TA training

I still think teachers are born, not made. You can learn how to speak clearly, and organize your thoughts more effectively, but that makes you a better presenter, not a better teacher. You can learn how to handle conflict and control dicussions, but that makes you a better mediator. You can learn how to be a better administrator, a fairer grader, and you can spend more effort and time getting to know your subject matter so that you don't look like an idiot. But teaching is something else, something almost spiritual, the ability to read your student and connect in just the right way in a multitude of different situations, and either you can do that, or you can't. i don't know whether all the actual teachers i know agree, but that's where i am right now.

(I'm the only other second-year student who actually has a recitation to lead and teach this semester.)