How to Be Mistaken for the Instructor

Draft:

Earlier Drafts:
This whole ensemble is new (except for the wedges that may soon fuse to my feet), but this is a pink version of the same blue print dress I've been wearing to death and the purple one I took out of my sister's closet during black-out week.

Composition:
pink satin dress and belt (H&M via sister's closet)
abstract floral/rorschach test print tee (American Eagle)
white canvas wedges (MIA)

Usage:
Two weeks ago, I started a six week intensive intermediate German course in order to get a head start on my PhD degree's foreign language requirement.  I spoke German fairly well after studying it in high school and college, but that was years ago, so I am really enjoying getting back into the language.  I'm taking it with undergrads, so I anticipated that they might mistake me for the instructor.  In an attempt to avoid this confusion, I wore the more "casual" of my work-appropriate ensembles during the first week (like this one and this one) and no one mistook me for the instructor.  Success!!... I thought.

Until the second week.  When I cruised down the hallway Monday morning wearing this more formal ensemble (but with short sleeves), a young student waiting outside the classroom hit me with "Are you the teacher?"  I answered "No," but she still told me she was hoping to add the class after being on the waitlist.  I said "She usually gets here about 10 minutes before class," but I thought "then where were you last week?"

Anyhow, my instructor is the same age as me, and even dresses fairly similarly, so though this young lady had never seen her, the guess wasn't far off.  In fact, when my instructor arrived that day in the black version of this beloved, extremely versatile H&M dress, I laughed to myself and felt jealous that I don't own it in black.  (Perfect LBD material!)  When she complimented me on this bold, experimental (for me, at least) pink and purple ensemble the following day, we commiserated about how difficult it is to dress in this heat.  She also told me she never thought of wearing a top over a dress before, and she is going to try it next week.

I agree with her-- I really like how this $3 clearance tee from AE gave a whole new look to this dress.  I felt like putting the belt that came with the dress over the top of the tee brought the whole thing together and drew attention to the pink flowers? splotches? on the tee.  And, while there was a lot of girl-love for that outfit that day (Katie and another office mate both complimented me on it), one guy who sits behind me in German class said "What do you see in her shirt?  It looks like a horse to me."  Oh, undergrads... how I have missed you! : )

Prompts:

• For those of you who teach, do you feel pressure to dress differently when playing the role of "student" than you do when playing the role of "instructor"?
• Or maybe, how do you dress when you'll be in a group of people who are, in general, noticably older or younger than you?  Do you dress to match or do you just wear your normal attire?
• How else might I style this tee?  It's actually deep purple, not black... and I have an identical one in different, almost neon shades of pink.  I haven't worn them much, though, because I'm having trouble figuring out what they "go" with, and they're banded at the bottom, which makes them difficult to wear with jeans or shorts.