I can teach without a voice! At least I think I can. I lost my voice yesterday after school, but can whisper still. Thankfully I have a speaker system, so I turned it up all the way. My lapel mic doesn't pick up my whisper unless I hold it to my mouth, but that's not a big deal. I'm also carrying around a small whiteboard to give quick instructions with. The boys are taking it really well. Reading groups may be rough, but I'm only going to meet with 2 groups and do running records on the others. It should be interesting day!
I hope you feel better. My sister once taught elementary general music, band, and band lessons without speaking at all for two days because she lost her voice. It can be done successfully!
Hope it went well! When I lost my voice earlier this year, I hooked a laptop up to a projector so I could type directions on the screen. I think the funniest part was that the kids were all whispering because I was, but with my head all stuffed up I couldn't hear them. Hope you feel better soon!
I lost my voice as well, but I teach K, and giving written directions would be a waste of time! lol Hope you feel better
This has spurred me to redownload my Airliner software on the computer that my projector is now hooked up to. Hopefully I'll be able to use it tomorrow, so it will be a little easier to give written directions.
Year before last I went almost a week with no voice. I had NONE for one day and the rest of the week was't much better. I felt like I was playing charades all day. That was the year I had all boys. They handled it really well. The days I had to whisper, most of the time they whispered, too. Hope your voice returns soon!
They really are! I have an awful sore throat right now and it hurts to talk. I told each class this when they came in today, and they were great. If I needed to address the class, the kids sitting in the front would turn and tell everyone else that I was trying to talk and to listen up.
I was pretty worried yesterday - I can get through a day with kids without my voice, but we've having conferences this week. Kind of hard to do parent conferences without talking! I had my last one an hour ago though, and it held out that long.
I've gone entire periods without talking. I type what I want to say on my computer and display it on the projector. The class calms way down, they understand directions better, and they have to focus. And with my first graders, I'm pretty sure it helps their reading fluency.