A poorly drawn depiction of classroom anxiety, inspired by the notes I took in class yesterday. -------->I learn best by listening. Sometimes I find that I have something to contribute to the class conversation. On a good day, I am content with my quiet observations and note taking.
But some days, I feel this immense pressure to talk. Participate. Just say something. C'mon. Raise your hand. Open your mouth. It's not that hard. Everybody thinks you're stupid because you don't talk. You're not going to get any participation points. Talk. Talk.
Just talk.
And then it feels like the walls are closing in.
Welcome to the claustrophobic classroom.
I get this, too! Well, not really claustrophobia, but when I decide that I feel too compelled to expose my hapless classmates to my opinions to remain silent, my heart rate goes up and I start to feel light-headed and nauseous up until I'm called on to speak. Then it all clears out, but with it, The Words. It goes better when I rehearse what I want to say a few times in my head, but then I tune out what's actually going on (which is what happened if you've ever heard my distressingly jumbled verbiage in class and been like, "Yeah, okay, that addresses a topic from twenty minutes ago.")
ReplyDeletePermaybehaps try writing out what you want to say and more or less reading it aloud if you get nervous? I'm sure we have plenty of introverts who will totally not mind.