Questions about being a TA

[zillie]

I haven't been a TA yet, but I have been teaching for the past two years.

My advice would be:

1) Prepare more than is needed for each class. - If you do this, you will feel confident and seem well-organized because you will never have a minute where you're lost or trying to think of what should happen next. Students can almost always tell when you're not fully prepared.

2) Be able to laugh at yourself when you make a mistake. - You said you are a bit emotional, so being able to do this will help keep your spirits up.

3) If faced with a confrontation, always keep your cool. Don't yell or shout. Let the student have their say first and get everything out of their system. If you are flustered and can't think of a response, tell the student you appreciate bringing the matter to your concern and that you will need to take some time to think and will get back to them that day or the next. It is always better to take time to develop a calm, rational, and collected response than to say something in the heat of the moment and regret it later.

Overall, have fun! Teaching will be hard, and unfortunately there's no way to be good at it except with practice. If you are positive and receptive to improvement then you will be just fine.

Good luck!