teacher with issues.....

I teach Adults (English as a Second Language) and have always had a very difficult time with anxiety when class begins and more or less throughout the day. I'm OK BEFORE and AFTER class, when students are not present, but the moment one or two start to trickle in in the morning, I get the heart-race, hyperventilation, hyperness, etc. And if I'm not 100% prepared for the day (with all my copies made and almost exactly what I'm going to say), the anxiety gets much worse....I'm not able to "think on my feet" when I'm this anxious and so everthing must be pre-planned. My students are very nice people and the job itself is not difficult. But for some reason it feels like I'm giving the speech of my life in front of 10,000 people every day!!!??

sorry to be blunt but I think teachers are born and not made and you would be better off in another job, others will diagree with me

otherwise you need to learn CBT that is new ways of coping with anxiety, especially anticipatory anxiety
when panicky, breathe deep and slow, it always helps to calm you, also keep looking at the students, dont pretend they arent there

I also suffer from severe anxiety and I taught ESL for 3 years. I managed to get through it a sweaty, nervous mess, and it never got any easier. I'm not trying to discourage you if it's really what you want to do and want to work through it, but I switched to a more writing/computer based job and I'm much happier, and don't have to deal with so much stress on a daily basis.

hi ,
i am a teacher too but i rarely teach english ,,,,,,i know when i feel anxiety,,,sometimes i invite some questions,,,and we dont know the answers,,,,
here is a tip for u,
tell ur students to search the answer for one day,,and in the mean time u can find answer of their questions,,,
similarly,,,,tell them to keep dictionary with them all the time...dont spoon feed,,,they will do all themselves and u will feel better too. and its good for their learning.....
and keep saying ur students that they are ur friends...and try to establish some friendly relationship with them. as i say , i dont feel like that .but after passing remarks like ' i miss u students ' , i feel better. so u can try it too.
if u tell me exactly what is the reason for ur anxiety,,,,then i may be able to give u some more tips.
hope it will solve a little.
thanks.