I’m someone who has always been afraid of public speaking. In school, I would avoid presentations and would rather get a 0 or talk to those teachers I was most comfortable with and ask them to either present privately or not present at all. Once I got to college and had to take a speech class, I realized that most adults are supportive and won’t judge you because of the speech impediment you have. That’s when I started to get more comfortable with speaking publicly. I’m in the process of becoming a teacher and I’ll be teaching middle school science in August. I’m hoping the more I speak publicly, the less anxious and afraid I’ll be. Surprisingly, I stutter WAY more when speaking to adults my age or older. Not so much with kids. But yes, public speaking has always given me an overwhelming amount of anxiety which im hoping to lessen the more I do public speaking as a teacher.