No Prep: Teaching a Class Proves to be a Learning Experience

I don’t really have a problem with public speaking. It doesn’t make me nervous like it does for some people. In fact, it’s how I’ve made my living for the past 22 years. However, my No Prep task this week had me teaching a media class at the Jessye Norman School of the Arts. I’ve spoken to classes before, and I’ve done career day type things. This, however, felt like it was going to be a little bit different. As it turned out, I was right.

I arrived at the school, which offers after school arts education to school age students in the CSRA, with Steven Uhles, the editor-in-chief of Augusta Today. There, we met Jacob Boland, the school’s photo and digital arts teacher. He was telling us about what the kids had been working on so I would know what to talk to them about. Boland told us that these kids were between 10 and 15 years old and were already recording audio, recording and editing video, and writing scripts.

Well, I thought, I’ve done all these things before. I should be able to talk to these kids about all of this. It should be easy.

Wrong.

I was still feeling pretty confident as the kids walked into the classroom. I was about to drop some media knowledge on them, and it was going to be awesome, or so I thought. Once all the kids got into class, Jacob gave an introduction, and off I went - sort of. I started out by asking what I now realize was one of the dumbest questions I could have possibly asked.

“How many of you have talked into a microphone before?”

What?! What kind of question is that? They’ve recorded audio and video, of course they’ve talked into a microphone. I was really stuttering and stammering and really struggling with talking about what I do and how it relates to what these kids have done and are currently doing.

I needed help, and I needed it in a big way. Thankfully, Steven was there to sort of get the ball rolling. He asked the kids what is something that they don’t like about hearing their voice when they listen back to a piece of audio they recorded. Great question. Finally, something I can talk about, and they can relate to. Why couldn’t I have thought of that?

So, we went around the table and listened to the kids talk about the things they don’t like about hearing themselves recorded. There was everything from “I think I talk too fast” to “I feel like I ramble from time to time.” I was honest and told them that even after 22 years on the radio, I still deal with those same insecurities. I was able to give them a few tips to hopefully help them.

It was really awesome being able to have adult conversations with 10- to 15-year-old kids and have them relate and to be able to relate to them in turn. We talked about conveying emotion with your videos and recordings. We talked about knowing your audience and appealing to them. We talked about having a happy balance between things being completely scripted and improvising. It was really a great conversation. Now I was in my element. I was in a place where I was able to take what I’ve learned and experienced and share it with these awesome kids.

Another question asked was “What bugs you about certain audio recordings and videos?” A lot of times, we don’t want to know the answer to that question. But honestly, I was really interested in hearing what these kids had to say. We got answers like “I don’t like when things don’t sound genuine” and “I don’t like when medicine commercials have a long list of side effects.” They were really insightful.

Toward the end, I could tell that we were starting to lose some of the kids. I mean you can only hold the attention of an 11-year-old for so long. Thankfully it was time to wrap up and we thanked the kids for allowing us to come in and talk to them.

I can tell you with complete certainty that this has been the most nervous I’ve been for No Prep. However, it was also the task that I thought was going to be the easiest. It was pretty easy once things got started, but getting there was tough.

Thanks to Gary Dennis, Jacob Boland, and all of the staff and students at the Jessye Norman School of the Arts for having me. Thank you, as well, for not holding it against me if I was not the best teacher.

I had No Prep!