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Voice-preservation tips for back-to-back teaching?

In our newest “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

I have two back-to-back classes this semester, and sometimes towards the end of the second class my throat is getting a bit sore and my voice is getting a bit ragged. I’m scheduled for three back-to-back-to-back courses next semester, which I expect will present the same problem with more frequency and severity. Anyone have any tips for keeping the throat comfortable and the voice mellifluous for over three hours of energetic public speaking?

For years, I used to teach three 2-hour courses back to back, which meant that if I taught traditionally, I would be speaking loudly for 6 hours straight. That wasn’t tenable (my voice would go hoarse well before my final class), which is one of many reasons that I started having my students do graded in-class group work. Having them do multiple assignments in a single class, giving them 10 or 15 minutes to work and write before discussion, took a huge load off my speaking time (and hence, my voice). This is about the only tip I have, though.

Do any readers have helpful tips?

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13 responses to “Voice-preservation tips for back-to-back teaching?”

  1. Anonymous

    Agree with Marcus: Lecture less, engage the students more in active learning. Not only does the research show that they learn more when they engage one another and the material (and they enjoy class more), it lessens workload on instructors.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous

    Lecture less and make sure you have a water bottle. I have a hard time speaking clearly when I’m thirsty.

    I also recommend Throat Coat. It’s herbal, so you don’t need to drink it in a specific time frame like you do tea.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    Many places will rent mikes to instructors which might help you to speak at a lower volume to reduce voice fatigue.

    Reply
  4. Anonymous

    I’ve had this problem (I teach a 3/3). Alongside the excellent suggestions above, I have a few others.

    1) Take a non-menthol lozenge or two when speaking.
    2) Have a cup of throat-coat tea on hand and sip while speaking
    3) Buy a humidifier, and sleep with it on. This made a huge difference to how my voice felt in the morning.
    4) It may be worth consulting with a speech pathologist to ensure you’re using your voice correctly. They can give you tips, tricks, and exercises, and they can also help diagnose systematic issues you might have. For example, when I would start to lose my voice, I used to try to protect it by speaking more softly. But, it turns out, the way I spoke when doing this was much worse for my voice than my ordinary way of speaking (I wasn’t using my diaphragm correctly).

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    Seconding the mic solution. You can even buy your own; it’s not very expensive. I know it’s not the custom in the US to use these while teaching, and so people might react strangely. But it really does help.

    Reply
  6. Michaael Kates

    I’ve been trying to lecture less and engage in more active learning, but I really don’t know where to start. Does anyone have tips? I feel like my teaching has entered a rut and my students are not as engaged as they used to be.

    Reply
    1. Daniel

      Peer instruction. See https://lsa.umich.edu/technology-services/news-events/all-news/teaching-tip-of-the-week/peer-instruction-for-active-learning.html for a short summary. See https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/activelearning/2019/05/02/peer-instruction-eric-mazurs-approach/ for a bit more depth.

      Reply
    2. Handouts

      i switch it up, but sometimes I write up a handout and then I delete parts of it, make them blank and turn them into questions, and then give it to students and have them take notes.

      and then I upload my “complete” version after class. I don’t always do this for every class, but for lecture heavy classes I do this.

      I also tell them usually the final or midterm questions will be one of those questions or variants of it, so that indirectly enables a kind of assessment check. As much as I love autonomy, a bit of heteronomy can also do the job sometimes

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        I also do something a bit like this, but as a way of doing almost no proper lecturing in my class. I call them “skeleton notes”, and they are basically an outline of everything we’re going to do in class minus the content. (So lots of “How is X related to Y?” “What does Z mean?” “What kinds of objections might you raise to W?”) I post them so students have them to guide their reading before class, and then in class I basically just ask that series of questions. Students have to give the answers (sometimes with group discussion or individual free-writing first), and my contribution is basically to ask guiding questions to get them closer when they need it.

    3. Anonymous

      The book “small teaching” is great – it’s full of tiny changes you can make to your teaching a little bit at a time, and lots of them are great.

      Reply
      1. Michael Kates

        Thanks for all these helpful tips!

  7. Anonymous

    Tea. Honey. Tea with honey. Breathe through your diaphragm, it helps with projecting.

    These are typical singer tricks, and helped when I had a schedule that involved shouting at large rooms of students for six hours straight. Good luck.

    Reply
  8. Promise this isn’t ad read

    It’s great having tea when one has access to a water kettle, but in case you’re like me and have to run around from building to building across a large campus, I wanted to add that propolis honey throat sprays have been saving me this year! You spray it toward the back of your throat and it coats and soothes it. It’s also particularly great when you’re getting over being sick but are forced to teach. The one I got is the “propolis throat spray” from a brand called Beekeeper’s Naturals. You can get it on Amazon etc.

    Reply

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