LOS ANGELES • The students in the Hollywood school were told they would have a substitute teacher for the day. When the bespectacled woman stepped inside the classroom, one student asked: "Wait, are you the real Lady Gaga?"

According to AdWeek, the singer had put in the guest stint for the shooting of a public service commercial to launch a campaign to help teachers fund class projects and supplies. Her Born This Way Foundation is involved in the project

The 31-year-old superstar said she visited the classroom recently to "promote a positive learning environment" and that "I want kids to love themselves fearlessly".

In that spirit, she had asked the students to share their goals and dreams while she took a back seat to listen and respond.

"It was extraordinary to look each other in the eye, hear what they needed: 'I need to be accepted; I want to feel supported; I want the classroom to be more like this or that because I was born this way,'" Hollywood.com cited her as saying.