Hi Everyone!

I'm in need of some suggestions & venting. One of my college teacher's emailed me on Thursday saying that she would like to set up a meeting with me and wanted to know what time would work. So I emailed her back saying Tuesday would work and asked what we would be discussing. She emailed me back saying that we would be discussing class participation and the group presentation. So now I'm very worried about it because I know she's not going to call me in to say "oh, you are just awesome at participating in class!". I know this worrying isn't good for my baby and I.

For me participating in class doesn't mean talking in class. For me participating in class means completing assignments, quizzes, tests, paying attention in class, and actively thinking about what's being discussed in class. I know that I struggle with speaking during class where there is more than one classmate and me in a group. If I could speak more in class I certainly would, but to tell you the truth I don't know why it's so difficult with me. Is it that I'm shy, the anxiety, my experience in K-12th grade of being teased so much in class, that I grew up in a K-12th grade school knowing my classmates since I was in preschool where as in college you change classmates every semester, etc.?

I'm scared to death to go to this meeting. Does anyone have any encouragement or suggestions for approaching this meeting? It's bothering me so much that I could see myself crying during the meeting. I don't see my teacher as being fair to be pulling me in when we just have 4 classes left for the semester to tell me that I don't participate enough because I don't talk. I do fine when I'm in a classroom full of kids, but my own classmates is a struggle for me. If she wants to take points off my grade for not talking in class then that's fine. I don't agree with that because to me not talking in class doesn't equal not participating in class, but I really don't wish to be called in to discuss my classroom participation with her.

She also said that we would be discussing the group presentation, and I have no idea what she means by that. I did my research with the group, answered all emails to group members, and met at all meetings to prepare our presentation. I discussed the powerpoint during our class presentation and my group members did a demonstration on how word sorting works. I participated in this group presentation, so I don't have a clue what she's going to say about this.

Carolyn