How do you look after your voice?

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I'm doing my pgce, currently teaching in a lower ks2 class and for the last 3 weeks I've lost my voice by Friday even though I've not felt ill

My behaviour management is good and i'm not having to raise my voice. But with whole class input, moving around the classroom talking to different children, reading our class story etc etc -I just feel like i'm talking a lot!

My classroom is boiling hot and I feel like i'm drinking gallons

Any tips to protect my voice would be greatly appreciated

It's all in the breathing. You need to treat your voice in the same way an actor or singer does. Breathe from the diaphragm (think about breathing down to your tummy button) and then treat the air in your lungs like the petrol in your car - you need to fill your lungs properly if you want the voice to work properly. There are a couple of good books - The Voice Exercise Book by Jeannette Nelson is worth a look.

Drink water. Inhale steam. Practice breathing properly. If you feel like it's coming from your throat, then you need to practice the breathing more. The first few times you do it properly, you'll get a head-rush, but it will become habit.

Thank you

I shall have to think back to my choir days 😁

Avoid caffeine

Try Manuka (?) honey as well

Try yawning whilst keeping your mouth closed. it stretches the vocal chords.

Avoiding caffeine???

There are many things I'm prepared to do but I'm not sure that's one of them

Go for a low pitch.

I suffered from this! It did get better with time though, about 2 terms in and I no longer went home with a sore throat everyday! I wasn't a shouter either just too much talking.

It's about projection, speak from your diaphragm not your throat (almost as if you are singing, iyswim). Drink shitloads of water. Sip constantly.

It's true. Caffeine dehydrates the chords. Coffee is worse than tea. So many teachers end up with nodules. Good vocal care involves regular small sips of water. Speaking over noise is extremely tiring for the voice. You have to learn to speak in a supported way. A speech therapist can work wonders for you. Ruth Epstein is fantastic. She works at the national ear nose and throat however to be honest you are better paying her. It cost me £90 a session last time. I'm a professional singer. You'll get good habits for life.

I probably have her number somewhere

I had to have voice therapy when I first started teaching as I regularly lost my voice in my first year of teaching. If I am stressed, I can feel my throat constricting - I all but lost my voice during a recent Ofsted inspection but still managed a good. Eviltwins's advice is excellent.

I started off teaching secondary music - Christmas term was a nightmare the first couple of years!

Lots of great advice here. I guess I've hardened up over the years though lost my voice with a bug for a few days - it was knackering, opening my mouth to say something to my Y3/4 class, giving up then resorting to rattling my tambourine!

I've never given up the coffee but have water almost on drip.

I lost my voice years ago and needed speech therapy on NHS to recover. I was straining my voice a lot. It turns out that using a lower pitch than your natural tone is the worst you can do. I now speak in my naturally high and quiet tone and my voice is fine. I try to use my voice much less than before- silent reading, kids reading aloud, paired and group reading, writing stuff on the board more so I don't have to keep repeating myself, also drinking water continually all day. I had developed nodules, common in teaching. Now I protect my voice much better as I teach English /Drama plus take lots os assemblies. It's so important.

Cleebope has good advice there that I try (and often fail) to follow in the classroom. Talk less!