You see, one year ago tomorrow it was April Fool’s Day, and I had decided that I wanted to play a little prank on my class. I had never played a practical joke on my whole class before (at least that I can remember) and I thought that I’d do one this particular year.
Why? Just because.
So, I did a little research.
It seems that back in 1976 an astronomer, Patrick Alfred Moore, pulled a prank on BBC radio listeners. He stated that as Pluto passed behind Jupiter, it would cause decreased gravity temporarily on Earth.
Hundreds of people were completely faked out. It was brilliant.
I decided to recreate the hoax—after all—I’m all about keeping things green and recycling whenever possible. Also, this idea was much too good to NOT use.
I copied the HTML code from the Wikipedia as well as the NBC website. I put this code into Dreamweaver (my webpage creation software) and began to rewrite portions of the sites…after all I wanted it to look real.
I changed the dates, added information, and made the Wikipedia site not state anywhere in it that this was a hoax which happened in 1976, but rater a late-breaking story which had been on the 11 o’clock news the night before; therefore, many of the students may not yet had heard of it. Since these sites were not ‘live’ but rather clever imitations, I had to use only my computer.
I had these webpages already pulled up on the Promethean as the kids came in that morning and it went from there.
I could tell you all about the experience, explaining it brilliantly, but I think it would be better to show you what truly happened.
Just know that you are coming in about 5 minutes into the actual joke. I thought it a bit too long to keep the portion of ‘the setup’ about website accuracy, having multiple sources to check and recheck information, and the explanation about time zones.
I love it.
And yes, the parents all signed consent forms for this to be posted online; when it comes to embarrassing their offspring, it seems that parents are just awesome like that.
So, herein now lies the problem, tomorrow is yet another April Fool's Day...just how will I EVER be able to top this little prank?
I don't think I'm even going to try...
22 comments:
This is awesome. All I've got are some ugly pictures of Mickey Rourke for my coworker.
That's too funny! I love all of their expressions as they are jumping around AND then the expressions when they realize they were tricked.
Awesome!
Speaking of April Fool's...
Didja hear that West Valley City is declaring war on Taylorsville?
It's in the Salt Lake Tribune, so it must be true:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51541652-76/mayor-valley-taylorsville-west.html.csp
100% awesome.
My students probably wouldn't get the joke... I'm not sure what I'm doing... I'm not going to be there Monday... maybe I'll just storm out at the end of the day and say "I QUIT" haha
I was actually just telling my coworkers about this joke you pulled yesterday. I actually came up with an AWESOME joke we are going to pull on the 6th graders tomorrow. I plan on posting it, so stay tuned.
Not sure if it will rival this one, but it should be pretty good.
That was AWESOME!!! I love how they all sit down real quick at the end. I heard someone say, "I knew it." Yeah, sure thing there, skippy!
Who said you can't believe everything you read on the internet? :)
I so needed something silly like this at the moment. Thanks!
That was fabulous! I think I heard someone yelling, "It feels like flying!" hahaha! Got to prank my kids in the morning..... still plotting!
Fantastic.
Hahah, I wonder if my fourth-graders would fall for this.
This was CLASSIC... so great. :)
That was classic.
But I was counting on you to do something!
That was hilarious!! I love that you wear a suit and tie to teach. Sure wish my kids could be in your class!
That might be one of the most elaborate April Fool's pranks I've ever seen! Kind of makes me want to be a teacher, if only for this annual opportunity... : )
Great April Fools prank, love all their expressions.
How hysterical. Just "being" in the classroom with them was fun!
And yeah, not sure how you're gonna top that one!
I SO hope you tried today! This was hilarious!
I remember this from last year and still think it's one of the best pranks yet! Love how the kids get so excited about it!
I linked here from Single Dad Laughing and this is SOOOOO funny! It goes to show the the internet plus teachers are a powerful tool--your kids believed you all the way!! Classic!
Soooooo what did you do this year??
You know we're all dying to know..
Oh my goodness. That was SO good. You are awesome.
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