The First Impression

First impressions always go better when the participants have absolutely no prep time. They can fall easily into the situation and be happy at the mercy of whatever physical and mental state they happen to be in. This is a good system because the agony of trying to figure out how to make an impeccable first impression almost never works. It is much better to let fate take the stage, rather than trying to control every situation like psycho Katherine Heigl in the beginning of every single one of her movies.
What kind of impression do I want to make? Well, in my case, I want to give my class of 20 nervous and skeptical anatomy students the impression of authority, vast stores of applicable knowledge, approachability, and the idea that I'm the most awesome TA ever. Well crap. How the hell am I supposed to pull that off with one outfit and a few opening lines?
Jeans? T-shirt? Purple t-shirt? No, that would make me look like a prep. I am not a prep. Flowered tank with blazer? Well sure, but how am I supposed to keep warm?
 Do I start off with a joke? Rather, should I start off with a perfunctory introduction? What will win the hearts of my future students?
Well, when I woke up the day of my First Impression to be, I let fate take it's course and dressed myself in clothes with no meaning and opposite of what I chose for myself the night before and nearly thew up with nerves. The lab began and I started off informally with a couple of casual questions before doing my introduction. I spoke loud and clear, with inflection, eye-contact, and the works. I gave honest truths about the work involved in the class, but I followed it with helpful tips and personal success stories.
Looking back on it, I know I could have done a lot better. I could have done a lot worse, too. They didn't laugh at my jokes, looked like Fido zombies during lecture, and wanted nothing to do with my fun suggestions. It was, however, a success, though slightly off from how I dreamed it would go.
I'm hoping that my relationship with this group of peers with follow the same pattern that my relationships always do. At first I am too formal, conservative, and people don't get me. Later, however, both parties warm up and they accept my generally spastic antics and everybody has fun.
With the much anticipated first impression out of the way, I am still anxious about getting up there again, but I know that I am capable of administering a kick-ass quarter. I am not a teacher, but I can teach this stuff, and someday I will be the Janice Lapsansky I know I am meant to be: giving first impressions that leave lasting impressions of being an awesome and generally bad-ass AP teacher.