wink     ; )

First Class

I taught my first class as a TA today. (My Prof is out of the country for a conference, so I'll be covering for him all week.) It went reasonably well. We discussed one of my professor's papers. I know that paper pretty well, so it was easy for me to field the various questions from the students.

The hard part about this class is that it meets at 8:00 AM on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. For someone who regularly goes to sleep at 2 or 3 AM, that's pretty early. Now I can drag myself to an 8:00 class every day with some difficulty. But it is a whole different matter to teach a class at 8:00. Attending class is simple. You just need to show up. You can nod off or lose concentration without too many negative consequences. But teaching? I have to actually be awake and aware. I have to maintain a certain level of concentration. I can't nod off when students are asking me questions. And I have to do it day after day.

This is going to be a hard week. (Goodnight all.)