Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1998, Page 45

Description:	scaredspeechlessJL by Jessee Hahnstudents share their .)eriences of speaking in classtv cotton dryness crowds yourmouth, making your words amess of jumbled confusion. Yourhands drip sweat coming from minutesof worrying and nervousness. Your heartis beating like it is competing in a raceagainst time-the time until you muststand up and talk to aclass of individuals,wanting to listen butnot really caring if youembarrass yourself ornot. You close youreyes for a moment andthen let out the simplewords that practicallygave you a heart attackmoments before.Most shared thefeeling that they disliked speaking in front of class, and theyeach had their reasons for dreading it.I hate talking in front of class. Istutter and spit, and it just sucks,senior Brad Chitwood said.One day when I was in English class,we had to get up and do a presentationin front of the class. I had just put awhole bunch of gum in my mouth notthinking I would be the first person togo. The teacher picked me to go firstand as soon as I started talking, the bigpiece of gum fell out of my mouth andlanded on my report. It stuck to it andruined the whole report, and the wholeclass thought it was hilarious, juniorChris Walters said.Though most people were content to 6I pretend like Im theonly person in theroom. I just act like Iam talking to myself..?-senior Wendi Knapphide behind their desks for the longduration of class time, sophomore MandySmith preferred to speak her mind ratherthan remain silent.I really enjoy talking in front ofpeople. You get to say what you wantwhile other people are forced to listen. Ilike being the centerof attention, and Iwant people toremember what I sayand do, Smith said.Some people havesecrets for calmingtheir nerves andworking their wordsout without collapsingfrom fear.Keep talking evenwhen you dont haveanything to say; eventually it will makesense, senior Ryan Riggins said.I pretend like Im the only person inthe room. I just act like Im talking tomyself, and if someone says something tome, I pretend like it is a prerecordedmessage for the Bob and Tom show, andtell myself it doesnt have anything todo with me, senior Wendi Knapp said.Even with their palms drippingsweat and their mouths swallowingcotton, students gathered up courage andspilled out their dreaded oral presentations.After dealing with frazzled nerves, theywent back to sitting behind their desks,not saying a word until their nextpresentation for the class.resenting a model for theirI English class, juniors EvaJaworoski, Holly Hill andAlex Melloan-Ruiz discuss TheScarlet Letter. It was requiredfor all English 5 classes to readThe Scarlet Letter by NathanielHawthorne.Katie Sheehan®orking together, juniorsJeremy Cho, Jeff Jones,Joe Schroeder andCourtney Gavin help each otherbalance equations in Mr. ChrisSellers, science, fifth periodchemistry class. Many classesrequired students to work ingroups.Eben McAvayspeaking in class 45
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/5545
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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