4th Grade & The One About The Microphone

Yesterday was back to school for Sunshine.  Fourth grade, people!  FOURTH!  This cannot be right.  Sunshine is a little girl, not a big kid.  I am so confused.  There is comfort in knowing she's in class with friends--several of them since 1st or 2nd grade.

Her teachers this year are awesome.  She'll be changing classes and will have her home room teacher as well as another teacher for Social Studies & I believe, English Language Arts.  But still, 4th grade.  So cliche, but they really do grow up SO fast!

So, the microphone.

Despite all the years of singing along to records, tapes & the radio in my room, hairbrush in hand--I hate speaking in front of large groups of people with a microphone.  I don't know if it's the actual mic or whether it's just that whole large group thing.  One on one, I'm fine.  I will sit & talk to people's pets.  But running a meeting?  UGH!

Pretty funny for the PTO President to not like speaking in public, huh?  

Tonight is our school's first orientation night.  PreK -2nd is tonight & then the upper grades are on Monday.  Our Principal does a presentation on school policy/procedures & then I'll get to speak.  I've got a fair amount of thing to cover (introduction of board members, recognizing new parents, PTA vs. PTO, volunteer challenge, our FB group, spirit shop, August calendar) so it's not like I'll be done in a few minutes.  

My sister in law is one of those clever people who has taken her special set of skills & turned it into a successful business.  She's a career coach.  Specifically, she helps professionals who are lacking in the presentation/public speaking arena.

Her blog post the other day?  Hit home.  Hit a homer as she'd say (she loves sports analogies).   When I speak to groups, I find that I tend to speak quickly.  I speak quickly anyway---I'm a Northerner & my family is French.  It's just what we do.

I've taken Barbara's advice & have spent the morning practicing my presentation.  BTW, that whole French thing?  Yeah, I also talk with my hands.  By practicing, I found better ways to segue into the next topic or to bump volunteering after talking about the spirit shop since I mention that volunteer forms can be found there. 

I'm not going to lie, I'm still nervous about speaking & it's 6 hours away.  I do feel better prepared & having watched myself in the mirror I've come to realize that my mouth doesn't do that Lovey Howell-Yankee lockjaw facial expression that I'm convinced I do when I speak.   

Now, if I could only figure out what to wear, I'll be fine.