Humor can be a powerful tool in the classroom. For example, Randy Garner, Ph.D., a psychologist at Sam Houston State University, found that students were more likely to recall a statistics lecture when it was interjected with jokes about relevant topics.
And sometimes, it can make the teacher's day too. Reddit user u/KDwiththeFXD recently shared a heartwarming and funny anecdote on r/Teachers, proving just how unpredictable kids can be.
It all began when u/KDwiththeFXD was subbing in a lower-achieving high school. A student, who happened to have developmental issues, became the target of a bully's remarks. The teacher was about to intervene and defend the student, but they quickly snapped back themselves, saying, "I am in here for a reason, and I have an excuse. You're here and failing because you're just dumb."
Unable to maintain a serious demeanor, u/KDwiththeFXD burst into laughter, leaving the bully feeling embarrassed and rendering them speechless for the remainder of the class. As the comments on the post poured in, many fellow educators shared their own hilarious encounters. Continue scrolling to check them out.
#21
A third grader called me a big glob of goo, and then said I was fired and was calling the police. Actually, he screamed all of this at me at the top of his lungs. I still laugh about the glob of goo comment.
Also a kid told me I was “like a rock in his shoe” to mean I was annoying him. I use that one in my own repertoire of insults now
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184points
#22
I have a lot but heres a good one
We were talking about favorite foods one day and this one 9th grader said he loved pickles.
So the other kids in the class started asking him if he liked things like pickled beets, pickled onions, etc...he said yes to every single pickled thing they asked him.
I asked if he'd ever tried pickled cucumbers and he said he didn't know they made those...lost my composure and had to be helped back to my feet after that one
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172points
#23
So far my favorite is when, early in the semester, I told students that we would be learning Latin dances (spanish teacher.) turns out a student misheard me, so after a month or so of classes while we have down time this one girl just blurts out “ so when are you going to teach us how to lap dance?”
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160points
#25
convo with a kinder student:
student: you smell like my grandma
me: oh...that's nice
student: she died
first, i just about died trying not to laugh, then i started wondering if i should be worried.
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152points
#26
I’m a band director, and I was explaining to my beginner brass class the need to support their sound. I told them to think of squeezing their stomachs and I had a student say, “I have IBS so is it safe for me to do this?”
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150points
#27
"Chicken wings are a side dish."
Entirely innocuous, but the whole class dropped what they were doing when they heard it, and we proceeded to debate for, legit, 45 minutes.
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148points
#28
“Please look around the ground for crayons that ran away from your desk and disappeared.” - me
“Dang, just like my dad!”
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146points
#29
Teaching 8th grade - I had two really heavy-set boys in this class. They were told to give a presentation on their dream jobs.
The heaviest of the two went first and said verbatim “My dream is to be a famous chef, it is a dream I have with such a fiery passion. Just like Steven’s dream is to swim in a swimming pool…filled with fried chicken.”
I lost it.
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133points
#30
Student, to me: Miss, do you have a boyfriend?
Me: no I don’t
Student: soooo, does that mean you’re single and ready to Pringle?!
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132points
#31
“Okay kids, fold your paper hotdog style”
“Your mom likes it hotdog style”
That’s a top 10 for me.
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131points
#32
3rd grader was running from point a to point b. The way third graders just can’t stop doing. “Friends please slow down, it’s muddy out here today…” as if on cue, the friend with the big body he has yet to grow into falls literally over himself. Body out, mud all over his pants. Not hurt. Just a hot mess. “Friend, are you alright”. Kids looks up. Dead pan. “I hate my life..”. I still laugh (like I did under my mask then ) thinking about it to this day.
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115points
#33
These 2 boys were beefing over early morning basketball and one tells me "Apparently I broke his vertebrae, insulted his personal image, and airballed every shot! This is why you don't drink during pregnancy!" Another time 8th grade girls were talking astrology and one boy just shouts "STOP SPEAKING IN MOON RUNES"
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113points
#34
Recently I was discussing something with my high school seniors and someone used the word "tragedies." Without skipping a beat, the quiet kid next to him whispers "trage-deez-nuts" during one of those inexplicably silent moments that sometimes happen in a crowded room. I laughed my a*s off and everybody then had permission to crack up.
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111points
#35
We were discussing Darwin's Theory of Evolution. I mentioned how most offspring never survive long enough to reproduce.
One of my students raises his hand and says "you mean they all die as virgins?".
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99points
#36
Pre-K'er asked me how old I was. I told her. She said, "Oh my god! That makes me want to die!"
That convo will randomly pop in my head and still makes me laugh out loud!
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95points
#37
I worked with a student who had Prader-Willi Syndrome (and the resulting behaviors). He peed on the floor, looked at us and said " TADAAAAAA". I had to walk away to laugh.
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91points
#38
First grade:
Ms. Puzzled_loquat, I just come to school for the change of scenery.
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90points
#39
I teach 7th grade and they are still learning new vocab words and such. One boy told me he ‘had to go to the bathroom very tediuously’
87points
#40
My phone went off and played the digital freak out sound and one of my kids goes “I think that was Mr.‘s real voice” and so now he will walk by me and go “beep boop” and I just crack up.
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85points