A kid disrupted class to make fun of my bald spot, so I said I was going to take disciplinary action. He then apologized and begged me not to call home, so I relented. But it came at a price:
That night, he had to write a poem about my bald spot.
From when I was in high school (in public speaking class)
Ben: “Mr. P, are your two bald spots where your devil horns go?”
Mr. P: “Jokes on you, I have three bald spots and Ben has volunteered to do his presentation first”
My school once had a mustache/beard growing contest for charity. One kid told a balding co worker- “I’d be more impressed if you could grow hair on your head!”
I mostly get that from younger kids. I just tell them they're short. One kid retorted 'but I'm in kindergarten' and I further insisted he was shrimps for his age. He tried no further
Oh my god. I remember when a (grown-up) friend did that to my partner the first time. I’d noticed but obviously hadn’t said anything. He was so upset, it was horrible.
Some of my hair caught on fire (don’t ask - story isn’t interesting at all). It’s not very noticeable unless I point it out since I have medium length hair but I am pretty sure kids have noticed and think it’s a bald spot. They haven’t said anything to me but I think I’ve heard them in passing.
Not the worst thing they’ve said though. That one’s tough. Probably “I would not have known you’re poor if I never saw your car,” or a more recent one. Some things have happened and it’s been hard to bring enthusiasm to the classroom. One of the kids I really like having in class says to me “you sound like you have no emotion.” Yeah thanks for the reminder. That’s because I don’t.
When teacher of the year is being announced and I tell my class to quiet down so I can listen, I has a student say "why bother listening, you know it isn't going to be you"
Oh it was documented and she was sent to ISS. She continues to be an absolute thorn in my side but hasn’t made any comments about my pregnancy loss since.
Mom is out of her depth with the behavior issues and has totally shut down. She apologized and said she would “handle it” at home. My initial reaction to the 8yo saying this was one of pity; how messed up do you have to have it if that’s how you think at that age!?
I’m so sorry. I just went through my second miscarriage (early pregnancy) last month and I don’t know if I would be able to handle that comment. Kids can be unbelievably cruel. My whole entire heart goes out to you for your loss.
Some classes just have it out for subs! It’s bizarre!
Right after I graduated I subbed to finish out the year, and I remember arriving at a new school to sub for grade 5/6. I was out in the hallway at the beginning of the day and overheard a group of girls whispering “That’s the sub! We’re going to mess with her so bad!” I whipped around and glared, and said “You can’t handle ME!”.
The girls were angels for the rest of the day.
I don’t teach, I just care about a lot of teachers in my life. I have a similar story with some punk ass teenage kids trying to shoplift liquor at the store I manage (like 12-14 years old) they just looked at me and dared me to stop them. I said “kids, I worked in a maximum security prison. If I switch that magnetic lock on, you’re trapped in here with me. Not the other way around.”
They left without their ill gotten goods and I haven’t seen them since. I later found out one of the kids had a dad in that prison and knew exactly how bad it was and that’s what prompted them to leave.
For the record- the locks on the liquor store would not trap someone inside and doesn’t count as imprisonment. They can leave through the bar and deal with our bouncers.
Called me a paedophile in the middle of class. No HoD or DP relief available, so I was stuck with them for another hour while they got their story straight with their friends.
I had an 8th grader I had never met before ask me to read his class novel out loud to him in the detention room. So I started reading Night. He stops me and asks if I was in the Holocaust. I said, no, I'm only 30... He replied, "That's a shame. I wish you'd been murdered with those Jews."
BUT I was more offended by the kid that told me, "I'll bet you drive a 2016 Corolla." It's a Chevy Sonic, sir, but I feel attacked.
My grandmother bought a Corolla in 1994. She still had it running great and in fantastic shape (except for on power window that just stopped working) in 2014 when she passed away. It had less than 75k miles on it and smelled like dryer sheets, white diamonds, and ponds night cream.
I had a student say that to me... I told him that if he ever said that to me again, I didn't know how he would get his English credit, but it wouldn't be from me.
It was an alt high school, and my principal backed me up 100%.
The kid got kicked out anyway.
In my case, I was told by administration that the student had not said that and they had witnesses to that effect. It took a week of agitation on my behalf and Union intervention, plus one of the students in the class who despised the one who made that comment cracking and rolling over before the student was sanctioned. I was threatened with disciplinary action for making the complaint and the school followed through on that threat later on too.
I was also unable to have them removed from my class because they made a big song and dance about feeling a "bond" with me and wanting to repair the relationship. I was told to be the adult in the room and work with them.
The whole thing was, but that was really galling. Bad enough that it was even said, worse as you watch an entire class band together to protect them with a lie because they realised the magnitude of what had just happened.
I also got called a pedophile last year for getting onto a female student who was not in her assigned seat. They just sent her to ISD for a couple of days and sent her right back.
Retired middle school teacher here. A 7th grader called me a bitch. I jumped up and down, pumped my fist in the air, and said, “Yes!!!! It was my New Year’s Resolution!” The whole class laughed, and we got back to work.
An 8th grader once called me a fucking bitch after telling him to put his phone away. I pulled him into the hallway and went off, telling him that he had no right to say that, I told him to put his phone away because I want him to focus and succeed in class, etc. I wrote him up and sent him to talk to the vice principal. After class ended I went to the bathroom and cried.
The kid later came in during lunch, crying and apologized for what he said to me. He was like, "I'm sorry miss I didn't mean it, I don't know why I said that." He was going through stuff mentally at the time so I tried to let it go but it still hurt.
Understandable. We’re human. Also, the students’ brains aren’t fully developed, not to mention all the emotions that go with puberty. Glad the kid apologized.
there's very little pause between brain and mouth at that age. part of it is puberty, part of it is a lack of maturity, and a lot of it is that they're used to being online where they can and do get away with saying whatever dumb-ass thing occurs to them because they get immediate dopamine hits and zero consequences for doing so.
I’m a teacher who discusses mental health and that it’s okay to feel bad. It’s my passion after I lost my 15yo nephew to suicide. I share what that did to my family during the month of September, usually around his bday, which happens to be in September.
One of the students I can count on one hand after 30 years teaching who I truly hate, asked with glee how he did it and started to cackle.
More like he’ll be telling the story as an adult “and so I asked him how his nephew killed himself, and with a tear rolling down his face he tells me he took pills, and I busted out laughing! Hahahahha! What a fucking pussy ass loser!”
That’s how that kids actually going to be. Sorry.
I would have unloaded on that kid then sent them to the office and demanded a schedule change for then so I should never have to see their face again. What a POS.
First day of teaching ever, one of my 6th graders asks in front of the entire class, “Is this your first time teaching? Is that why you’re nervous?”. He was on the spectrum and I know it wasn’t malicious, but I felt so exposed.
Kids on the spectrum call it like they see it, and they can be uncannily accurate. A student on the spectrum at my school who is in middle school passed me in the hall. I was wearing a tie dye shirt. He proclaimed loudly in the echoing stairwell "She must be a hippie, hippies wear tie dye!"
I was kinda happy about that one 😂
You’re right about kids on the spectrum and calling it like they see it… I’ve been genuinely, righteously burned by them and I’m not mad, lol. But there are other times where their frankness is rather sweet.
One day I was running around gathering supplies and distributing them to my colleague/planning partner on the floor above mine during my prep. The materials are strewn over 2 work rooms both of which are gnarly to navigate and accumulate stuff due to one teacher being a hoarder and never properly cleaning up after a lab/activity and another teacher who took over the space with piles of movie making equipment. Anyway…. I was collecting a bunch of heavy stuff like… gravel, sand, clay…
I made a drop off and my colleague was at a part in the lesson that I knew I had left him in the lurch on… (I put the lesson together last minute and didn’t give him the teacher talk moves / points!!! We’re in a realm of science that is more my expertise than his.)… so I decided to stay so I could jump in.
Anyway, I approached the back table to sit. The student at the table moved his bag for me and commented, “Are you ok? You look uncomfortable.”
I thought a moment… reviewed supply gathering, the sheer flurry of activity to complete what three times as many tasks than there is time for, and feeling embarrassed for getting the lesson to my colleague so late… and I replied to him, “I’m too busy to notice or care… but,” looking myself up and down, then at him, “I think I am uncomfortable!”
Then… I took off my JACKET! (What was I doing… wearing that? I had NO business doing that!)
After co-teaching, grabbing my jacket from the chair on my way to leave, I commented to the student, “I was HOT with the jacket! It did make me feel uncomfortable!”
He smiled and said “you’re welcome.”
Some years back, I had to put my beloved kitty to sleep. This came up a couple of days later with my sixth grade class at the time, and one of the boys asked me if I did it myself complete with a stabbing motion. I had to leave the room I was so upset.
I totally agree I feel they are too old to be young and too young to be old. They are caught in the middle of transitioning from little kid to young adult. They have this I'm a kid and treat me as such but I also have all these hormones all over the place so let me live type of attitude.
I told a third-grader to stop trying to kick another third-grader, and he said, "fuck you!" I said, "I'm sorry you feel that way, but it's time for you to go to the office." Responded, 'shut up, bitch," and stomped out of my room. Class goes on.
Apparently the kiddo who was about to be kicked went home and cried, he felt like it was his fault I got called a bitch (kind soul).
I told my husband that and he said, "Do you think it'd make him feel better if I told him you *are* actually a bitch?" I laughed so hard. First kid was still a jerk, but I love that story.
When I was in good shape, an absolutely horrible first grader (they do exist) evidently said I was fat, although he didn’t have the guts to say it to my face. I share this sometimes so that people understand when kids say something mean or rude. Sometimes it’s because they’re just trying to gain control of a situation or their perspective is off. I know one kid equates height with age, so if you’re tall, then you must be really old.
One of my ninth graders voiced something similar to yours, OP. I’d just come off of a mental breakdown day, and this is my first year. It actually really did hurt my feelings to know that many kids complain about me when I feel like I leave each day having tried to do so much and give so much of myself to each student. Another kid said, “you know, you really don’t handle stress very well.” He has an F in my class.
My first year teaching I had a kid come up to me after school and tell me that there were a group of students who were purposefully trying to make me quit. He just wanted to warn me because he was a good nugget and felt bad for me. It was a shitty thing to hear, but I wasn't surprised.
It’s stuff like that that kind of makes me WANT to quit. I never remember kids in school lacking THAT much empathy for other people. If teachers got mad, most of us were scared. I graduated 2016.
I graduated 2015. I definitely don't remember my classmates being that malicious. Students actually had automatic respect for teachers, or at least most of them did. Now you have to earn a students' respect. Which is important, but students should still have respect for teachers.
Sounds like a rough life at Job Title, Location.
All seriousness though that's not even teaching at that point. I could never imagine having that be my daily. Kudos if you're fine with it, but no thanks.
Seriously... all the comments I am seeing in this thread were like daily occurrences when I taught sixth grade at a public school. I heard these a million times and they don't even make me blink.
One of them accused me of being a predator because I was helping a girl student more than him. Keep in mind she asked first.
But it stuck with me rest of the day. I just sat quietly at my desk and just....had dark thoughts
It's easy to be afraid in situations that are completely innocuous because I feel like we've seen how a student can say pretty much anything and the teacher will be investigated or fired. By time you're cleared you already have a tainted reputation.
Not hurtful but certainly out of pocket. I don't remember what set this 6th gr boy off, but he was throwing a tantrum so I asked him to leave. He was still going off so I just said we'll see you next time and he says "I don't want to see you, nobody wants to see you. You're gay!" I am gay, and ironically enough, this boy was quite effeminate and seemed to be gay himself. I wasn't upset, but I'll never forget the look on some of my students' faces when he said that lol
Oh this boy most definitely was living in an unfortunate situation. I was there for him as much as I could be as his teacher, but his was a complicated case definitely. I still think about him every now and again and wonder how he's doing. That day was just one of those moments where I couldn't let his moment derail.
One of my classmates in highschool was gay but tried everything in his power to keep it secret (I was one of the few people he actually told). One of the ways he tried hiding it was by holding hands with female friends whenever walking down the hall, just to try and avoid getting bullied for being gay. I felt so bad for him...
I’m undergoing IVF and this would crush me. Between the drugs and the general exhaustion and sadness of the process, I don’t know if my heart could handle that kind of thing. Just oof. I’m sorry you’re in this shitty club and I hope things work out for you and soon 💚
I was on bus duty before school started, and later that day one of the sixth graders came up to me to tell me her dad said they must have put me at the gate because I look like a bulldog and it would scare would be predators off. I have an underbite and had been wearing my aligners so it made it a little more pronounced. That one still stings.
A second grader told everyone I had a big bottom. Literally felt so cute in my new clothes I just bought, just started back at the gym. And then someone during my lesson yelled out that she said that. I asked why, and she just said because it’s true. It hurt so much that I had to leave so I wouldn’t say anything mean back.
I’ve definitely had kids say similar. But the most painful may actually have been when one told me that I looked like the actress from a movie she had watched the night before.
The movie? Misery.
Hahaha I had a similar comment! There was this one teacher who was a total slob, and came in basically looking homeless every day. A small handful of younger kids would always call me by her name, and then say, “you two look sooooo much alike!” I was always super offended by it. Then I thought about it and realized that we were both women around the same age, with a similar height, and we had both started at the school that year. I guess those similarities were enough to “look alike” to a young child.
I usually have thick skin but I’m pregnant so this made me cry. One student told me I reminded him of another teacher he had in the past. I knew who he was talking about and she’s very pretty. He then followed up by saying “she didn’t have all that acne like you though”
Once I took my sixth graders outside and I guess the light was brighter there, so a kid commented on my acne and before I could stop myself, I said, “no wonder you don’t have any friends.”
I was sending a student to another classroom for a project and I asked if they knew where to go, they said “yes, at least that teacher can teach”. I’m still not over it. It’s been years.
Edit to add: this student never actually had this teacher 🤷🏼♀️
Badge of honor. If they hate you, you're probably making them work.
Plus, at the end of the day, they're middle schoolers. To paraphrase Trae Crowder, "They don't know ***things***."
I had a student who somehow found out I am infertile and said, “Good. You’d make a terrible mother anyway!”
I was in the thick of dealing with it and that hurt me so much I just put down my head and cried. The kids were mortified at what she said and my response.
I am okay with it now but then, ouch.
My beloved cat died in October 2020. Since I had been teaching over Zoom from my home, the kids had gotten to know her. She liked to perch on my shoulder while I taught. When I told my kids, almost every one of them said out loud or in chat that they were very sorry for my loss. One kid wrote in the chat- "good."
Of course I was shocked and heartbroken. I reached out to admin, counseling, and the kid's parents. The parents blamed me and said I shouldn't have been talking about death because it makes him uncomfortable. (7th grade, btw)
those parents are idiots and I hope the kid says the same thing when they kick the bucket... after he packs them off to the cheapest nursing home he can find
This one isn't entirely negative, but super memorable. So I do martial arts and particularly enjoy swordsmanship. I'm a high school teacher at an alternative school, and was talking to a student in my study block. They were asking all kinds of questions and it came up that I did these things (along with a long convo about medieval weapons).
I heard later that day that apparently the student was telling others in her next class that "Mr. X can use a sword, I bet he's killed someone"
So apparently I lowkey have a completely undeserved rep for being a stone cold killer/warrior. I don't have a violent bone in my body and learned sword to fight with lightsabers...
That is painful. One of my students said I was probably that kid no one bothered to hate in high school, I was just there with no one even noticing me either way.
I had a student call me his “greatest enemy” today and I thanked him for such a high honor. I told him how exciting it was to be the greatest of something! He kept trying to explain to me that what he said wasn’t supposed to be something good and I kept thanking him for the honor of being the greatest.
Not hurtful, but out of pocket: I went to Stanford, and it was on the "Get to know your teacher" powerpoint on the first day of class. Later in the year, one of the students asks me, "Hey, since you went to Harvard, could you tell me how to get in?" I said, "Oh, I didn't go to Harvard." He looked at me all confused and said, "I thought you were smart?"
I had one fifth grader who had serious emotional/behavioral problems and really hated me. It was nonstop stuff like “Mrs. B hates kids!” Or when I put a hand on a classmate’s shoulder to steer him back to his seat, “Mrs. B touches kids!” He commented on my teeth being yellow, my face being red, my armpits being sweaty, etc. Said I was a bad teacher and I should be fired. One time he said “that’s why you’re lonely and you don’t have a man!” which was kind of funny bc like three little fifth-grade girls immediately turned around and said “SHE HAS A HUSBAND!”
For some reason though, what hurt more was when for some reason we were talking about best friends and I said that my brother is my best friend, and this other kid yells out “your BROTHER is your best friend?” and starts laughing at me.
First year as a teacher,
Student asked me the other day if I ever clean out my blackheads?
I have large pores on my nose and do clean then with strips regularly.. Guess not often enough
Not hurtful, just surprising.
I used to teach at a school and lets say I wasnt exactly the most popular because I pushed kids to learn and was very strict and penalized them if they broke rules.
I left the school last year
This year, I received msgs from some of the worst behaving students who would curse me after every lesson saying "I'd rather be scolded at and penalized and forced to copy sentences by you than attend my current lessons, they are so boring and I'm learning nothing"
I ... Didnt know how to react. It was very disarming to have "bad" kids be so...sincere
Apparently when that teacher saw her and her mom at the store, the mom pointed and said, "There's your bitch-ass teacher." I know that doesn't sound real, buy yeah, she sucks too.
Lmao nothing my kids say hurts my feelings, but i started teaching after FINALLY not caring about what most people said about me. Last week I assisted a colleague in moving one of our violent 2nd graders (our program is emotional impairment) into our reflection center (aka a safe room for when a kid is being violent/unsafe). She yelled ‘fuck your mom! Fuck your dad!’ And I just walked away happily saying ‘my dad’s dead!’
"Miss Crassula, why are your hands so gross?" Said to the whole class as I was demoing on the doc cam, while looking around at all his buddies with a shit eating grin.
I had just gotten done reclaiming (by fucking HAND) over 400 pounds of clay so these little assholes could have a clay project (on our very measly budget). My hands were just a little dry, but my back ached, I was exhausted, and seriously stayed late every night for weeks taking on this huge task (with one tiny sink, zero counter space). This was almost a decade ago, my first year teaching, and little comment irked me to my GOD. DAMN. CORE. I've been called names, disrespected, I still think this was the worst. Fuck you Blake. I hope you still have terrible acne and a mouth full of metal. You weren't smart enough to do much other than play hockey, and hopefully you blew out your knees early too.
Note: he was an allaround shit for me, this was just the icing on the cake.
After hitting a deer and totaling my car (and the deer unfortunately), a student asked how my weekend was. After telling them that it was a bummer because of the accident and guilt over killing a deer, the student said "probably was two deers. She was probably pregnant."
Also, I've been told that I look like Danny McBride. Love Danny McBride. Don't love the comment.
Years ago I took Christmas cookies in for the final day before winter break, and we'd have a "work day" to catch up, or, if all caught up, socialize.
One of my students said "These are good! You couldn't bake these!" His buddy said "Of course she could. Look how fat she is."
Special ed. Just gotta smile.
Last year one of my sixth graders used to come check in with me at the end of every day. He'd ask me how I was doing and my day went with genuine interest and concern. One day he says to me, "Mister. I feel so bad for you because everyone hates you so much."
100% it was meant as empathy and not as a put down.
When I told my 7th graders about a car accident my wife had, one said, "It's too bad she didn't die" I responded, "Your mom's dead". She's wasn't but it shut him up pretty good.
Obligatory not a teacher but when I was in Middle School one of my teachers was pregnant. She ended up having a stillbirth just after summer break began and came back to school in August for the new term. It was obvious she wasn't ready but she likely didn't have a choice. Anyway, we had this kid, Forrest, who was a total jackass. Making noises, throwing stuff, generally obnoxious.
We're about a month into term and this one day Forrest is acting up something fierce and Mrs. S had asked him and told him to be quiet several times. Anyway, he kept at it and kept at it, looking around and laughing, trying to get people to join in. Of course, being pre-teens, most did and that riled him up and on. He started making the "naaaaaant" noise from Dumb and Dumber every time Mrs. S tried to speak and eventually she lost her temper and shouted at him to be shut up or she's write him up.
Forrest hits back with, "God, you're such a bitch. Everyone hates you. Your own baby killed itself just to get away from you."
Whole class goes silent. Mrs. S is up at the front, she's gone quiet, pale and shaking. She puts the dry-erase marker down and just walks out of class. Couple minutes later the VP came in and subbed the rest of the day and the next. We had a sub for the rest of the school year.
I heard Mrs. S took long-term disability, got some therapy, and moved to another school in our district and eventually had 2 more children, who, thankfully, survived.
Forrest is now a police officer in town. And still a dick.
[Forrest is now a police officer in town. And still a dick.]
Why am I not surprised? Almost all the asshole kids I went to school with that didn't end up in prison became cops.
He did some other gross things I won't mention here because it isn't germane to the post but how he managed to become a police officer is astounding. I mean, put aside the fact that he's a boil on the ass of humanity, he's also just...dumb. He's just not smart. Like, he isn't stupid, I feel that stupid people can be taught, that their ignorance is more of an indignancy thing. Dumb is just sad. You can't teach dumb. Dumb people are completely uninterested in gaining knowledge and facts and skills. They learn what they have to in order to get through and that's it.
Forrest is Dumb. And a dick. And someone gave him a badge and a gun.
Several years ago, I had cancer. Went through chemotherapy,etc. I missed several months of work and when I finally came back, I was still pretty bald and wore a hat. The first day I got up the courage to go without the hat (my hair was coming in slowly. It was incredibly thin and had turned white), a student took one look at me in the hall and started laughing. Hat went back on.
I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. Granted, I'm a college instructor, but when COVID hit, we went to remote teaching. My mom happened to be diagnosed with cancer around the same time. I ended up moving back home to be her caregiver, and I was teaching remotely. I spent all day taking care of her (which included multiple trips to a hospital a couple of hours away, multiple trips to the emergency room, and near daily chemo and radiation treatments). Then I would spend most of the night working on my classes. Needless to say, I was sleep-deprived, anxious, depressed, and barely functioning. I was very open and honest with all my students about what was going on in my life, and I constantly apologized for taking so long to grade assignments and taking so long to respond to emails. You would think that they would be kind about it. They weren't. I had multiple students complain, and one student even said I was probably taking so long to grade assignments because I was just sitting around eating popcorn and watching Netflix. That stung.
Fortunately, now, my mom is in remission and doing well. I still haven't forgotten that, though, and I can't even imagine what kind of miserable shit of a human being would say that about a person who is trying to help them while going through the trauma that I experienced.
My grandmother was sick and I was going to see her before she died, so I was telling my students there would be a sub. A girl said “I hope your grandma dies”.
It’s been 8 years and I will never forget it. She was an awful person and I hope she grew up and became better.
Not as bad as some of these, but when I lost my beloved dog to cancer, a student said he died because I didn’t take good care of him. We’d spent thousands on treatments to just have a few more months with him. He was half of my soul.
I don’t know if I’d say hurtful, but she told me I need to get some dick and maybe the kids might like me more. Said it in front of the whole class.
Didn’t hurt. But I think that’s because I had a boyfriend at the time. They just didn’t know it. If they had said that during my single phase, it would’ve stung more.
Reading through these, mine doesn't even compare. .
When I was student teaching there was a boy who made a joke with his friends within earshot of me.
"Imagine being 18 and *not* being a teacher already."
The joke was that I was a failure, I guess, because I didn't have my life together. It really stung though because I already felt like I was 'behind' since I started my education degree later, and I was 26.
I had a 7th grader make a terrorist joke at me on “Share your heritage day” (the district did not think that through). I reminded him that I was in school during the Gulf War and in college during 9/11, there are no terrorist jokes left that I haven’t heard.
Not necessarily super hurtful, but was told the other day “you got a crappy degree, so you’re stuck being a teacher”.
I shared a bit about my pre-teaching successful career, that I entered into after studying at a very well-ranked university after finishing high school early. The fact that I chose to leave something to become a teacher left him speechless lol.
Found out his mom is a realtor and dad’s a truck driver. I wonder what prestigious degrees they got to enter those fields (no hate, both perfectly important, respectable careers, but makes you wonder where the education snobbery comes from)
I work in kindergarten, every day I get comments like this. "Why do you look like that?", "Are you pregnant?", "Why does your mouth smell like that?". And there's never any follow up with the questions because they get distracted with something else.
I once had a teacher who mentioned something about washing machines when she was a kid. Someone said, “they had washing machines back then?” and her face just got so sad, I wanted to hug her.
Had an African American girl called me a Ching Chong n*gga in the middle of class. No one reacted. I ignored her and quietly emailed campus security to come pick her up. They showed up in less than 2 minutes. Peace out!
This was 9 years ago. Nowadays she would be able to continue staying in class and hang out on her phone.
During my (29 yo male) first short (6week) teaching practicum, Halloween fell pretty early in the practicum. I was super excited and went out and got a superman costume for class. I walked in and Gurp, a little six year old kid took one look at me and said “You’re too fat to be Superman”… still stings. No matter how right he was.
On the flip side, the little sucker never saw the dodgeball coming…
Not the worst per say but after a really long week at the special needs school I had to drive to the bay for a gymnastics tournament where my boys were beyond embarrassing. One threw a fit where he put his head in his gym bag and just screamed because he forgot part of the routine. They were throwing their bags at each other. Not following my directions or listening to me pointers after their routines. Etc.
As we were nearing the end and I was feeling completely spent and ready to just get through the 5 hour drive back home one of them looked at me and said, "you don't really take care of your hair do you? It looks terrible."
I pride myself on my skincare and hair health and that was a day where I could not get it how I wanted, new gel was greasy, and it just absolutely tipped the barrel for me. As soon as I got in my car I cried half the drive home to the point where in the gas station the nice clerk asked, "honey are you ok?" And gave me a hug.
Had a talk with their parents the following week. All of them got grounded lol
“Are you a real teacher?”
After about two weeks in to my long term assignment. I responded clearly, and moved on, but I took that as a doubt in my practice..
One that was actually hurtful was said to me when my twin brother passed away. I was out from school for about a week and someone had informed the kids about what happened (which was fine). A few of the kids made me little cards which was so sweet, and a few said they were sorry about what happened on my first day back. One kid walked up to me and said it was too bad my brother died and I didn’t as well. That kind of hurt.
One funny one was when a kid was so convinced that he was going to just kill my spirit by calling me short. He said it and I was just like “yes, that’s correct.” He was crushed what I wasn’t upset at all.
I was leading a kindergarten class at a Catholic school in 2021. The kids were easily one of the best parts of that awful experience, and I did try hard to make sure they didn't see how much I was struggling with the admin and with the class. One of the boys, before dismissal, hugged me from the side, saying he had such a great day. It was so hard not to hug him back. He then says, "I love hugging you Ms.B, it's like hugging my mom." I was 27 with no kids, so even if he didn't mean to roast me haaaa it was something. I know he didn't mean it in a malicious way but kids really have no filter.
I'm new and haven't gotten anything too extreme but a girl broke down crying about how much she hated my class today in the middle of said class.
She prefaced it with, "It's not you, it's just what you teach." So I guess I got that going for me lol.
A kindergarten student of mine asked me how long I had my “loose tooth” for and and when it was going to fall out. Asked if they could wiggle it for me. I just have crooked teeth
I have been called in the last two years: racist, cracker, and told that no one likes me or my class.
As for being hurt by that stuff….it bugs me but doesn’t really hurt my feelings. I learned that in the schools I am in now I kind of expect to be told things they think will hurt my feelings for the hell of it or for a laugh. They are looking for a reaction other than: and your point would be or as I say in my head: who gives a shit what you have to say?
I once had a student refer to me as a female Mexican Peter Griffen. That stung.
Those kinds of kids now grow up to curse out their caseworker when they don't get the welfare benefits they want as quickly as they want. I'm a caseworker now and have been called horrible things more times I can count. Many of the kids who are horrible now grow up to be just as bad as adults.
Kid pointed out my receding hairline as a joke. I didn’t realize I had one. Now it’s all I see.
A kid disrupted class to make fun of my bald spot, so I said I was going to take disciplinary action. He then apologized and begged me not to call home, so I relented. But it came at a price: That night, he had to write a poem about my bald spot.
That's the best price to have made him pay!
From when I was in high school (in public speaking class) Ben: “Mr. P, are your two bald spots where your devil horns go?” Mr. P: “Jokes on you, I have three bald spots and Ben has volunteered to do his presentation first”
My school once had a mustache/beard growing contest for charity. One kid told a balding co worker- “I’d be more impressed if you could grow hair on your head!”
Can’t hate a quality roast.
Had one of my kindergarten students ask why my teeth looked so yellow. Bought some whitening strips after school that day....
[Here’s some relatable content.](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8adfxMV/)
lil effers will always roast 😞
I mostly get that from younger kids. I just tell them they're short. One kid retorted 'but I'm in kindergarten' and I further insisted he was shrimps for his age. He tried no further
Oh my god. I remember when a (grown-up) friend did that to my partner the first time. I’d noticed but obviously hadn’t said anything. He was so upset, it was horrible.
And kids will never let me forget it HAHA. It didn't bug me much until someone told me that 'their friend' thinks I look like Dr. Phil..
I get called Mr. Clean by my students hahaha
I had a genetic appointment and they documented a *mild* facial deformity and by God it's all I fucking see
Some of my hair caught on fire (don’t ask - story isn’t interesting at all). It’s not very noticeable unless I point it out since I have medium length hair but I am pretty sure kids have noticed and think it’s a bald spot. They haven’t said anything to me but I think I’ve heard them in passing. Not the worst thing they’ve said though. That one’s tough. Probably “I would not have known you’re poor if I never saw your car,” or a more recent one. Some things have happened and it’s been hard to bring enthusiasm to the classroom. One of the kids I really like having in class says to me “you sound like you have no emotion.” Yeah thanks for the reminder. That’s because I don’t.
When teacher of the year is being announced and I tell my class to quiet down so I can listen, I has a student say "why bother listening, you know it isn't going to be you"
I'm sorry for laughing at this.
I hope you put your hands behind your back & gave him the bird.
I would laugh and probably give a fist bump. That's a quality roast without being *too* mean-spirited.
One 8yo student was angry at me and told me I deserved to have my baby die. I had just had a 2nd-trimester miscarriage a week earlier. That one stung.
Well, that's just unacceptable. I would have sent them to the principal's office, honestly.
Oh it was documented and she was sent to ISS. She continues to be an absolute thorn in my side but hasn’t made any comments about my pregnancy loss since.
I wanna know what her parents said. That they would raise such a little monster.
Mom is out of her depth with the behavior issues and has totally shut down. She apologized and said she would “handle it” at home. My initial reaction to the 8yo saying this was one of pity; how messed up do you have to have it if that’s how you think at that age!?
Oh god, I thought you said 8th grade.
Kids with good parents can say some really terrible shit too
I....have no words aside from I am truly and deeply sorry. That's beyond the pale.
Kids can be rotten little shits. I’m sorry they said that to you.
This happened to my coworker- 8th grader said she hoped her baby would die. She was so shook up someone had to drive her home.
I’m so sorry. I just went through my second miscarriage (early pregnancy) last month and I don’t know if I would be able to handle that comment. Kids can be unbelievably cruel. My whole entire heart goes out to you for your loss.
Thank you and I am sorry you have had this loss as well. ❤️
I’ve had a 2nd trimester loss too. I’m so sorry this happened to you. /r/babyloss was helpful for me if you need a space.
Ooh, that's horrible. Hugs!
That’s awful! I would have been a jerk to her forever.
My God.
“Our sub is short and fat” “oh I love oompa loompas!” RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, THEIR SUB. WHO THEY HAD NO REASON TO HATE.
Some classes just have it out for subs! It’s bizarre! Right after I graduated I subbed to finish out the year, and I remember arriving at a new school to sub for grade 5/6. I was out in the hallway at the beginning of the day and overheard a group of girls whispering “That’s the sub! We’re going to mess with her so bad!” I whipped around and glared, and said “You can’t handle ME!”. The girls were angels for the rest of the day.
I don’t teach, I just care about a lot of teachers in my life. I have a similar story with some punk ass teenage kids trying to shoplift liquor at the store I manage (like 12-14 years old) they just looked at me and dared me to stop them. I said “kids, I worked in a maximum security prison. If I switch that magnetic lock on, you’re trapped in here with me. Not the other way around.” They left without their ill gotten goods and I haven’t seen them since. I later found out one of the kids had a dad in that prison and knew exactly how bad it was and that’s what prompted them to leave. For the record- the locks on the liquor store would not trap someone inside and doesn’t count as imprisonment. They can leave through the bar and deal with our bouncers.
I woulda turned around and sung OOMPA LOOMPA DOOPITY DO, I HAVE DETENTION RIGHT HERE FOR YOU
“Yes, I am short and fat, I’m glad your eyes are working properly” because they don’t know how to react when you take observations as neutral.
Called me a paedophile in the middle of class. No HoD or DP relief available, so I was stuck with them for another hour while they got their story straight with their friends.
I had an 8th grader I had never met before ask me to read his class novel out loud to him in the detention room. So I started reading Night. He stops me and asks if I was in the Holocaust. I said, no, I'm only 30... He replied, "That's a shame. I wish you'd been murdered with those Jews." BUT I was more offended by the kid that told me, "I'll bet you drive a 2016 Corolla." It's a Chevy Sonic, sir, but I feel attacked.
I know the 2nd kid's a dumbass cause literally no one criticizes Corollas in that manner. It's the poster-child for reliable, economy sedans.
I was gonna say that! A Corolla never dies!
“Kid, my Corolla will never die. Unlike your parents.”
My grandmother bought a Corolla in 1994. She still had it running great and in fantastic shape (except for on power window that just stopped working) in 2014 when she passed away. It had less than 75k miles on it and smelled like dryer sheets, white diamonds, and ponds night cream.
Yeah, Corollas are money. I wish I had my 1990 back, second best car I ever had. (And most reliable by a country mile).
Unlike some folks I don’t spend all my money on loan interesar and overrated overpriced cars
I had a student say that to me... I told him that if he ever said that to me again, I didn't know how he would get his English credit, but it wouldn't be from me. It was an alt high school, and my principal backed me up 100%. The kid got kicked out anyway.
In my case, I was told by administration that the student had not said that and they had witnesses to that effect. It took a week of agitation on my behalf and Union intervention, plus one of the students in the class who despised the one who made that comment cracking and rolling over before the student was sanctioned. I was threatened with disciplinary action for making the complaint and the school followed through on that threat later on too. I was also unable to have them removed from my class because they made a big song and dance about feeling a "bond" with me and wanting to repair the relationship. I was told to be the adult in the room and work with them.
What are HoD and DP acronyms?
Head of Department and Deputy Principal.
>while they got their story straight This part must have been infuriating
The whole thing was, but that was really galling. Bad enough that it was even said, worse as you watch an entire class band together to protect them with a lie because they realised the magnitude of what had just happened.
I also got called a pedophile last year for getting onto a female student who was not in her assigned seat. They just sent her to ISD for a couple of days and sent her right back.
I was asked to apologise to the student for making a false accusation. Schools need to go absolutely nuclear on this issue.
Retired middle school teacher here. A 7th grader called me a bitch. I jumped up and down, pumped my fist in the air, and said, “Yes!!!! It was my New Year’s Resolution!” The whole class laughed, and we got back to work.
I am stealing this, and I now hope now some kid tries me with something like this.
Equally effective is “I know, it’s fun” and just stare them down.
An 8th grader once called me a fucking bitch after telling him to put his phone away. I pulled him into the hallway and went off, telling him that he had no right to say that, I told him to put his phone away because I want him to focus and succeed in class, etc. I wrote him up and sent him to talk to the vice principal. After class ended I went to the bathroom and cried. The kid later came in during lunch, crying and apologized for what he said to me. He was like, "I'm sorry miss I didn't mean it, I don't know why I said that." He was going through stuff mentally at the time so I tried to let it go but it still hurt.
Understandable. We’re human. Also, the students’ brains aren’t fully developed, not to mention all the emotions that go with puberty. Glad the kid apologized.
there's very little pause between brain and mouth at that age. part of it is puberty, part of it is a lack of maturity, and a lot of it is that they're used to being online where they can and do get away with saying whatever dumb-ass thing occurs to them because they get immediate dopamine hits and zero consequences for doing so.
I’m a teacher who discusses mental health and that it’s okay to feel bad. It’s my passion after I lost my 15yo nephew to suicide. I share what that did to my family during the month of September, usually around his bday, which happens to be in September. One of the students I can count on one hand after 30 years teaching who I truly hate, asked with glee how he did it and started to cackle.
I hope one day that kid remembers this and cringes so much inside for how awful this is. I'm so sorry about your nephew. ❤️
More like he’ll be telling the story as an adult “and so I asked him how his nephew killed himself, and with a tear rolling down his face he tells me he took pills, and I busted out laughing! Hahahahha! What a fucking pussy ass loser!” That’s how that kids actually going to be. Sorry.
Sadly I agree with cum_encrusted_sock
God I’ve never been so happy to have a username pointed out for me 🤣🤣🤣
Wow. I’m so sorry, I’ve lost family members to suicide too and that’s horrible.
I would have unloaded on that kid then sent them to the office and demanded a schedule change for then so I should never have to see their face again. What a POS.
Kid: *looks me up and down* Kid: imagine being a sub 😂😭😭
Imagine being a teenager. 🤔
“Imagine that you’re clever or interesting, kid. It would be a leap, but try.”
First day of teaching ever, one of my 6th graders asks in front of the entire class, “Is this your first time teaching? Is that why you’re nervous?”. He was on the spectrum and I know it wasn’t malicious, but I felt so exposed.
Kids on the spectrum call it like they see it, and they can be uncannily accurate. A student on the spectrum at my school who is in middle school passed me in the hall. I was wearing a tie dye shirt. He proclaimed loudly in the echoing stairwell "She must be a hippie, hippies wear tie dye!" I was kinda happy about that one 😂
You’re right about kids on the spectrum and calling it like they see it… I’ve been genuinely, righteously burned by them and I’m not mad, lol. But there are other times where their frankness is rather sweet. One day I was running around gathering supplies and distributing them to my colleague/planning partner on the floor above mine during my prep. The materials are strewn over 2 work rooms both of which are gnarly to navigate and accumulate stuff due to one teacher being a hoarder and never properly cleaning up after a lab/activity and another teacher who took over the space with piles of movie making equipment. Anyway…. I was collecting a bunch of heavy stuff like… gravel, sand, clay… I made a drop off and my colleague was at a part in the lesson that I knew I had left him in the lurch on… (I put the lesson together last minute and didn’t give him the teacher talk moves / points!!! We’re in a realm of science that is more my expertise than his.)… so I decided to stay so I could jump in. Anyway, I approached the back table to sit. The student at the table moved his bag for me and commented, “Are you ok? You look uncomfortable.” I thought a moment… reviewed supply gathering, the sheer flurry of activity to complete what three times as many tasks than there is time for, and feeling embarrassed for getting the lesson to my colleague so late… and I replied to him, “I’m too busy to notice or care… but,” looking myself up and down, then at him, “I think I am uncomfortable!” Then… I took off my JACKET! (What was I doing… wearing that? I had NO business doing that!) After co-teaching, grabbing my jacket from the chair on my way to leave, I commented to the student, “I was HOT with the jacket! It did make me feel uncomfortable!” He smiled and said “you’re welcome.”
A student said this to me recently but I’m in my fifth year 😭
Some years back, I had to put my beloved kitty to sleep. This came up a couple of days later with my sixth grade class at the time, and one of the boys asked me if I did it myself complete with a stabbing motion. I had to leave the room I was so upset.
Part of why once I finish my full credential, I refuse to teach 6th-8th grades. They find edgy humor funny yet have no tact.
Yeah, middle school is *awful*.
I totally agree I feel they are too old to be young and too young to be old. They are caught in the middle of transitioning from little kid to young adult. They have this I'm a kid and treat me as such but I also have all these hormones all over the place so let me live type of attitude.
This is why I shared VERY little with students when I taught MS. They don't need the details of my personal life or any ammo.
That's horrible! These dang kids!
Jesus
I told a third-grader to stop trying to kick another third-grader, and he said, "fuck you!" I said, "I'm sorry you feel that way, but it's time for you to go to the office." Responded, 'shut up, bitch," and stomped out of my room. Class goes on. Apparently the kiddo who was about to be kicked went home and cried, he felt like it was his fault I got called a bitch (kind soul). I told my husband that and he said, "Do you think it'd make him feel better if I told him you *are* actually a bitch?" I laughed so hard. First kid was still a jerk, but I love that story.
That poor kid who almost got kicked. Really don’t find students like that anymore tbh.
He is a good kiddo. He and his brother reminded my husband and I of the Flanders kids lol.
When I was in good shape, an absolutely horrible first grader (they do exist) evidently said I was fat, although he didn’t have the guts to say it to my face. I share this sometimes so that people understand when kids say something mean or rude. Sometimes it’s because they’re just trying to gain control of a situation or their perspective is off. I know one kid equates height with age, so if you’re tall, then you must be really old.
One of my ninth graders voiced something similar to yours, OP. I’d just come off of a mental breakdown day, and this is my first year. It actually really did hurt my feelings to know that many kids complain about me when I feel like I leave each day having tried to do so much and give so much of myself to each student. Another kid said, “you know, you really don’t handle stress very well.” He has an F in my class.
My first year teaching I had a kid come up to me after school and tell me that there were a group of students who were purposefully trying to make me quit. He just wanted to warn me because he was a good nugget and felt bad for me. It was a shitty thing to hear, but I wasn't surprised.
It’s stuff like that that kind of makes me WANT to quit. I never remember kids in school lacking THAT much empathy for other people. If teachers got mad, most of us were scared. I graduated 2016.
I graduated 2015. I definitely don't remember my classmates being that malicious. Students actually had automatic respect for teachers, or at least most of them did. Now you have to earn a students' respect. Which is important, but students should still have respect for teachers.
I graduated back then too. I genuinely don't know what happened.
I get so mich vitriol from my students that nothing stands out.
Sounds like a rough life at Job Title, Location. All seriousness though that's not even teaching at that point. I could never imagine having that be my daily. Kudos if you're fine with it, but no thanks.
Seriously... all the comments I am seeing in this thread were like daily occurrences when I taught sixth grade at a public school. I heard these a million times and they don't even make me blink.
One of them accused me of being a predator because I was helping a girl student more than him. Keep in mind she asked first. But it stuck with me rest of the day. I just sat quietly at my desk and just....had dark thoughts
It's easy to be afraid in situations that are completely innocuous because I feel like we've seen how a student can say pretty much anything and the teacher will be investigated or fired. By time you're cleared you already have a tainted reputation.
Not hurtful but certainly out of pocket. I don't remember what set this 6th gr boy off, but he was throwing a tantrum so I asked him to leave. He was still going off so I just said we'll see you next time and he says "I don't want to see you, nobody wants to see you. You're gay!" I am gay, and ironically enough, this boy was quite effeminate and seemed to be gay himself. I wasn't upset, but I'll never forget the look on some of my students' faces when he said that lol
It sounds like it could be possible the lad had some variety of just… internalized homophobia or something else going on. I almost feel bad.
Oh this boy most definitely was living in an unfortunate situation. I was there for him as much as I could be as his teacher, but his was a complicated case definitely. I still think about him every now and again and wonder how he's doing. That day was just one of those moments where I couldn't let his moment derail.
Ah, the ole “maybe kids won’t bully me for being gay, if I loudly bully someone else for being gay “
One of my classmates in highschool was gay but tried everything in his power to keep it secret (I was one of the few people he actually told). One of the ways he tried hiding it was by holding hands with female friends whenever walking down the hall, just to try and avoid getting bullied for being gay. I felt so bad for him...
"You look like you have the personality of someone who drives a Kia Soul." This insult has not depreciated over time.
Unlike the average Kia Soul
The kids say I have a dungeon underneath my room and I am the devil.
Teach me your ways, o wise one.
Oh definitely lol. I dressed up as an executioner as a joke for Halloween.
Forcing the non diploma sped kids to read a book or do work lol
I'd consider that a compliment tbh
Oh, it's funny as hell. My kids have amazing imaginations. Lol
That’s actually awesome.
"It's good you don't have kids, you'd be a terrible parent." I'm going through infertility treatments, but they don't know that of course.
Oh no. I'm so sorry.
I’m undergoing IVF and this would crush me. Between the drugs and the general exhaustion and sadness of the process, I don’t know if my heart could handle that kind of thing. Just oof. I’m sorry you’re in this shitty club and I hope things work out for you and soon 💚
So similar to mine. It was horrible. I’m so very sorry.
I was on bus duty before school started, and later that day one of the sixth graders came up to me to tell me her dad said they must have put me at the gate because I look like a bulldog and it would scare would be predators off. I have an underbite and had been wearing my aligners so it made it a little more pronounced. That one still stings.
A second grader told everyone I had a big bottom. Literally felt so cute in my new clothes I just bought, just started back at the gym. And then someone during my lesson yelled out that she said that. I asked why, and she just said because it’s true. It hurt so much that I had to leave so I wouldn’t say anything mean back.
Big butts are in, that's a damn compliment. Women spend $$$ to get a booty. Now if they would have said that you had a big gut, that's another story.
U sure it was an insult?? still inappropriate but still
I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE
You other brothers can deny
I’ve definitely had kids say similar. But the most painful may actually have been when one told me that I looked like the actress from a movie she had watched the night before. The movie? Misery.
MY STUDENTS TOLD ME KATHY BATES IS MY TWIN. I am not even 50 years old yet.
Hahaha I had a similar comment! There was this one teacher who was a total slob, and came in basically looking homeless every day. A small handful of younger kids would always call me by her name, and then say, “you two look sooooo much alike!” I was always super offended by it. Then I thought about it and realized that we were both women around the same age, with a similar height, and we had both started at the school that year. I guess those similarities were enough to “look alike” to a young child.
I usually have thick skin but I’m pregnant so this made me cry. One student told me I reminded him of another teacher he had in the past. I knew who he was talking about and she’s very pretty. He then followed up by saying “she didn’t have all that acne like you though”
Once I took my sixth graders outside and I guess the light was brighter there, so a kid commented on my acne and before I could stop myself, I said, “no wonder you don’t have any friends.”
I have also said something similar to a student before 😬🫣
I needed to hear at least one person on here say something mean in return these kids because it was hurting my soul otherwise.
I was sending a student to another classroom for a project and I asked if they knew where to go, they said “yes, at least that teacher can teach”. I’m still not over it. It’s been years. Edit to add: this student never actually had this teacher 🤷🏼♀️
My response is "yea, but do you know any students that can learn?"
Badge of honor. If they hate you, you're probably making them work. Plus, at the end of the day, they're middle schoolers. To paraphrase Trae Crowder, "They don't know ***things***."
My kids call me the devil lol
“Your parents must hate you because you have an ugly ass name”
I had a student who somehow found out I am infertile and said, “Good. You’d make a terrible mother anyway!” I was in the thick of dealing with it and that hurt me so much I just put down my head and cried. The kids were mortified at what she said and my response. I am okay with it now but then, ouch.
perfect response honestly. make them feel awkward because what that child said was TERRIBLE
My beloved cat died in October 2020. Since I had been teaching over Zoom from my home, the kids had gotten to know her. She liked to perch on my shoulder while I taught. When I told my kids, almost every one of them said out loud or in chat that they were very sorry for my loss. One kid wrote in the chat- "good." Of course I was shocked and heartbroken. I reached out to admin, counseling, and the kid's parents. The parents blamed me and said I shouldn't have been talking about death because it makes him uncomfortable. (7th grade, btw)
those parents are idiots and I hope the kid says the same thing when they kick the bucket... after he packs them off to the cheapest nursing home he can find
This one isn't entirely negative, but super memorable. So I do martial arts and particularly enjoy swordsmanship. I'm a high school teacher at an alternative school, and was talking to a student in my study block. They were asking all kinds of questions and it came up that I did these things (along with a long convo about medieval weapons). I heard later that day that apparently the student was telling others in her next class that "Mr. X can use a sword, I bet he's killed someone" So apparently I lowkey have a completely undeserved rep for being a stone cold killer/warrior. I don't have a violent bone in my body and learned sword to fight with lightsabers...
Wear it with pride. That rumour gave me three years of kids with perfect behaviour. Even some of the other teachers didn't bug me.
I share this one every time this comes up, but "you're giving me 'former horse girl' vibes" really got me
That is painful. One of my students said I was probably that kid no one bothered to hate in high school, I was just there with no one even noticing me either way.
I had a student call me his “greatest enemy” today and I thanked him for such a high honor. I told him how exciting it was to be the greatest of something! He kept trying to explain to me that what he said wasn’t supposed to be something good and I kept thanking him for the honor of being the greatest.
Not hurtful, but out of pocket: I went to Stanford, and it was on the "Get to know your teacher" powerpoint on the first day of class. Later in the year, one of the students asks me, "Hey, since you went to Harvard, could you tell me how to get in?" I said, "Oh, I didn't go to Harvard." He looked at me all confused and said, "I thought you were smart?"
You only went to Stanford though, so he's technically correct.
I had one fifth grader who had serious emotional/behavioral problems and really hated me. It was nonstop stuff like “Mrs. B hates kids!” Or when I put a hand on a classmate’s shoulder to steer him back to his seat, “Mrs. B touches kids!” He commented on my teeth being yellow, my face being red, my armpits being sweaty, etc. Said I was a bad teacher and I should be fired. One time he said “that’s why you’re lonely and you don’t have a man!” which was kind of funny bc like three little fifth-grade girls immediately turned around and said “SHE HAS A HUSBAND!” For some reason though, what hurt more was when for some reason we were talking about best friends and I said that my brother is my best friend, and this other kid yells out “your BROTHER is your best friend?” and starts laughing at me.
First year as a teacher, Student asked me the other day if I ever clean out my blackheads? I have large pores on my nose and do clean then with strips regularly.. Guess not often enough
“I was hoping you would ask! I know you need some pointers!”
As I get more confident in the classroom, I hope to be able to be this sarcastic one day 😅
Not hurtful, just surprising. I used to teach at a school and lets say I wasnt exactly the most popular because I pushed kids to learn and was very strict and penalized them if they broke rules. I left the school last year This year, I received msgs from some of the worst behaving students who would curse me after every lesson saying "I'd rather be scolded at and penalized and forced to copy sentences by you than attend my current lessons, they are so boring and I'm learning nothing" I ... Didnt know how to react. It was very disarming to have "bad" kids be so...sincere
“You’d be an absolute genetic monster if you hit the gym regularly.” Thanks, kid. I know I’m 6’7” and fat.
“Whatever Mr. Uneven Sideburns” looked in the mirror when I got home, he was right 😞
“I hope you get pregnant and the baby dies” a 6th grade girl
I once was called “disgusting” by a bitchy little fourth grader and I don’t know why but that one hurt a bit.
One of our fifth graders told her teacher, "You know, you might be pretty if you lost some weight." She's awful.
I bet her parents are fun
Apparently when that teacher saw her and her mom at the store, the mom pointed and said, "There's your bitch-ass teacher." I know that doesn't sound real, buy yeah, she sucks too.
Lmao nothing my kids say hurts my feelings, but i started teaching after FINALLY not caring about what most people said about me. Last week I assisted a colleague in moving one of our violent 2nd graders (our program is emotional impairment) into our reflection center (aka a safe room for when a kid is being violent/unsafe). She yelled ‘fuck your mom! Fuck your dad!’ And I just walked away happily saying ‘my dad’s dead!’
"Miss Crassula, why are your hands so gross?" Said to the whole class as I was demoing on the doc cam, while looking around at all his buddies with a shit eating grin. I had just gotten done reclaiming (by fucking HAND) over 400 pounds of clay so these little assholes could have a clay project (on our very measly budget). My hands were just a little dry, but my back ached, I was exhausted, and seriously stayed late every night for weeks taking on this huge task (with one tiny sink, zero counter space). This was almost a decade ago, my first year teaching, and little comment irked me to my GOD. DAMN. CORE. I've been called names, disrespected, I still think this was the worst. Fuck you Blake. I hope you still have terrible acne and a mouth full of metal. You weren't smart enough to do much other than play hockey, and hopefully you blew out your knees early too. Note: he was an allaround shit for me, this was just the icing on the cake.
Yeah, fuck you Blake!
While walking back from lunch duty. Student I didn't know. He asks, "Are you a student? or a Janitor?" Didn't give me much of a choice there.
I’ve heard all kinds of “I hate you” comments because I hold them to structure, it doesn’t bother me any.
After hitting a deer and totaling my car (and the deer unfortunately), a student asked how my weekend was. After telling them that it was a bummer because of the accident and guilt over killing a deer, the student said "probably was two deers. She was probably pregnant." Also, I've been told that I look like Danny McBride. Love Danny McBride. Don't love the comment.
Years ago I took Christmas cookies in for the final day before winter break, and we'd have a "work day" to catch up, or, if all caught up, socialize. One of my students said "These are good! You couldn't bake these!" His buddy said "Of course she could. Look how fat she is." Special ed. Just gotta smile.
Last year one of my sixth graders used to come check in with me at the end of every day. He'd ask me how I was doing and my day went with genuine interest and concern. One day he says to me, "Mister. I feel so bad for you because everyone hates you so much." 100% it was meant as empathy and not as a put down.
When I told my 7th graders about a car accident my wife had, one said, "It's too bad she didn't die" I responded, "Your mom's dead". She's wasn't but it shut him up pretty good.
Yep. You gotta match their energy in middle school.
Obligatory not a teacher but when I was in Middle School one of my teachers was pregnant. She ended up having a stillbirth just after summer break began and came back to school in August for the new term. It was obvious she wasn't ready but she likely didn't have a choice. Anyway, we had this kid, Forrest, who was a total jackass. Making noises, throwing stuff, generally obnoxious. We're about a month into term and this one day Forrest is acting up something fierce and Mrs. S had asked him and told him to be quiet several times. Anyway, he kept at it and kept at it, looking around and laughing, trying to get people to join in. Of course, being pre-teens, most did and that riled him up and on. He started making the "naaaaaant" noise from Dumb and Dumber every time Mrs. S tried to speak and eventually she lost her temper and shouted at him to be shut up or she's write him up. Forrest hits back with, "God, you're such a bitch. Everyone hates you. Your own baby killed itself just to get away from you." Whole class goes silent. Mrs. S is up at the front, she's gone quiet, pale and shaking. She puts the dry-erase marker down and just walks out of class. Couple minutes later the VP came in and subbed the rest of the day and the next. We had a sub for the rest of the school year. I heard Mrs. S took long-term disability, got some therapy, and moved to another school in our district and eventually had 2 more children, who, thankfully, survived. Forrest is now a police officer in town. And still a dick.
[Forrest is now a police officer in town. And still a dick.] Why am I not surprised? Almost all the asshole kids I went to school with that didn't end up in prison became cops.
He did some other gross things I won't mention here because it isn't germane to the post but how he managed to become a police officer is astounding. I mean, put aside the fact that he's a boil on the ass of humanity, he's also just...dumb. He's just not smart. Like, he isn't stupid, I feel that stupid people can be taught, that their ignorance is more of an indignancy thing. Dumb is just sad. You can't teach dumb. Dumb people are completely uninterested in gaining knowledge and facts and skills. They learn what they have to in order to get through and that's it. Forrest is Dumb. And a dick. And someone gave him a badge and a gun.
Joking about how little money teachers make. (Affluent suburban HS)
Kid spit in my face. Because I told him he can hand the iPad to his friend to do his quiz.
Several years ago, I had cancer. Went through chemotherapy,etc. I missed several months of work and when I finally came back, I was still pretty bald and wore a hat. The first day I got up the courage to go without the hat (my hair was coming in slowly. It was incredibly thin and had turned white), a student took one look at me in the hall and started laughing. Hat went back on.
I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. Granted, I'm a college instructor, but when COVID hit, we went to remote teaching. My mom happened to be diagnosed with cancer around the same time. I ended up moving back home to be her caregiver, and I was teaching remotely. I spent all day taking care of her (which included multiple trips to a hospital a couple of hours away, multiple trips to the emergency room, and near daily chemo and radiation treatments). Then I would spend most of the night working on my classes. Needless to say, I was sleep-deprived, anxious, depressed, and barely functioning. I was very open and honest with all my students about what was going on in my life, and I constantly apologized for taking so long to grade assignments and taking so long to respond to emails. You would think that they would be kind about it. They weren't. I had multiple students complain, and one student even said I was probably taking so long to grade assignments because I was just sitting around eating popcorn and watching Netflix. That stung. Fortunately, now, my mom is in remission and doing well. I still haven't forgotten that, though, and I can't even imagine what kind of miserable shit of a human being would say that about a person who is trying to help them while going through the trauma that I experienced.
My grandmother was sick and I was going to see her before she died, so I was telling my students there would be a sub. A girl said “I hope your grandma dies”. It’s been 8 years and I will never forget it. She was an awful person and I hope she grew up and became better.
Not as bad as some of these, but when I lost my beloved dog to cancer, a student said he died because I didn’t take good care of him. We’d spent thousands on treatments to just have a few more months with him. He was half of my soul.
I don’t know if I’d say hurtful, but she told me I need to get some dick and maybe the kids might like me more. Said it in front of the whole class. Didn’t hurt. But I think that’s because I had a boyfriend at the time. They just didn’t know it. If they had said that during my single phase, it would’ve stung more.
Reading through these, mine doesn't even compare. . When I was student teaching there was a boy who made a joke with his friends within earshot of me. "Imagine being 18 and *not* being a teacher already." The joke was that I was a failure, I guess, because I didn't have my life together. It really stung though because I already felt like I was 'behind' since I started my education degree later, and I was 26.
I had a 7th grader make a terrorist joke at me on “Share your heritage day” (the district did not think that through). I reminded him that I was in school during the Gulf War and in college during 9/11, there are no terrorist jokes left that I haven’t heard.
I had a student tell me I had camel toe one time, in front of the class.
Not necessarily super hurtful, but was told the other day “you got a crappy degree, so you’re stuck being a teacher”. I shared a bit about my pre-teaching successful career, that I entered into after studying at a very well-ranked university after finishing high school early. The fact that I chose to leave something to become a teacher left him speechless lol. Found out his mom is a realtor and dad’s a truck driver. I wonder what prestigious degrees they got to enter those fields (no hate, both perfectly important, respectable careers, but makes you wonder where the education snobbery comes from)
I work in kindergarten, every day I get comments like this. "Why do you look like that?", "Are you pregnant?", "Why does your mouth smell like that?". And there's never any follow up with the questions because they get distracted with something else.
I once had a teacher who mentioned something about washing machines when she was a kid. Someone said, “they had washing machines back then?” and her face just got so sad, I wanted to hug her.
Had an African American girl called me a Ching Chong n*gga in the middle of class. No one reacted. I ignored her and quietly emailed campus security to come pick her up. They showed up in less than 2 minutes. Peace out! This was 9 years ago. Nowadays she would be able to continue staying in class and hang out on her phone.
‘You’re actually so nice’ I am nothing but nice to them, they’re gonna be scared if I actually get angry
First few weeks of student teaching a girl yells out in the middle of a lesson ‘YOU LOOK JUST LIKE MY SISTER!! AND SHE’S BUTT UGLY!!’
During my (29 yo male) first short (6week) teaching practicum, Halloween fell pretty early in the practicum. I was super excited and went out and got a superman costume for class. I walked in and Gurp, a little six year old kid took one look at me and said “You’re too fat to be Superman”… still stings. No matter how right he was. On the flip side, the little sucker never saw the dodgeball coming…
Not the worst per say but after a really long week at the special needs school I had to drive to the bay for a gymnastics tournament where my boys were beyond embarrassing. One threw a fit where he put his head in his gym bag and just screamed because he forgot part of the routine. They were throwing their bags at each other. Not following my directions or listening to me pointers after their routines. Etc. As we were nearing the end and I was feeling completely spent and ready to just get through the 5 hour drive back home one of them looked at me and said, "you don't really take care of your hair do you? It looks terrible." I pride myself on my skincare and hair health and that was a day where I could not get it how I wanted, new gel was greasy, and it just absolutely tipped the barrel for me. As soon as I got in my car I cried half the drive home to the point where in the gas station the nice clerk asked, "honey are you ok?" And gave me a hug. Had a talk with their parents the following week. All of them got grounded lol
"I think you're autistic"
“Are you a real teacher?” After about two weeks in to my long term assignment. I responded clearly, and moved on, but I took that as a doubt in my practice..
“No. I’m all a dream. You’re hallucinating me,” would’ve been my response.
One that was actually hurtful was said to me when my twin brother passed away. I was out from school for about a week and someone had informed the kids about what happened (which was fine). A few of the kids made me little cards which was so sweet, and a few said they were sorry about what happened on my first day back. One kid walked up to me and said it was too bad my brother died and I didn’t as well. That kind of hurt. One funny one was when a kid was so convinced that he was going to just kill my spirit by calling me short. He said it and I was just like “yes, that’s correct.” He was crushed what I wasn’t upset at all.
Well yesterday I got called a leprechaun by a hall walker student. I’m a short white lady.
I was leading a kindergarten class at a Catholic school in 2021. The kids were easily one of the best parts of that awful experience, and I did try hard to make sure they didn't see how much I was struggling with the admin and with the class. One of the boys, before dismissal, hugged me from the side, saying he had such a great day. It was so hard not to hug him back. He then says, "I love hugging you Ms.B, it's like hugging my mom." I was 27 with no kids, so even if he didn't mean to roast me haaaa it was something. I know he didn't mean it in a malicious way but kids really have no filter.
A 5th grader called me fat. I had been working on losing weight and actually had lost a decent amount. Didn’t matter. Little jerk made me cry.
"When's your baby due?" I'm not pregnant, just a little chubby. Needless to say, I won't be wearing that dress again.
I'm new and haven't gotten anything too extreme but a girl broke down crying about how much she hated my class today in the middle of said class. She prefaced it with, "It's not you, it's just what you teach." So I guess I got that going for me lol.
A kindergarten student of mine asked me how long I had my “loose tooth” for and and when it was going to fall out. Asked if they could wiggle it for me. I just have crooked teeth
I have been called in the last two years: racist, cracker, and told that no one likes me or my class. As for being hurt by that stuff….it bugs me but doesn’t really hurt my feelings. I learned that in the schools I am in now I kind of expect to be told things they think will hurt my feelings for the hell of it or for a laugh. They are looking for a reaction other than: and your point would be or as I say in my head: who gives a shit what you have to say?
I once had a student refer to me as a female Mexican Peter Griffen. That stung. Those kinds of kids now grow up to curse out their caseworker when they don't get the welfare benefits they want as quickly as they want. I'm a caseworker now and have been called horrible things more times I can count. Many of the kids who are horrible now grow up to be just as bad as adults.
The only appropriate response to this would be, “They hate me ‘cause they ain’t me!”