highlight a few key points in your notes or make a PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides to help you stay on course.

Know Your Students

Learning about your students will help you relax as well. It will be simpler to get them interested in learning if you can establish a personal connection with them. Get to know them by name, ask them about their extracurricular activities, and allow them to get to know you on a personal level.

By doing this, rapport will be strengthened and everyone will feel safe in the classroom.

You can build relationships with your class and give everyone a chance to speak up by engaging in ice-breaker activities. Building a relationship with your class is important whether they are elementary schoolers or teenagers.

Why not conduct a brief round of introductions on the first day, for instance? The alternative is to ask them to discuss something they did over the weekend in small groups as part of their morning work.

Plan Your Introduction

As we already mentioned, you might be concerned about how your first-year students will view you. Obviously, you want their approval, but you also want them to respect you.

Planning your introduction in advance will help you strike the right balance by ensuring that you are prepared to speak on the first day of class.

Think about telling your students where you’re from, a little bit about your family, and some fun facts about you, like your hobbies or cool places you’ve been (catch their attention!).

You should be very clear about the expectations for your classroom in your introduction so that everyone is on the same page and you can have a successful school year.

Practice Speaking In Front Of An Audience

Fear of public speaking is widespread. The anxiety that comes with speaking in front of a crowd can be managed, though. One way to become more at ease with the material is to perform your lesson or lecture in front of others prior to it.

You might try practicing your material first in front of a mirror, then with a member of your family, a friend, or even a coworker.

Maintain Strong Body Language And An Upright, Confident Posture

Fake it ’til you make it is a saying that some people like to use.” But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that posture and body language can affect hormones and mood.

In contrast to a slumped posture, which only serves to amplify any existing self-doubt, a confident posture exudes confidence.

Making eye contact, laughing, and smiling also reduces anxiety in the classroom. The goal is to be the most confident version of yourself, which is ultimately who you are.

Only use humor when it is appropriate. Some of us can tell the ideal joke to relate to our audience or the ideal icebreaker, but not everyone is wired in this way.

Humor may fall flat if you are extremely nervous and uncomfortable speaking, which could harm your confidence for the rest of the lecture or speech.

Eliminate Distractions

Take a moment to remove any potential distractions before you begin teaching. Put your phone on silent or use the “do not disturb” setting if you’re concerned about it ringing.

Additionally, it might be a good idea to put away any supplies you do currently need and to instruct students to put any electronics they may have in storage.

This will enable you to maintain concentration while teaching and lessen the stress related to speaking aloud, which is one way that mobile phones can increase teacher anxiety.

Do not be alarmed if a student’s phone starts to make noise. Ask them to put their phone on silent instead and ask them to do so calmly.

Set Realistic Expectations

Setting reasonable expectations for both yourself and your students is one of the most effective ways to lower anxiety. It’s crucial to realize that you won’t be perfect if you’re a new teacher, and that’s okay. Be kind to yourself and remember that with time and experience, you’ll improve.

It’s also critical to recognize that every student is unique and will learn best in their own way. It’s acceptable if some students need more help than others. The secret is to be adaptable and change your teaching strategies to suit the requirements of each student.

Focus On Positive Self-talk

When you’re anxious about teaching, it’s simple to fall into the trap of critical self-talk. I’m not good enough, I’m going to mess this up, and other similar thoughts might cross your mind.”

But having such thoughts will only make you tenser and increase the likelihood that you will make a mistake. Focus on using positive self-talk as an alternative.

Positive affirmations can keep your attention on your assets and serve as a gentle reminder that you are capable of completing this.

When you’re feeling anxious, tell yourself affirmations like “I am competent,” “I am capable,” or “I am confident.” These words will encourage you to be more positive, which will help you feel less anxious and may even improve your mental health. They are similar to a pep talk.

Visualize Success

Preparing for a lesson by visualizing your success is another effective way to relax. Visualize yourself entering the classroom, delivering a fantastic lesson, and engaging the students. You’ll feel more assured and less nervous when it’s time to teach if you picture yourself as a successful teacher.

Take Your Mental Health Seriously

The simple advice isn’t always enough to solve a problem.

Many people experience clinical anxiety, which is unmanageable by self-care alone. Many educators fall into this category of people who suffer from clinical anxiety because of the particular demands and stresses placed on them.

Use your best judgment and, if necessary, get help from a professional. For many of us, therapy—and occasionally medication—can be helpful.

Find A Mentor & Talk To Colleagues

In all honesty, this ought to be near the top of the list. Anyone who struggles with anxiety, or anything else for that matter, will only worsen the damage by going it alone and without any support.

Many of your coworkers are experiencing things like your own. And many of them have experienced anxiety while working as teachers in the past.

Someone who has overcome similar obstacles to your own can act as a mentor if you can find them. Furthermore, talking to someone is always helpful, even if nothing else.

Exercise, Diet, And A Healthy Lifestyle

I won’t spend a lot of time talking about this subject because there are so many resources already available. The value of a balanced diet and regular exercise has been proven by hundreds of studies.

Eating well and exercising frequently can change your body’s chemistry, modify your hormones, and give you a stronger, more self-assured feeling than you ever thought possible.

Yoga and stretching both have advantages for your physical and mental health. Additionally, you can complete both of these tasks in a short amount of time. Therefore, if you have any spare time during the day, you might be able to squeeze in a quick yoga or stretching session.

A healthy lifestyle also requires maintaining a work-life balance. You, your students, or your family will not benefit from you checking emails, planning lessons, and worrying about the classroom continuously. You require (and deserve!) some time away from school to focus on your hobbies and interests.

Last but not least, never underestimate the value of a good night’s sleep.

Conclusions

The majority of people experience anxiety when they have to teach a class, but with the right preparation and attitude, you can overcome those nerves.

There are many approaches to managing anxiety while teaching and most of them are rational ones. However, being fair and reasonable with yourself is ultimately the key.

Read More: How To Teach Students With Social Anxiety: Tips For Fixing