Cultivating Popularity

Last year, near the end of the school term, I was a little amused but probably more bothered when I discovered the true feelings of one of my students toward me. On his desk was scrawled "I hate Mr. [my last name]." I wasn't sure how to deal with this hatred. It was a mini crisis. I pointed it out to another teacher, and asked him how he would handle such a situation. Do I make a big deal of it? Do I just ignore it? Do I confront the person who I think wrote it? He suggested I scrawl underneath it "I hate you too." Well, I opted not to follow this advice, and simply let the incident pass. After all, it was the end of the year, the student would soon be out of my life forever, and hopefully he could deal with me a few more weeks.

When setting up my classroom yesterday, a sudden inspiration came over me to counteract any inclination students this year might have to write similarly loving remarks on my desks. Why not plant some graffiti of my own? It is a violation of school rules for students to graffiti desks, but I figured a little pencil wouldn't hurt. And this could serve as a psychological experiment on the power of positive thinking. So I got my pencil out and went to work on my own desks. I scribbled things such as "Mr. [my last name] is cool," "Mr. [my last name] rocks," "I love Mr. [my last name]," and "Mr. [my last name] is an awesome teacher" on various desks throughout the room.

The comments aren't very visible, as the desks are not of the light variety, so pencil doesn't show up too well. Possibly the students will never notice them. However, if you look close enough, you can see them. Only time will tell what impact they will have. Even if they don't do anything, it gives me a chance to chuckle to myself about my cleverness and genius. I guess I need a life...