TA ranting

So my TA (teaching assistantship, i.e. what I get paid for) assignment for the semester is to TA the Ecology lab. I didn't take this as a big deal since I TAed an ecology class at Allegheny. I figured I'd be doing what I did there: set up, help out, answer questions, and grade lab reports while the prof ran the show. Not so much. Apparently now, I am THE teacher for this lab. Just me and 23 undergrads. This morning I was handed a lab workbook and told "have fun." I've been thrown to the wolves, except I'd rather deal with a pack of wolves at this point. I have never done anything remotely like this before and I'm experiencing that "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit" panicked feeling in my chest. I don't like being forced out of my low profile. The worst part is going to be the first class, er....lab, because I have to give a 3 hour introductory lecture. *shudders* I have till Tuesday to prepare, and I'm going home this weekend. That leaves the rest of today and Monday. And I don't even want to be a freak'n teacher. If I can just make it through this Tuesday, everything else should be easier since those days are all actual labs where we do field work and experiments and such. I can handle that. Its more on my level. We'll see how things go.

To make matters even worse, I realized that this TA business is even worse than having a class. If I want to go on a trip or something, I can't simply take off and skip the class. I'm the freak'n teacher. This has really put a huge damper on my "free" semester.

*Scowls*