I was a shy child. I remember feeling incredibly frustrated with myself whenever someone would try to talk to me because instantly my tongue would feel as though it was stuck to the bottom of my mouth and I could only mumble a few words quiet filled with spoonerisms (e.g. a chy shild rather than a shy child). My parents and grandparents would often tell me that “you come by your shyness naturally” and I just continued to struggle with knowing what to say and when to say it in social situations.

Fast forward a few years to 6th grade, and my wonderful music teacher encouraged me to take a vocal solo to music contest in the spring. I loved to sing, so I obliged. I memorized my solo, and was prepared to perform for contest in front of my mom, my teacher, and the judge. Then one day leading up to the event, my teacher called me to the front of the classroom and told me I was going to perform my vocal solo in from of the entire 6th-8th grade choir class! I don’t remember even having the time to say no, so I performed my solo, surprising the entire class as well as myself.

I continue to take vocal solos to music contest the next two years of junior high, but didn’t seek out any other situations in which I would perform in front of others.

It wasn’t until high school that I started to gain some more confidence. Again, it was my teachers who encouraged me to continue to put myself out there, to step outside my comfort zone and try to speak and perform in front of others.

I wasn’t ever very good at speaking, but I did continue to practice. The best way I found to gain confidence was to first really know my stuff, then just pretend I was good at speaking! I use the same concept every day when I stand up in front of students and teach!

In four days, I will stand up on a stage in the Potomac Ballroom in the Renaissance Washington Hotel for the opening session for Tuesday of the 2023 Noyce Summit and speak about my experiences teaching science in rural Kansas. I will be joined by David Dai of Barton Academy for Advanced World Studies, William Leach of Lamar High School, Jai Manni of Urban Academy Laboratory High School, Emily Uosseph of Monticello High School, and Rafael Villa of Chelsea High School.

Dr. Okhee Lee of New York University will open the session and then engage the 6 of us in conversation about our early years of teaching and how our training through Noyce programs affects our time in the classroom. Highlights from the 2022 Noyce Summit can be found here:

I had a family member ask the other day if speaking in front of other bothers me. I told him I was terrified yet I can’t even express how grateful I am for the opportunity. I don’t know if my music teacher from 6th knows how much she changed my life that morning in March of 2007, but I have a lot of good to share with my audience about rural education, and I am going to fake that confidence and speaking ability so that my audience knows how important it is to train and provide high quality science teachers to rural America. Our kids deserve it!