learning to teach

Today was my first day as a TA. I'm helping a very popular prof with an undergrad media literacy class. To say she is a little eccentric would be an understatement. Luckily she is eccentric in a very good, very funny way. We were talking about how the campus is becoming a totally non smoking campus but in years past she'd let some students smoke outside while "attending" the lecture through the window of our ground floor classroom. So basically they'd be standing outside and looking and listening through the oddly shaped open window. Ok, but that's not the weird part. All of a sudden she decided to demonstrate that she can fit through the this long narrow window. So she took off her clogs, got up on a desk, squeezed through the window, jumped into the bush outside in her socks and ran back in through the front door. The students walking by outside were probably thinking, why the hell is there a petite 50 year old lady in her socks climbing out a window of the creative arts building? After the initial shock, the entire class was in hysterics. So lesson one for me, don't teach with a stick up your ass. Be yourself, make the students laugh, and get everyone to relax a little. It's probably good for the soul too. Maybe I'll show everyone in my future first lecture the tricks I can do with my mutant hyperextendable joints.