Listening to Your Voice
From what I've read in a few texts dedicated to rhetoric and composition, voice is extremely important. I've always like listening to other people's voices, but not mine. I even enjoy listening to the imaginary voices that I hear when reading. The woman with the sultry voice. That man who sounds as if he's the tall, dark, handsome, muscular stranger. That teacher with the monotone non-projecting voice. There are so many different voices that we hear and imagine, whether we are reading a text or listening to a speaker. The only voice that I've ever been afraid of is my own, aside from listening to my mother when she's angry.
Why don't I like my voice? I've heard it since I was born, but I'd never listened to it until I had to stand before an audience without a written speech in front of me. I've been told all my life that I sound like a 12 year old; that my voice is squeaky; that my voice was not loud or deep enough. During my high school days, I even took a speech class. In competitions, I won 2nd and 3rd place trophies, but never first place. On the markup sheets, the judges would always state or check that I did not project loud enough. I once thought that if I had taken up smoking, my voice would have been deeper, but smoking was not and still isn't my thing; I hate it.
Fortunately, I had an interview a few days ago, and I asked that person, "How do you prep for a course?" She paused and then gave me what seemed like a two minute talk about course preparation. Within the course of her discussion, she said that preparing your voice is extremely important. It's important when you stand before a classroom of students because you'll be the only person talking, and probably during much of the course. This was a revelation to me because I hadn't really thought of teaching in such a way. Obviously, teachers love to listen to themselves or they wouldn't be in the business of speaking. Teachers are public speakers. Duh! And they do it everyday, while standing in front of their classroom audience.
So, what kind of public speaking training do teachers endure before they arrive in the classroom? If you are a teacher, and you are reading this, what type of public speaking training did you have? How did you learn to listen to your voice, to hear it?
It's not easy to stand before an audience of people and find your voice, especially when you know your subject. But when you have to speak, and you know your subject, how do you listen and continue to talk without becoming redundant or monotonous? How do you train yourself to think, speak, and listen to your students without losing pace, place, and poise?