Teaching is no small job—and it comes with a whole lot of responsibility. On top of making sure the curriculum is covered, teachers also have the tough task of keeping a room full of students engaged, well-behaved, and supported. Sure, there are the star students who make it all worthwhile (modest pay included). But then there are those who leave you with a whole lot more questions than answers.
You know the type: the ones who say or do something so baffling that it stops the whole class in its tracks. These moments tend to stick with you, so it’s no surprise that a Reddit thread asking teachers to share the moments that made them think, “Oh boy, that student definitely isn’t going places,” was met with some truly jaw-dropping stories.
#21
This isn't really the kid's fault, more the parents, but my sister teaches in Hong Kong, generally 3-4 year olds.
And she had this one kid, called Enzo if I remember right, kept acting out, completely ignoring my sister & her TA when they spoke to him, and doing badly in the class work they're given. He also didn't speak, like, at all, tended to play by himself.
So my sister called in his parents in to discuss it, voiced her concerns that there might be behavioural problems, maybe something deeper seated.
His parents then confided in her that it's probably not that, more that the kid didn't speak a lick of English or Cantonese, I.E, the two languages used in the school, and most of Hong Kong.
They were both relatively affluent Italians, so they'd raised the kid speaking Italian, and lied that he spoke English fluently so he could get admitted into the school, as it was a requirement that they have a basic understanding (IIRC.)
My sister raised her concerns with the Principal after she had the meeting, and they responded to just moving the kid to another class. She said she still sees him sitting alone during lunch breaks.
I really feel for the kid though, he's only young, and he's pretty much been alienated, and won't learn properly because his parents are so set on shoving him into the most expensive school, assuming he'll learn well.
And she had this one kid, called Enzo if I remember right, kept acting out, completely ignoring my sister & her TA when they spoke to him, and doing badly in the class work they're given. He also didn't speak, like, at all, tended to play by himself.
So my sister called in his parents in to discuss it, voiced her concerns that there might be behavioural problems, maybe something deeper seated.
His parents then confided in her that it's probably not that, more that the kid didn't speak a lick of English or Cantonese, I.E, the two languages used in the school, and most of Hong Kong.
They were both relatively affluent Italians, so they'd raised the kid speaking Italian, and lied that he spoke English fluently so he could get admitted into the school, as it was a requirement that they have a basic understanding (IIRC.)
My sister raised her concerns with the Principal after she had the meeting, and they responded to just moving the kid to another class. She said she still sees him sitting alone during lunch breaks.
I really feel for the kid though, he's only young, and he's pretty much been alienated, and won't learn properly because his parents are so set on shoving him into the most expensive school, assuming he'll learn well.
16points
#22
In the last few weeks before the AP exam I give my classes a series of practice tests (written by College Board) to take in class under a time constraint to give them practice. One student, lets call him Bill, always tried to cheat in my class. I had gotten sick of putting in the effort to catch him, and it didn't matter because the entire point of the class was to prepare for the AP Exam.
Bill started off each test by staring at the page and answering one or two questions. Then, as always, he asked to go to the bathroom during the test. I let him go and he took his phone (of course). He returns and frantically bubbles in the rest of the test and turns it in early. I have to hand it to him, Bill was great at memorizing letters for the answers of the practice tests, but he failed the AP Exam.
Bill started off each test by staring at the page and answering one or two questions. Then, as always, he asked to go to the bathroom during the test. I let him go and he took his phone (of course). He returns and frantically bubbles in the rest of the test and turns it in early. I have to hand it to him, Bill was great at memorizing letters for the answers of the practice tests, but he failed the AP Exam.
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15points
#23
Not a teacher but a fellow student.
A guy in my class was asked by the german teacher what kind of music he listens to. Trying to make a good impression, he said he liked classical music. The teacher asked him to name his favourite composer. He answered "Piano".
A guy in my class was asked by the german teacher what kind of music he listens to. Trying to make a good impression, he said he liked classical music. The teacher asked him to name his favourite composer. He answered "Piano".
15points
#24
I'm not a teacher, but in 9th grade, in my world geography class we would do this thing on the smart board where it would say the name of a country/ocean/city, and we would have to click on it on the map as fast as possible. Well, this one girl went up there, and the first country it said was USA, she stood there for a solid minute before finally clicking on the Arctic ocean. The teacher was speechless.
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12points
#25
Asked my student (7th grade life science) why he has F's in all of his classes and why he doesn't bother to care about it. He proceeds to tell me with the most confident smile that he's making it into the NBA.
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11points
#26
As a getting to know you activity I asked students "If you could be anyone in history, who would you be and why?"
One student's answer: "Eleanor Roosevelt, because I've always wanted to be black.".
One student's answer: "Eleanor Roosevelt, because I've always wanted to be black.".
10points
#27
My mom was a substitute for 5th grade teachers. She told me how this one kid had so many anger issues.
This kid would be sitting in his desk playing legos or something, then out of nowhere flip the desk, start punching the other kids while screaming at the top of his lungs. He also wasn't a small kid, and my mom isn't a big person, so when my mom tried to calm him down, he only got more angry and ripped a necklace off of her and tackled her to the floor, which was when 3 other grown men pulled the kid off of her. She got to go home early and get paid for the necklace that was broken.
You think someone would find out that this kid was mentally handicapped before 5th grade.
This kid would be sitting in his desk playing legos or something, then out of nowhere flip the desk, start punching the other kids while screaming at the top of his lungs. He also wasn't a small kid, and my mom isn't a big person, so when my mom tried to calm him down, he only got more angry and ripped a necklace off of her and tackled her to the floor, which was when 3 other grown men pulled the kid off of her. She got to go home early and get paid for the necklace that was broken.
You think someone would find out that this kid was mentally handicapped before 5th grade.
10points
#28
One chick in my class (in France) when I was in 10th grade said she "did not get all the fuss about Obama being president, it's not like if it was the first black US president, there was Martin Luther King before him".
10points
#29
Had a high school senior girl who didn't know how to add fractions tell me that it was "a waste of time." This was a month before she had to take her SAT so she could apply to colleges. Side note: her mother would come in talking about getting her into top tier schools and how bright she was.
9points
#30
I had a middle school student, not even old enough to drive himself, bring a dog to class - in his coat pocket. (I think the parents had to come get it after 3rd period. It went potty.)
Same child also tried to save ice cream for after school in his locker. He was NOT special ed, either.
Same child also tried to save ice cream for after school in his locker. He was NOT special ed, either.
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9points
#31
One of the fellas in my university 1st year computer programming class stared at the wall, at the same spot. The whole class, Every class.
He'd walk in on time, sit down, open his folder, and stare at the wall, and didn't ever take a note that I saw. At the end of the wall-staring duration of the class, he'd close his likely-still-blank folder, get up, and leave without a word.
I see him from time to time at the grocery store collecting up the carts. I feel a little bad for whoever funded his education, but am pleased that he has a steady job.
He'd walk in on time, sit down, open his folder, and stare at the wall, and didn't ever take a note that I saw. At the end of the wall-staring duration of the class, he'd close his likely-still-blank folder, get up, and leave without a word.
I see him from time to time at the grocery store collecting up the carts. I feel a little bad for whoever funded his education, but am pleased that he has a steady job.
8points
#32
Not a teacher but someone in my class genuinely believed that the Great Wall of China was in Berlin.
Took everyone a couple minutes to realise she was being serious...
Took everyone a couple minutes to realise she was being serious...
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8points
#33
My sister is a teacher for a local school. Like a great many teachers, she's also responsible for a form group - in this case, a rowdy and rambunctious group of fifteen year olds she'd inherited from a newly-retired teacher.
Some kids stand out more than others, and not always for the right reasons; the epitome of that rule existed in my sister's form group. She had the misfortune to be called 'Xena' by her Tumblr-feminist mother, and Xena herself had followed firmly in her mother's footsteps - she was considered unpopular, and certainly the other kids were unfair and cruel, but she didn't help matters herself.
My sister has told many stories of Xena, up to and including;
* The time she spontaneously began speaking in an accent, which sounded like the child of a Pakistani accent, Irish, and a speech impediment. The accent vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared over the course of the lunch hour.
* The time she claimed powers of clairvoyance in chemistry. The kid torching pencils with a Bunsen burner apparently never particularly cared if their great-aunt Doreen wanted to warn them of misfortune
* The time she shaved her head, and refused to wear her uniform because it was 'stifling her creativity'
The John Cena meme was in full swing, and Xena had earned the nickname 'John Xena', owing to her buzzcut and unfortunate head shape. Kids would hum his theme tune upon seeing Xena in the school. A memo was sent around the faculty concerning the matter, but half of the staff were convinced that John Cena was a politician.
My sister was running improvisation drills when Xena broke in with one of her prime stories; She was the daughter of a Mauritian man named Johnathan, she said (Her skin was the colour of milk, smooth and pale) a man of great importance. She'd been born in Mauritius and swiftly smuggled over to the UK with her mother (Born and raised in England) as a newborn. There was a beat of stunned, awkward silence, until a particular a child screeched;
*'Joooooohn Cena!'* and slammed his mate's head into the desk.
Some kids stand out more than others, and not always for the right reasons; the epitome of that rule existed in my sister's form group. She had the misfortune to be called 'Xena' by her Tumblr-feminist mother, and Xena herself had followed firmly in her mother's footsteps - she was considered unpopular, and certainly the other kids were unfair and cruel, but she didn't help matters herself.
My sister has told many stories of Xena, up to and including;
* The time she spontaneously began speaking in an accent, which sounded like the child of a Pakistani accent, Irish, and a speech impediment. The accent vanished as mysteriously as it had appeared over the course of the lunch hour.
* The time she claimed powers of clairvoyance in chemistry. The kid torching pencils with a Bunsen burner apparently never particularly cared if their great-aunt Doreen wanted to warn them of misfortune
* The time she shaved her head, and refused to wear her uniform because it was 'stifling her creativity'
The John Cena meme was in full swing, and Xena had earned the nickname 'John Xena', owing to her buzzcut and unfortunate head shape. Kids would hum his theme tune upon seeing Xena in the school. A memo was sent around the faculty concerning the matter, but half of the staff were convinced that John Cena was a politician.
My sister was running improvisation drills when Xena broke in with one of her prime stories; She was the daughter of a Mauritian man named Johnathan, she said (Her skin was the colour of milk, smooth and pale) a man of great importance. She'd been born in Mauritius and swiftly smuggled over to the UK with her mother (Born and raised in England) as a newborn. There was a beat of stunned, awkward silence, until a particular a child screeched;
*'Joooooohn Cena!'* and slammed his mate's head into the desk.
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8points
#34
I'm not a teacher, but once in 8th grade, one of the students didn't know what country Alaska was in. Even the teacher face palmed.
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8points
#35
I was subbing in a third grade class and, as a reward, I was told I could draw a quiz card and ask a question to a student. The student could earn points (to be used in the class store) by answering the question. So I asked this very sweet little girl how many states of the US she could name, worth one point each. She sat there thinking with a big smile on her face for about 15 seconds before emphatically stating, "Wednesday!".
8points
#36
Fellow classmate story: a girl in my geography class was convinced that the U.S. was a continent, and that each state was a country. We discovered this because she listed her favorite foreign nation as "Colorado".
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8points
#38
I was introducing myself to an elementary class (I’m a sub for now) and I always tell them fun facts about myself and I usually say I have a cat and this little boy shouts “IS IT A YELLOW LAB?”.
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8points
#39
Three 3rd grade boys stole a answer book from me for their reading test which consisted of 18 multiple choice questions and 2 essay questions. They all aced the multiple choice questions but had the exact same answers on the essay questions. "Student answers may vary".
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7points
#40
Been a history teacher for 3 months and was teaching about the middle colonies and how it was the "Bread Basket" of America. The next day as a warm up I ask what the bread basket is. She rose her hand and without her even skipping a beat starts going off about how I'm so dumb because it's called the chicken basket where you get your tenders two sides and it also comes with bread but that isn't what it's called. This poor girl has a lot more stories this one is the one that stands out to me the most.
Edit: sorry guys took a nap because I'm trying to enjoy my vacation.
Other stories include wondering how Obama was the first black president because she thought Abraham Lincoln was black. Her reasoning behind it was that was really tall. Granted she's also black yeah...
Along with that I've had to explain that we did have color back them she couldn't believe that people before the 1950s still had color as only the Tv's and photos were black and white.
She constantly calls people cockatoos.
3 weeks ago she asked which history I'm teaching.
I honestly don't know if I really suck as a teacher or it's her.
Mind you guys i do teach 8th grade US history. I wanted to believe all kids are smart but I'm just slowly not going to hold on to that belief anymore. These are the highlites. Ask again next year and ill have a stories from multiple kids I want to reap in that sweet sweet karma.
Edit: sorry guys took a nap because I'm trying to enjoy my vacation.
Other stories include wondering how Obama was the first black president because she thought Abraham Lincoln was black. Her reasoning behind it was that was really tall. Granted she's also black yeah...
Along with that I've had to explain that we did have color back them she couldn't believe that people before the 1950s still had color as only the Tv's and photos were black and white.
She constantly calls people cockatoos.
3 weeks ago she asked which history I'm teaching.
I honestly don't know if I really suck as a teacher or it's her.
Mind you guys i do teach 8th grade US history. I wanted to believe all kids are smart but I'm just slowly not going to hold on to that belief anymore. These are the highlites. Ask again next year and ill have a stories from multiple kids I want to reap in that sweet sweet karma.
7points