Presenting is something that I have always dreaded doing. Every single time the words presentation or speaking come out of a teachers mouth I get all anxious and nervous. Although every time I know that once I am up there and I am in the flow of things everything will be fine. I still struggle with some aspects of presenting.

When looking back onto last year and the speaking presentations I did I feel I have really grown and developed my presenting skills. I feel that some key aspects as to why I feel more comfortable presenting today is because of PLP class. We have all been together for a year and a half now and I know the majority of the class very well. Everybody is comfortable in front of each other and I feel a lot more confident heading into presentations knowing that I will have the support of my classmates and friends.

In my opinion poetry was a really entertaining and engaging thing to learn about. We got the opportunity to work in groups of our choice and focus on one category of poems. Our group chose death, which was surprisingly my suggestion. We then went on to find, analyze, and memorize poems for a final presentation. Going into this presentation I was extremely nervous that I would mess up the flow of the poem or forget a line and stumble along. Although just like every time I get up to the front of the class room to present I am completely fine. I really need to get it in my head before a presentation that I will be fine instead of after.

While presenting I believe I have improved on making eye contact and using an appropriate tone when speaking about my work. For example when I was reading out my poem I made sure to look all around the room and make eye contact with everyone. Also I used an appropriate tone when reading the poem, it was understandable, yet powerful considering my topic was death. Presenting I believe will always be something I am scared about, but I know that one day I will be truly proud of what I have said in front of my audience.