I'm a teacher and I make my students write fanfiction.

German teachers, as a profession, have the reputation for being whiners who complain all day. This is not untrue.

I do enjoy the occasional whingeing myself and teacher humour can be bleak and sarcastic, but my colleague S overdoes it and it is starting to get on my nerves. He's got a beautiful wife and baby-daughter, last year he got the promotion he so desired, he's teaching a form together with the colleague of his choice, but every single one of his comments is negative.

Yes, there are unreasonable parents, annoying pupils, ridiculous demands by higher authorities and there is not a single teacher I know who enjoys marking.

But there are moments when it's definitely worth the hassle (and I don't mean the pay-checks).

Like when you realize that the creative writing task you set your students for their exam is in effect a Much Ado/Romeo & Juliet crossover. Reading a dialogue in which a love-struck Romeo is criticized by a disdainful Benedick is just fun.

If only my students knew that most of their 'production-oriented' tasks could be classified as fanfiction...

And it's all part of the curriculum.