The Importance Of Communication

Communication has a major impact on what jobs someone gets, what friends they have, and even how well they get along with family. I know for me, communication is going to play a major role as I work to become an elementary education teacher. I would describe myself as shy when I first meet someone. Over the years I have become more outgoing to the point where I can talk to almost everyone. The problem is that I still get nervous when walking up to make a conversation with someone or talking in front of a class. The students I have met in college would probably describe me as easy to talk to or outgoing. My friends in high school; however, would label me more as an introvert. This again is because I have changed in my ability to communicate.

I know from reading that a little nervousness is actually good. The problem with me is that sometimes it gets to the point where people can notice I am nervous. My voice will shake and I will talk really fast which does not help in trying to give a successful speech. I also learned from the reading that searching for different breathing techniques can actually help tremendously. I decided to search some and found that the 4-7-8 technique is the one most people use. This means you breath in for four seconds, hold for seven seconds, and then breath out for eight. I tried this and it calmed me down right away. Another way to meet this goal is by telling myself that everyone in the class has to tell the same speech. For me, knowing everyone else is going to speak seems to help a lot. One final way to build confidence so that I will be less nervous is by preparing. I have learned that the more times I practice a speech, the better I will feel going into it. We were also told in class that we can go to the speech lab and have people listen to our speech. Being prepared is going to help me by releasing some anxiety going into each speech. I know I can overcome public speaking apprehension by breathing, preparing, and knowing other students are just as

I am the type of person that will pick a topic that has a lot of information on it but does not interest me at all. It would be better for me to pick a topic that interests me and does not have as much information. This way I will be able to elaborate and explain more of the information. It might take a little more time that way but picking a good topic could also help with the apprehension. A good way to pick a topic is to narrow down the choices by looking at the criteria. If the teacher says to write about your favorite movie as a kid, narrow it down to an age range. If the boss says come up with a way to improve the company, narrow it down by looking at the major problems. There are usually plenty of ways to make a broad category more specific. Once I choose a few topics that interest me, I can do a little researching. By researching a few topics, I can figure out how much information they have or if the topics still interest me. When I have a few choices, I will then choose the topic that is the most compelling to me. I know by taking more time to choose a topic I will feel more assured when preparing to speak in