One Rewteet At A Time: How a Promposal to Zendaya and Twenty Hashbrowns Inspired Me This Month

       I can't stop thinking about what happened to one of my students recently. I don't often single out students in my blog, but I received this student's permission before writing this one. Since he's already famous (at least in the world of Twitter), I'll reference him by name--Harry. Harry tweeted an image of a conversation between him and actor/singer Zendaya, where she claimed to say that she would go with him to prom if his tweet got 100,000 retweets. Zendaya realized Harry photoshopped the screenshot, and commented on the tweet, stating that it was photoshopped but that he did get her attention. Meanwhile, Harry successfully garnered 100,000 retweets.

  An article was even written about it, mentioning Harry by name, concluding with the sentence, "Better luck next time, Harry!" While I am not condoning photoshopping other people's images (Although, Zendaya, if my blog magically happens to reach you, you have to admit, he is creative), what happened in this one instance taught me a lesson about the power of social media.   We have the power to make positive changes in our school and in our world. Within hours, Harry had 100,000 retweets. What if we could make changes using social media as the vehicle to do so as quickly as Harry got 100,000 retweets? Social media is one of the most powerful weapons we have to combat racism, to demonstrate equality, to fight for what is right. Yet, it also can suffocate us, bullying us to our lowest possible dimensions. So often we use it as a vehicle to complain or show our false realities or even to bring others down. We need to use social media for good. The choices we make can have lasting impressions; we need to be the heroes in our own stories.

     That last sentence--we need to be the heroes in our own stories--I lifted from a student's writing. I guess you could say I "photoshopped" it. This past week, I found myself in Dr. Dave Coogan's English class at Virginia Commonwealth University. The class is comprised of VCU students and criminals who chose to "write their way out" of their crimes by taking Dr. Coogan's class instead of serving jail time. I was curious as to how Dr. Coogan teaches the class, I read his book Writing Our Way Out, and asked if I could observe. He graciously agreed, and there I sat outside the circle, listening to his students read excerpts from their memoirs. One student ended his by stating, "That's how I became the hero in my own story." I was so moved by that line that I wrote it down in my notebook, wondering what life would be like if we all were the heroes of our own stories.

     As I began to think more about this idea of being my own hero and how Harry inspired me to use social media for good, I found this idea surfacing everywhere. While driving in the car with my daughter Maggie, she asked me, "Do you know what superpower I want? I want to be able to fill things up. When my wallet is empty, I'd fill it with money." I sighed. Why are my kids always fixed on money? Before I could utter a word, Maggie continued, "Or when someone's heart is empty, I'd fill it with love." I sat in the driver's seat stunned by those words. At twelve, she knew how to be the hero in her own story.

     And I guess that's the thing we need to remember. We have the power to write our own stories. My only connection to Zendaya besides Harry's tweet was seeing her in the movie The Greatest Showman. I left that movie inspired. And if you look at the words Zendaya sings in that movie: "It's up to you. / It's up to me. / No one can say what we get to be. / Why don't we rewrite the stars?" there's a message in there for us to start to take control of what happens to us. While there are always going to be things out of our control, what if we found just one thing and changed it for the better?

     Seniors in TOK, you have culminated your CAS (Creativity, Activity, Service) requirement by consructing and presenting websites of your service projects and activities that you have been working on for the past 18 months. This is an impressive body of work when you look at it in its entirety. You have impacted many through such service projects as Sportable and book drives and supporting causes like Child's Play and Rise Against Hunger. You have been the heroes in your own stories.

     Juniors, I've also witnessed your powerful legacies in many ways. Your English coursework has gotten harder, yet you haven't let that stop you from succeeding. You've learned how to write a literary commentary in English and a prescribed title in TOK. These writing assignments are no easy feats, yet you have taken them on and shown me your desire to improve.

Several of you jumped at the opportunity to ride the bus with one of our special needs students in our class when we went on a field trip to the VMFA so he didn't have to ride alone. You came with me to cheer on many special needs athletes in the Big Feet Meet this month.

One day, one of you arrived late to class and dumped two greasy bags of fast food from Chick-fil-A and McDonald's on the table. I stopped teaching to ask what all of that was as 20 hashbrowns spilled out of the bag. Your kind act of bringing breakfast in for the entire class has spurred other classmates to continue to bring breakfast for each other on subsequent days. You are filling each other up (both literally and figuratively). You are the heroes in your own stories.

     As I watched the 20 hashbrowns spill out of the bag that day and as I marvelled at Harry's 100,000 retweets and listened to Dr. Coogan's students write about their crimes and thought about my daughter's desire to fill others with love, I began to consider my legacy. What do I need to change in my life? Where can I make a difference? What kind of cape will I choose to wear? In thinking about this, I've decided to take action in how my story is written. Stay tuned as I unveil my plan on Twitter at some point soon to demonstrate the power of social media. I'm not sure if I can get to 100,000 retweets like Harry did, but I'm determined to try.

     My message is simple for this month. Be the hero in your own story. Don't worry about being someone else's hero.  So what will your cape look like? How hard will you work? Will you give up or choose to persevere? Will you push through or as you often say "grind" through the reading or studying or assignments or essays to get them done? Will you do all you can as you begin the "season" of IB testing? Will you fill people up by supporting them?   What kinds of choices will you make? We have about thirty more days left of school. Seniors, you have less than 50 days until you graduate high school. You have the choice in the way you write your story.

So, my wonderful students, just like Harry requested of his Twitter followers, make it happen. Make good choices. Rewrite the stars. Be the hero of your own stories.

Zendaya, if you ever happen to stumble upon this blog, thanks for helping this teacher see the power and potential we can have as human beings. You may not be attending a prom in the small town of Mechanicsville (the date is May 19th, by the way) even though Harry gave you quite the creative promposal, but you've helped prove that one person can be the hero of his or her own story.

And Harry, you don't need "better luck next time." Like all of my students, you are leaving your legacy and changing the world...one retweet at a time. And that, my fellow readers, is enough to inspire me.