Declamation has a long and rich history here at Boston Latin School. It is also very natural to feel nervous about Declamation. Most students feel at least a few jitters, some feel more, and some feel lots of jitters. How nervous you feel could be related to your past experiences with presentations, how often you have practiced, whether you experience anxiety in other situations, or many other factors.

Our minds often trick us with excessive worries that aren’t quite true, although our mind takes them to be true. We call these “Declamation Distortions. Some examples are: “I did awful”, “I kept stumbling over all of my words”, “Everyone thinks I’m stupid and boring”, “If I mess up, no one will want to be my friend”, “I’m going to forget my lines”, “I shouldn’t make any mistakes”.

Check out our Mental Health Toolkit to learn more about these Declamation Distortions and ways to tackle them

sites.google.com/bostonpublicschools.org/bls-mental-health-toolkit/declamation-jitters