<p>jdelavalle, this teacher is lazy, unethical, naive or a little of all. Don't do as he suggests! Find another teacher who will give you a bonafide recommendation and be grateful that this deadender didn't actually get his hands on your future. </p>
<p>After you are safely graduated from high school and enrolled in the college of your choice and you might even consider tipping off the administration to this guy's shenanigans. He's not doing you or any of the other accomplished kids at your school any favors and he could be implicating them in a situation that would get them crossed off the admit list. Think about the recommendation confidentiality clause: could you do this and sign it?</p>
<p>I would feel very uncomfortable writing my own recommendation, and I know I would never be able to write a really favorable recommendation and definitely not glowing. If you write a really glowing recommendation filled with "best student of my career" and "exceptional" and all these other things that the teacher very well may think of you, jdelavalle, he's going to read it and if you say it, it makes you seem very full of yourself. You don't want to be overly modest in your rec, but you don't want to teacher to think that you see yourself as the best thing since sliced bread because that also paints a bad picture of yourself. If it were me, I would tell the teacher that I feel really uncomfortable recommending myself, and I'm sure he won't mind writing it.</p>
<p>Just tell him you appreciate his vote of confidence but "have a really hard time writing nice things about yourself." Ask him to write it. You'll be better off because you won't have to worry about cheating (and writing your own rec would be cheating) and you know he will write nice things once he forces himself to sit down and write the thing. </p>
<p>Actually, he's put you in a horrible position. You don't want to offend him because he's such a great potential recommender, yet you really don't want to write your own rec because it's dishonest. Sounds like he's being lazy and he's trying to cover it up by telling you he's giving you a "gift." Put the ball back in his court. I think he'll do a great job in the end.</p>