The art of public embarrassment

Those were the days

Most of us in the teaching profession struggled through our own desperate periods of awkwardness and can empathize with our students who are dealing with the same issues.

As a student, I was sort of in a league of my own in the awkward department. Not only was I the classic nerd, to top it off I was desperately hiding the fact that I was gay in a small town.  I always kind of knew that when my friends were freaking out about Daisy Duke from the Dukes of Hazzard and I was simply wishing the Bo and Luke would take their shirts off, that something was very different about me.

Anyway, most of us were probably unlucky to get some of that sad time photographed. Looking like a cross between a muppet and Napoleon Dynamite, there is a treasure trove of truly awful pictures of me during my high school years.

Now, far too many years later, I sometimes break these out to calm students down and provide a quick laugh at my own expense.

For those students who have suffered major anxiety about exams, I slip in a special note with quite possibly the worst photo ever taken of me. It's a picture taken prior to my discovery of hair gel and good taste in anything resembling fashion. To make matters even worse, I was going through some pretty heavy work at the orthodontist and had a huge gap between my front two teeth. The truly sad thing is that I had actually put some real work into my look that day!

The message on the picture simply reads, "How could you be scared of this test when THIS guy is the one grading it? RELAX!"

Sure, it's poking fun at myself, but students have often told me it calms them down. In the end, providing some levity is probably the best one can do.

Now with that said, anyone want to share an embarrassing pic?  Come on, I dare ya!