A Man of No Small Reputation

I just had the greatest experience of my (lengthy) teaching career to date. Mr. H (who teaches one section of physical science) is absent today and asked me to drop by his classroom on my free block to check on his class and see that they were getting the right numbers for a project they're doing. I walked into the class and announced the names of the people in one of the groups I needed to speak to.

"I need to see the group with [Johnson], [Michaels] and [Jones]!"

The class went silent as they all looked at me with a who-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-here look. So I decided to explain.

"Sorry, Mr. H asked me to drop by and check on you to see if you had any questions."

More silence; more looks.

"... I'm Mr. [Name]."

The class exploded with energy. There was an almost collective, prolonged "oh" of realization: "Ooooohhhh, you're Mr. [Name]". They were whispering to each other; I could hear them calling me by the names some of my students have adopted for me. Many looked at me suspiciously, averting their gaze when I met it. Several students came up to me and said, "We've heard about you," telling me about their friends in some of my classes. No one was unaffected by my presence.

I teach something close to half of the freshman class at my school. I am famous. And I am feared.