30 Times Students Deserved An A+ For Their Sense Of Humor, As Per These Teachers

“Over the years, teachers collect interesting stories from their students,” Lynn How, the positivity coach, experienced educator and author of “Positive Young Minds” told Bored Panda in an interview. Lynn specializes in supporting parents, teachers, and children as they navigate through mental health issues and prevention, and she also runs this Facebook teacher coaching group which is an excellent resource for teachers in need of support when leaving, changing their mindset, changing their schools or setting healthy work/life boundaries.

Having been in education for 20 years, Lynn has a lot of stories to share. “The most memorable for me has been the time where a seven-year-old girl relayed the tale of her father amputating his own leg to escape death 127 hours style. The 'matter of fact' delivery was priceless!” Lynn recounted. Turns out this was far from the only time.

On the other occasion, “the five-year-old who explained the arrival of her surprise cousin the day before, as mum didn't know she was expecting. I couldn't wait until the end of the day to get the full story! Then the boy who, after I had provided my class with a five-minute rant about something or other, didn't get the memo about what you should do when the class is sitting in stunned silence post teacher rant, who just said very loudly, 'Miss, I think you need to calm down.' He was right.”

“Finally, the information that you find out from children's news reports on a Monday morning, which, in one school, involved tales of slightly drunken parents who frequented a bar named 'The Horny Toad.' That was a fun conversation at parents' evening,” Lynn recounted when asked about the most memorable things her students have said.

I asked how you teach kids boundaries of what they can and can't say to their teachers, and Lynn said that the bottom line here is teaching children respect by earning their respect. “It's often interesting to hear the way in which they talk to their parents, as they would generally never talk to you like that.”

Moreover, she explained: “Teachers are nurturing people and when a boundary is crossed in this department, then they will explain to the student that the way in which they have spoken has not been respectful. Although in some instances, getting support from more senior colleagues in schools is important as I'm hearing of more and more occasions when students have increasing difficulty in understanding these boundaries.”

For those who’re wondering of a teacher's reaction after getting a very uncomfortable question from a student, Lynn says that teachers are used to fielding difficult questions, especially from younger children. “Generally, a sense of humor is all that is needed to combat many lines of enquiry. For personal questions, we can just say, 'that's not a question I'll be answering,' or 'please, could you ask your parents that one?' Ultimately, we want students to ask questions as we want them to have enquiring minds, so there are lots of times where I have just answered the question, even if it was a bit awkward. Often this was at lunchtime when the rest of the class had left!”

Lynn added that “of course we also want children to feel that they can approach us with any worries or problems and we should always be on the lookout for those questions or disclosures that warrant further investigation.”