The Closet of Doom

I pranked my students today, and it was glorious. Not all of them, just one of my 6th grade classes. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about it. But first, I need to set the stage a little. My classroom used to be used for kindergartners. Those kids got a new school and moved out, then the middle school kids moved in. This means that my room comes equipped with the special accommodations only found in a kindergarten classroom.

Tiny counters, a paper towel dispenser, and even my own little bathroom. But here’s the thing: the school removed the tiny kid toilet, capped the sewer, and now it’s used as a closet to store a bunch of robotics equipment, desks, and cleaning supplies. Naturally, my ‘closet’ isn’t a very fun place to be inside. It’s humid, musty, and has a slight sewage smell to it.

For those reasons, I’ve decided to name the space “the closet of doom.” See, a name like that captures the imagination of 6th grade students quite easily. For the last week and a half, this same class asked me everyday if one of them could open the closet of doom and look inside. I told them not to, that opening the closet of doom would lead to their ultimate destruction and under no circumstances should they ever open the closet of doom.

(Insert evil smile here) This is where the prank began. I had created a mystery around the closet of doom and drawn them in. All I needed to do from there was set the trap. In this case, the trap took the form of a small, but loud, Bluetooth speaker. Once I got all the kids working busily on their assignments, I connected my phone to the speaker, snuck it in the closet of doom, and quietly retreated to the other side of the classroom.

Several minutes went by, then I covertly pressed play on a YouTube video that played a bunch of creepy whispers. For the first few minutes, I kept the volume just loud enough to faintly hear it. A minute later, I turned it up. I waited again. Over and over, I slowly turned the volume up until finally, it happened! One of my students heard it and turned to investigate.

“What’s that noise?” He asked. In a snap, the rest of the class was with him and on the case. It didn’t take them long to discover the noise was coming from the closet of doom, yet, for reasons unknown to me, no one wanted to be the one to open the door and investigate. Instead, they looked to me.

“Did someone go in there?” I asked. We looked around, and I verbally counted. Everyone was present. I played dumb and fought back a wide grin. Somehow, I managed. Finally, I asked if someone wanted to open the door and see if they could figure out what was going on. One kid stepped up and volunteered. He opened the door, revealing the dark interior. All the other kids gathered behind him to catch a glimpse.

“What the!?! It’s a speaker!?!” The first kid shouted.

That was my cue—time to initiate part two of my plan. I quickly pulled my phone out and changed my music. As the words played, the students slapped their foreheads, and I’m pretty sure one even fell to his knees. These were the words they heard:

“Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you…”

I’m sure you can figure out the song from there. Boom! That’s right. I lured them in and gave them a Rick Roll they never forget.

I know it seems silly, but honestly, I think that’s a core part of being a good teacher. You can’t always be serious—sometimes, you just need to have fun.