Facing my fear of public reading

In my college speech class we had to give three formal speeches over the course of the quarter. I hate public speaking, so naturally I put off the class until my next to last quarter at Louisiana Tech.

It was summer 2003, when I crowded into the tiny classroom in Robinson Hall. Apparently everyone else on campus thought they would get off easy that summer too. But looking at all the faces filling the classroom, it was obvious the plan backfired.

Our teacher would shuffle our outlines at the beginning of the class on speech days. The name on top was the first person to speak. Two out of three times that person was me, which only furthered my hate and fear of public speaking.

Today, as I sat in front of about 70 children, the same feeling came over me. Fortunately, my fears were eased by "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." Not having to rely on my own words allowed me just sit back, read to the kids and show a few pictures before flipping each page.

The book was a good one to read. The kids laughed and seemed to follow along with the turn of each page. As the next guest reader was introduced as "a guy from TV," the kids' eyes lit up. I'm not sure, but maybe it had something to do with the fact he was reading "Green Eggs and Ham."