Inspiration
Teacher Goes Viral For Dressing Up As Famous Characters In Everyday Classes
Such a fun-loving and talented teacher!
A teacher in Metro Detroit is going viral for her idea of dressing up as famous characters for her daily virtual class. Recently, the state of Michigan announced the closing of all high schools once again in the wake of COVID-19. Margaret-Ann Wommer, a teacher at Frankel Jewish Academy in West Bloomfield, did not let the news pull her down, rather she came up with an innovative idea of dressing up as different characters to amuse her students. Wommer, who teaches social studies at the high school, said, “My thought process was building in some anticipation for my kids, to make it exciting in some way to come to class.”
With an affinity for dressing up, she did not need to go online to order the costumes, rather she had them around the house from all the past Halloweens and what not.
Wommer told Click on Detroit, “It honestly just came to me, I was feeling like (the time doing virtual school) was going to be monotonous. Not leaving the house, like every day might seem the same, staring at everything on a computer screen. If I didn’t find it exciting, I didn’t think my students would, either. So I thought, let’s do something to change that.”
On her first attempt, Wommer dressed up as the famous allegorical cultural icon of World War II from the 1940s, Rosie the Riveter. She pulled this with the ‘We Can Do It’ poster as her background.
It’s interesting to see that Wommer not only just dresses up herself but makes sure the virtual background matches her costume to give her students a complete fun package. On being asked about her students’ reaction, she said, “High school is a tough crow, they thought I was nuts, and not going to keep it going.”
So far, she’s done famous characters like Mary Poppins, Belle from “Beauty and the Beast,” Katniss from “The Hunger Games,” Princess Leia of “Star Wars,” Wizarding characters of “Harry Potter,” everyone's favourite Minnie Mouse, and many more.
Her persistence to entertain her students has paid off, she said, “Lately I’ve gotten more compliments and more laughter. Now they think I’m famous and ‘cool.’