Feeling that you need to have immediate responses to an instructor s questions may be intimidating. However, learning to speak up can prove enormously helpful and not just in school. For example, can you think of any work environments where you are totally alone all of the time. Even writers who need absolute isolation to concentrate fully have to meet with publishers and readers periodically. Artists may have to talk to potential customers.
Performers often meet with audience members or reviewers.
Then, be sure to rewrite your notes and use the quiet of the library or your room to reflect, clarify and organize. If your instructor is asking for lots of participation in class, ask for time in small groups to talk out your questions with one or two others before going public. Or you may be the type who learns best by speaking up. You get to clarify your own thinking by talking. In a large class this can be problematic.