A shy one... Options

[baconstrips]

I have always been a shy type of person, especially in class. Every year teachers always come up to me and say that academically I am doing fine, but my in class participation is low. I feel shy asking teachers questions, and asking for help. One time, our teacher blamed the whole class that none of us were participating or asking questions, so I asked a question, just to make him feel better. He then got pissed at me because he said "I just spent the past 10 minutes explaining that to you." and did not answer my question.
I think because of this, I dont feel confident enough to ask teachers questions without making a fool out of myself.
Do any of you have tips on how to boost my confidence level in class?

[sakaitone]

Wow, I have never had that problem, the only problem there is, is getting me to shut up. I raise my hand to ask questions and to answer them all the time. It isn't that hard, you might have problems in the beginning adjusting to answering and asking questions since you're shy.

Answering questions may be hard because you might get it wrong, maybe you think everyone is going to make fun of you if you get it wrong but they're not. If you're 100 % sure that you know the answer then raise your hand. You don't have to raise it that high, it can be kind of low. When you get an answer right, it slowly and steadly builds up self-esteem in class. Even if you get the answer wrong, you should look it up or listen for the correct answer, this becomes helpful when teachers review for exams, tests and such because there in a big chance they'll ask the question again.

Asking questions is even harder, in my opinion I don't think anyone likes looking stupid in front of peers. Asking questions is okay because the teacher is suppose to help you. Be specific about what you don't understand to help the teacher, so he/she doesn't have to review the whole concept again unless they need to for some reason. Word your questions carefully because sometimes the teacher won't understand and will review a different part from what you don't understand. Don't worry about looking stupid and thinking you're the only person who doesn't understand because there's probably someone in your class mentally thanking you for asking that question because they wanted to ask the same questions but doesn't have enough guts.

I hope this helps!!!