A college professor has come up with an ingenious way to get through to his students and take them to task over missed assignments and skipping class.
Professor David Red who teaches physics at St John’s River State College in Florida has created a series of hilarious memes to show he’s not just on his students’ level, but is dedicated to helping them get the most from their studies.
‘Students generally seem to really like the memes or really anything I do that makes it feel to them like I’m actually trying to talk to them and not just reading from a script or text,’ David told Bored Panda.
New method: Professor David Red who teaches physics at St John’s River State College in Florida has created a series of hilarious memes to get through to his students
Persuasion: David posted this meme ahead of meeting a student who had missed 30 classes
Film buff: Iconic movies like Stephen King’s IT (above) provide inspiration for the dedicated educator
Getting it off his chest: David also uses his memes to convey how frustrating teaching can be sometimes
Dr Evil: He has also dressed up as Dr Evil from Austin Powers
It all started when David came across a meme on his Facebook feed.
‘The first meme happened with me sitting at my desk staring at a pile of tests and labs to grade,’ David said. ‘Instead of tackling it head-on, I procrastinated and saw a meme on my Facebook feed that I immediately connected to my own frustration. It was Golum looking happy captioned with “We must wash the dishes” followed by a picture of Golum angrily saying “But we hates it!” I made that one there with me talking about grading and it went from there.’
Some of his most popular memes feature David sitting at his desk with a large sign reading ‘You don’t deserve to pass. Change my mind’ taped to it with the caption: ‘All set for my meeting with the student that missed more than 30 classes this semester and emailed me to set up an appointment to talk about his grade.’
Another meme sees David dressed as Stephen King’s character IT. The meme which sees David dressed as a clown with a red balloon attached to a stapler reads: ‘I have exam answers. Down here’.
‘The IT meme was actually right before a final exam and the final was then themed around the movie, using the same characters and “props”. Anything that makes the students feel like I put my real-self into the class helps, whether it’s memes or one of these other gimmicks. If my real-self is in the room, then their real-self shows up too. And when they’re fully present like that, they learn,’ David explained.
And he’s also carried the theme of movies into other memes, dressing up as Austin Powers and Dr Evil, and has also used different movies to make his classes more interesting to his student.
Dress up: In another meme, David poked fun at his students by pretending to be one begging for another chance
Power play: David also dressed up as Austin Powers in one of his memes
Cash me outside: In another meme David dressed up as viral sensation Danielle Bregoli who became famous after she said the now-famous line ‘cash me outside’ to Dr Phil
Desperate: Another meme depicted the professor taking on the role of a student desperate for extra credit
Payback: In one meme, David joked about how satisfying it can be to fail annoying students
Heard it all before: In one meme, David can be seen dressed in a rainbow hat and dickie bow, laughing at students who beg for higher grades
‘In one of my classes this year I wore pink every Wednesday and the first test was entirely themed on Mean Girls. Some of them started wearing pink on Wednesdays too and they really enjoyed it. It became almost like a “team color”,’ he added.
In other memes, he posed as viral internet celebrity Antoine Dodson who shot to fame in 2010 after The Gregory Brothers remixed a news report after a home invasion that saw his say the famous line, ‘Hide yo kids, hide yo wife’.
And in a different meme, Professor Red donned a red wig to take on the persona of Danielle Bregoli who became a viral sensation after she told Dr Phil, to ‘cash me outside’ while appearing as a guest on his show.
Despite his popularity online, David has no plans to turn his comedic hobby into a full-time job.
‘Like all teachers that deal with thousands of students, there are the occasional few that drive you crazy. And there are tedious elements of all teaching jobs (like most all jobs) that wear down teachers.
‘That’s what the memes are mostly about – the elements of teaching that are frustrating to all teachers.’
Viral sensation: In another meme, David posed as viral internet celebrity Antoine Dodson who shot to fame in 2010 after uttering this line during a news report after a home invasion
Harsh reality: In one meme, David poked fun at students who try to cram a year’s worth of course work into one night of studyiung
Cheers: End of year exams are a common theme of David’s memes
High achievers: David poked fun at over-achieving students who want a A grade despite not getting the marks in another meme
Downtime: David showed off how he was going to be spending his summer in another meme, joking he would be eating candy and drinking liquor in the morning