I did an oral presentations for my Lang/Lit class... and it actually went well.

I did an oral presentations for my Lang/Lit class... and it actually went well. Naturally, I hate presentations. I'm an extrovert and love running my mouth with my friends, but I just CAN NOT do presentations, and Im sure a lot of you can relate. My presentation was last Wednesday, first thing in the morning. I prepared for my presentation well and I even stayed home from school the day before to practice it into the ground. Even though I practiced the entire day I was never able to finish the presentation in less than 18 minutes. I was so so so nervous. If you went over the time limit they would penalize you. I just decided to sleep early that day and hope that the extra sleep would rack my fluency up. ​ I went in the presentation hall the next morning just generally worried. I knew I could do this, I knew that my analysis was spot on, and I knew that I was more than capable of achieving high... I just didn't want to stutter so much that it affected the length of my presentation. I was supposed to go third, so I thought I could calm myself as the others presented... but yeah that didn't happen. The first person cancelled and the second was late, so I just went up and did it. ​ Its a hard presentation to pull off. Its 15% of our grade, no notecards are allowed, its timed and recorded (then sent out externally). All my classmates, fluent or not, were shitting bricks for this. I got up there and I did it. I guess I practiced so much that my mouth knew what to say. I sort of zoned out and jus tlet my face do all the work. I probably stuttered a couple of times but my fluency was around 90-95% and I was more stunned than my classmates... and my presentation ended up being 13 minutes. Maybe I was talking faster, maybe I skipped a few points - but it was my fluency that really cut the time down. ​ My teacher gave me my grade later that day, and I got a 28/30!! I WAS SO THRILLED! Even just writing this out is making me smile... She said I was confident (which I am, but people assume I'm nervous because of the stutter), presented my points eloquently and that it was one of the best presentations shed seen that week. My previous presentations for that same class had been more or less a disappointing experience. But Im so proud of myself! It's given me the motivation to participate more in class. I hope I can keep this up! ​