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Still sick, but big night ahead...
Okay, only cruella and LarkNow might think of this as "big" but...
Tonight I'm subbing for an upper-division literature course. I'm the "teaching intern" for the course, but that mostly means I do a big chunk of the grading and am there if people have questions and the professor is too busy.
But tonight, the professor is out of town and won't be able to get to campus until after 7:00 p.m. (the class starts at 5:30) which means I'm responsible for teaching the beginning of the lecture and leading the discussion.
Now, this probably shouldn't seem like SUCH a big deal, seeing as I've been teaching at a community college for five years, and at this university currently. However, I'm used to the intro/100-level classes. A class that is required for the majors in Literature feels a little...no, a lot...different.
To make matters worse, my head still feels like I've got cotton balls shoved in my ears and a river running out my nose. I'm going to be awesome (insert sarcastic tone here) as an authority figure in the classroom...
Off to go hide under my bed and/or search for a genie to give me three magic wishes. Wish 1: To no longer be sick. Wish 2: To suddenly have an expert level of knowledge in British Literature. I'll hold on to wish 3....
Re: Still sick, but big night ahead...
You'll do great! Good luck and I hope you're feeling better soon.
P.S.-If you find that genie, could you pass him or her my way?
Oh, that is awesome! I am so happy for you! I never taught undergrads but I did teach some graduate classes and it is such a pleasure to be there in front of adults who actually care about the material. Of course, it feels best when you think you are really well prepared, but in my experience my students did not ask nearly as many or as difficult questions as I thought they would.
Words to live by: Fake it 'til you make it! If you act like you are in complete control and know exactly what you are doing, you WILL be in complete control and know exactly what you are doing.
It sucks that you are sick, though. That is never fun. Can you take a nap some time today?
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I was going to say exactly what Lark did. I think that all grad students have this "how did I fool everyone into thinking I know what I'm talking about" feeling, especially after graduating (at least from my research). It is all about attitude. I was so afriad my students would ask me questions I didn't know the answers to. And sometimes they did, but I'd just be upfront and say I'd find the answer (they were usually off-topic kind of questions, not dealing with the main purpose of the lecture). Another set of key words:
"That is beyond the scope of this course"
Seriously, you'll be a rock star. You'll be so pumped up on adrenaline your sickness won't even be that apparent to you at first. The upper-level undergrad classes aren't SO different from freshman classes, if anything they are more enjoyable (for the same reasons Lark laid out). Definitely easier to run a discussion because they should have some idea what they are talking about.
Good luck! I'm sure you'll be fine.
Thanks everyone, for both the encouragement and the advice!
I'll hopefully get a nap in at some point...