25 Ways To Confuse Your Professors:
- Brush your teeth during class. While doing so, raise your
hand as if you have a question, and mumble your question incoherantly
while brushing, spewing toothpaste all over the place. If your
professor objects to your actions, go on a tirade about proper
oral hygiene.
- Sit way at the back of the room, up against the wall, to get
as far away from your professor as possible. While he/she is lecturing,
shout out things like, "What!?" and "Speak up!
You're mumbling!" If your professor advises you to sit closer
to the front, tell him/her you can't because you're scouting the
room for "assassins."
- If you have an early morning class, get there before anyone
else, and bring a pillow, some blankets, an air mattress, and
an alarm clock. Wear your pajamas. Lie down on the air mattress
with the pillow and the blankets and act like you're asleep. Have
the alarm set for about two minutes into class. When it goes off,
preferably very loudly, hit the "snooze" button and
go back to sleep. Keep doing so for the duration of the class.
- Dispute everything your professor says, no matter how simple.
Try to get him/her to "prove" everything to you. Rant
and rave about what a big liar your professor is. Yell at students
who are taking notes, saying, "Stop writing down all these
lies!"
- Show up to class about ten minutes late. Ride into the room
on a bicycle, yell, "Look out!", and crash into the
blackboard. Get up, take a seat, and act like nothing happened.
Do this every day.
- Keep "accidentally" setting fires at your desk.
Burn notebooks, papers, or whatever you have handy. Whenever you
start a fire, no matter how small it is, start yelling, "Fire!
Fire!" and run out of the room in a panic. Don't return for
the rest of class.
- Hide somewhere inside the classroom. Wait for your professor
to take attendance. Don't come out when he/she calls your name.
Halfway through class, jump out and yell, "Just kidding!
I'm here! Fooled you again!" Sit down and be quiet for the
rest of class.
- Wrap yourself in bandages and come to class in a wheelchair.
Throughout class, cry a lot and moan things like, "Why me?"
and "Please kill me!" Get up during class, like your
going to miraculously start walking. Instead, fall down, cry out
in pain, and wait for someone to help you back up. When class
is over, say, "I feel better now," leap up, and run
home.
- Come to class with a jar full of angry hornets. Five minutes
into class, release the hornets, scream, and run away.
- Bring a vacuum to class. Halfway through class, stand up and
start using it. If your professor objects, explain that you "can't
stand sitting in this pigsty any longer." Keep vacuuming,
grumbling angrily.
- Bring a small cactus to class with you. Raise your hand, and
when you're called on, say that the cactus has a question. Turn
and look at the cactus, as if you're waiting for it to say something.
After a few moments, shrug, and wait for your professor to move
on. Do this once a day, and become increasingly irritated with
the cactus every time, sighing heavily and giving it evil looks
when it fails to "speak." When you leave the room after
class, start yelling at the cactus, "I can't believe you
embarrassed me AGAIN...."
- Every time your professor stutters, do a shot. If he/she objects,
explain that drinking games make the class more interesting.
- When your professor gives you a syllabus, take it home, correct
it, give it a grade, and return it to the professor. Demand extra
credit.
- Come to class every day wearing scary Halloween masks. Try
to get your professor to guess who you are. Shoot him/her with
a water pistol, scream, and run around the room knocking things
over. Say, "Pretty scary, huh?"
- Get the whole class to show up a few minutes early, and throw
a surprise party for your professor. Insist that you can't start
class until he/she has a piece of cake. Keep asking people when
the strippers are going to arrive.
- Instead of taking notes, do an abstract painting during every
class. Call the paintings things like, "Professor Acting
Like Mr. Know-It-All" or "Idiot Who Doesn't Know What
The Hell He's Talking About." Give the paintings to your
professor as gifts.
- Wait for your professor to mention a date, and then yell out,
"Bingo!" Apologize, and explain that you got confused.
- Carve a bust of your professor out of cheese. Tie a ribbon
around it, and present it to him/her at the beginning of class.
Demand extra credit.
- Write your professor a note that says, "I'm going to
be about 15 minutes late. Go ahead and start without me."
Wait outside the building until the time when class is supposed
to begin. Tie the note to a rock, and throw it through the window.
- Write down everything that your professor says, word for word.
Think up a melody, and turn the words into a song. Bring a guitar
to class and perform the song for the class. Explain to your professor
that he/she is "very inspiring."
- Get a monkey, and bring it to class with you. Tell your professor
that you've hired the monkey to take notes for you. Sit back and
relax during class, letting the monkey scribble on a piece of
paper. When it comes time to write a paper or take a test, write
down things like, "I wish I had a banana" and "I
miss my tire swing." Assuming you get a bad grade, angrily
fire the monkey in front of you professor.
- When you have to write a paper, get it done early and mail
it to your professor's house. From then on, don't hand anything
in, and blame it on the sluggishness of the U.S. Postal Service.
- Tell your professor that you'd like to interview him/her for
a writing class. Get him/her to tell you his/her life story. Act
interested, and write down everything he/she says. Fabricate a
few romantic interludes and turn your efforts into a trashy romance
novel. Make copies for the entire class, and your professor. Demand
extra credit.
- Draw hearts and flowers on the backs of your papers and tests.
Next to them, write things like, "You're the best, even though
you suck" and "You're the worst professor in the world,
but I still love you."
- Start asking questions in a fake foreign language. Act like
your professor is stupid for not being able to understand you.
Get other people in the class to start speaking the fake language
too, and have frequent discussions during class. Act like you're
really interested in what you're discussing. If your professor
tries to interrupt or stop you, act annoyed and motion for him/her
to quiet down.
It seems only fair to offer the following
Fifty Ways to Confuse Your Students
1. Wear a hood with one eyehole. Periodically make strange gurgling
noises.
2. After confirming everyone's names on the roll, thank the class
for attending "Advanced Astrodynamics 690" and mention
that yesterday was the last day to drop.
3. After turning on the overhead projector, clutch your chest
and scream "MY PACEMAKER!"
4. Wear a pointed Kaiser helmet and a monocle and carry a riding
crop.
5. Gradually speak softer and softer and then suddenly point to
a student and scream "YOU! WHAT DID I JUST SAY?"
6. Deliver your lecture through a hand puppet. If a student asks
you a question directly, say in a high-pitched voice, "The
Professor can't hear you, you'll have to ask *me*, Winky Willy".
7. If someone asks a question, walk silently over to their seat,
hand them your piece of chalk, and ask, "Would YOU like to
give the lecture, Mr. Smartypants?"
8. Pick out random students, ask them questions, and time their
responses with a stop watch. Record their times in your grade
book while muttering "tsk, tsk".
9. Ask students to call you "Tinkerbell" or "Surfin'
Bird".
10. Stop in mid-lecture, frown for a moment, and then ask the
class whether your butt looks fat.
11. Play "Kumbaya" on the banjo.
12. Show a video on medieval torture implements to your calculus
class. Giggle throughout it.
13. Announce "you'll need this", and write the suicide
prevention hotline number on the board.
14. Wear mirrored sunglasses and speak only in Turkish. Ignore
all questions.
15. Start the lecture by dancing and lip-syncing to James Brown's
"Sex Machine."
16. Ask occassional questions, but mutter "as if you gibbering
simps would know" and move on before anyone can answer.
17. Ask the class to read Jenkins through Johnson of the local
phone book by the next lecture. Vaguely imply that there will
be a quiz.
18. Have one of your graduate students sprinkle flower petals
ahead of you as you pace back and forth.
19. Address students as "worm".
20. Announce to students that their entire grades will be based
on a single-question oral final exam. Imply that this could happen
at any moment.
21. Turn off the lights, play a tape of crickets chirping, and
begin singing spirituals.
22. Ask for a volunteer for a demonstration. Ask them to fill
out a waiver as you put on a lead apron and light a blowtorch.
23. Point the overhead projector at the class. Demand each student's
name, rank, and serial number.
24. Begin class by smashing the neck off a bottle of vodka, and
announce that the lecture's over when the bottle's done.
25. Have a band waiting in the corner of the room. When anyone
asks a question, have the band start playing and sing an Elvis
song.
26. Every so often, freeze in mid sentence and stare off into
space for several minutes. After a long, awkward silence, resume
your sentence and proceed normally.
27. Wear a "virtual reality" helmet and strange gloves.
When someone asks a question, turn in their direction and make
throttling motions with your hands.
28. Mention in passing that you're wearing rubber underwear.
29. Growl constantly and address students as "matey".
30. Devote your math lecture to free verse about your favorite
numbers and ask students to "sit back and groove".
31. Announce that last year's students have almost finished their
class projects.
32. Inform your English class that they need to know Fortran and
code all their essays. Deliver a lecture on output format statements.
33. Bring a small dog to class. Tell the class he's named "Boogers
McGee" and is your "mascot". Whenever someone asks
a question, walk over to the dog and ask it, "What'll be,
McGee?"
34. Wear a feather boa and ask students to call you "Snuggles".
35. Tell your math students that they must do all their work in
a base 11 number system. Use a complicated symbol you've named
after yourself in place of the number 10 and threaten to fail
students who don't use it.
36. Claim to be a chicken. Squat, cluck,
and produce eggs at irregular intervals.
37. Bring a CPR dummy to class and announce that it will be the
teaching assistant for the semester. Assign it an office and office
hours.
38. Have a grad student in a black beret pluck at a bass while
you lecture.
39. Sprint from the room in a panic if you hear sirens outside.
40. Give an opening monologue. Take two minute "commercial
breaks" every ten minutes.
41. Tell students that you'll fail them if they cheat on exams
or "fake the funk".
42. Announce that you need to deliver two lectures that day, and
deliver them in rapid-fire auctioneer style.
43. Pass out dental floss to students and devote the lecture to
oral hygiene.
44. Announce that the entire 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica
will be required reading for your class. Assign a report on Volume
1, Aardvark through Armenia, for next class.
45. Ask students to list their favorite showtunes on a signup
sheet. Criticize their choices and make notes in your grade book.
46. Sneeze on students in the front row and wipe your nose on
your tie.
47. Warn students that they should bring a sack lunch to exams.
48. Refer frequently to students who died while taking your class.
49. Show up to lecture in a ventilated clean suit. Advise students
to keep their distance for their own safety and mutter something
about "that bug I picked up in the field".
50. Jog into class, rip the textbook in half, and scream, "Are
you pumped? ARE YOU PUMPED? I CAN'T HEEEEEEAR YOU!"
Comments to: Peter N. Peregrine
Revised 22-Apr-1996