Middle School Teacher Received Multiple Emails From Students Asking To Get Out Of Their Presentations Due To Anxiety – ‘It’s A Life Skill That’s Necessary’

A teacher found himself in a rather difficult situation after admitting that some of his students were panicking about an upcoming presentation.

The first-year teacher posted on the r/Teachers subreddit that many of his students suffer from anxiety, and it seems to be getting in the way of learning the valuable skill of public speaking.

He received many emails from students asking to get out of their presentations due to anxiety.

In his Reddit post, he explained that it was only the first week of his first year teaching 8th grade ELA classes, and for a fun project idea, he assigned his students a presentation. He required his students to find cool adjectives they would use to describe themselves and decorate them on a piece of paper to put in the classroom.

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As part of the project, each student was asked to present their findings one at a time to their other classmates, with a brief introduction of “Hi, this is me…” He admitted that it should take no more than a. minute for each student to present, and when presentations did take place it was not extensive or intense in the least.

However, he was met with some hesitation from some of his students, who insisted that they did not need to perform at all due to their anxiety and fear of public speaking.

“I had a few students email me the night before, almost begging me to let me skip it because of their social anxiety. One girl wrote in her weekly letter that she couldn’t sleep on Wednesday because of panic attacks,” he continued.

He admitted he’s no stranger to anxiety and understands where his students are coming from.

As someone who struggled with generalized anxiety disorder and was diagnosed at age 15, he recalled feeling the same way his students do. He explained that he couldn’t even hold a conversation until he was finally prescribed medication to get over that hump.

According to the CDC, 9.4% of children ages 3-17 were diagnosed with anxiety between 2016 and 2019, which is about 5.8 million children. This makes anxiety one of the most common mental health disorders in children, along with ADHD, depression and behavioral problems.

When it comes to public speaking, it is very common among the general public and students. Some estimates are that up to 20-85% of people experience more or less anxiety when they have to speak in public.

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As someone who still struggles with social anxiety to this day, and as a student who felt panicked and pressured to give presentations, this is a real hurdle that can be difficult to overcome.

Usually, at least in my case, it was the build-up to a presentation or speaking event that caused my anxiety to flare up. Not knowing what to expect and going through a million different scenarios in my head about how I could screw up didn’t make it any better. But once I started introducing them I felt good and when it was over the relief was instant.

There are ways he can help his students overcome their fear of public speaking.

As a teacher, it can be difficult to address this anxiety among students because you want to push them out of their comfort zone, but at the same time, you don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable.

As much as his students might dislike public speaking, it’s a big part of being an adult. You may be required to give presentations at work or speak in front of an audience for different events, depending on your field.

It is something you simply cannot avoid. As he noted in his Reddit post, public speaking is “a life skill that will always be necessary.” The best way to make sure his students are prepared is to go over some tools they can use whenever they’re nervous about presentations.

He can emphasize the importance of practicing or even writing a little speech so that during the day they are not slurring their words.

He may even have them all do deep breathing exercises or meditation before the presentations to help them get over their nerves and anxiety. There are definitely specific tools he can implement in the classroom to make presentations smoother, and he can emphasize the importance of not letting social anxiety rule your life.

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Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news and lifestyle writer who delves into today’s issues and experiences.