A lot of mischief goes on in classrooms and teachers are the ones who have to deal with it… But sometimes, they need to let off some steam and have a little fun.
And what better way to do this than by epicly trolling their students?
We took to the Mamamia Outlouders Facebook group to ask teachers their funniest stories, and well, we couldn’t stop laughing.
Enjoy.
Bec.
“I give my Grade 4 students completely made up words in spelling tests. So all 20 words that week will be things like squeadle, sroughtfull etc. Their faces as they try to spell the words are priceless!!!”
Erin.
“My sisters sent flowers to me at school and I told the kids they were from Ed Sheeran (he was performing in Brisbane that night and was the first name that came into my head). We then listened to some of his music that afternoon and I told them he wrote the song ‘Galway Girl’ about me. ‘But you’re not Irish and you don’t play the fiddle.’ ‘He needs to be discreet so my identity isn’t revealed. My name is ERIN which means IRELAND guys!'”
Emily.
“As a child I was asked to go next door and ask Mr R for a long weight. I was told to go back to class 29 mins later after a long wait.”
Rachael.
“Was checking the browsing history on our class set of iPads and noticed a few had internet searches with the words “nakid boobs”. Clearly I couldn’t ask students if they were searching for “nakid boobs”…so instead I ran an impromptu spelling test on the “human body”. Started with inane words like head and eyes, then eventually I finished the test with; “all babies are born naked. Spell naked.” After school, I flicked through the tests and smiled. Gotcha. Only one student spelled it “nakid” and I knew I had my culprit!” – Rachael
Jane.
“When I worked as an ESL teacher in Portugal I did a whole lesson on Drop Bears with my 15-16yr old students, just as they were leaving at the end of the lesson I broke the news that drop bears are fictional, I had them totally convinced up until that point lolol.”
Annamari.
“When students start arriving late for last session Friday, I make sure the first 3-5mins are amazing/fun/hilarious/lolly-filled. I don’t need to say anything else; the students make sure they know they missed out.”
Sherry.
“I tutor so not quite teaching but I like to ask each student “are you sure?” Even on the really easy stuff like multiplication and addition.”
Christine.
“Making eye contact with one student while calling on another by name.”
Nic.
“When I was a casual primary teacher, if I thought the kids weren’t listening during an activity I’d always throw in a nonsense sentence and keep talking like there was nothing odd about what I’d just said (“so you need to fold the paper in half and rule a margin because the moon is made of cheese. Once that’s done we’re going to….”). Watching the expressions of the kids who were listening change as they realised what I’d said was always funny (and a good indication of who was going to complete the task well!)”
Anna-Lise.
“I used to tell my (secondary) students that it was against my religion to tell students the time. The poor darlings didn’t know what to do or say to that.”
Grace.
“I play a game with a crazy ball when we are stuck in the hall in wet weather. It’s hilarious watching the kids chase round this weird shaped ball that can bounce in any direction at any time. They literally run around like headless chooks.”
Rebecca.
“I tell them that after morning tea they need to be sitting doing super silent reading. I take forever getting back from the staffroom and then spy on them through the window to see who was listening.”
Alex.
“At school camp, the crowd split into two teams and chose one person to represent them. Those two got blindfolded up the front and told they had to eat five mini bananas as fast as possible – first one done wins. The crowd was told they have to keep cheering no matter what and then the competition began… sort of. We took the bananas and blindfold off one of the two kids and the crowd kept cheering as the other smashes back bananas by himself blindfolded. We even started yelling that the other kid was winning so he went faster and faster. He finished and took his blindfold off and realised he had been majorly trolled.”
Mollie.
“This ones a bit different but my mum was the business manager at a primary school and was talking to the teachers about reports and how often she’d gotten reports with he instead of she, the wrong name or obviously copied and pasted etc and having a laugh about it. So my little brother (who went to the same school) brought his report home at the end of term and the teacher made it a big joke – she called him 5 different names, did heaps of spelling errors, and her comments about his progress were really rude like “he has finally learnt how to spell his own name most of the time”, “he still struggles with adding 2 +2”. We made everyone who visited read his report and watched them struggle with how to react.”
Mel.
“If my seniors (but any kids, really) grab my phone and take stupid selfies, I keep them and forward to their year coordinator to be used for final assembly/graduation! (I pull them off my phone onto my laptop, and honestly would prefer if they didn’t do this – but I do make hay while the sun shines!)”
Emma.
“If I make a mistake and the kids (16-18 year olds) pick it up I tell them that it was a test to see if they could find the error (not always, I think there’s real merit in them seeing their teachers being ok with making mistakes.)”
Elizabeth.
“I told my prep class that they were especially chosen to sit up the front at assembly because the principal wanted to know the truth after I told him that they were the best class. They sat up so straight and were so quiet the whole time! Totally gorgeous! I also tell them that I have Santa’s email address, they give it to all the teachers when they graduate university, obviously…”
Cindy.
“I told my year 3 kids on April Fools Day that because of nuclear explosions the World is going to revolve in the opposite direction. Which meant we would have to come to school at night and the kids made a list of the things they would have to bring… torches etc. They were really disappointed when I said it was an April joke.”
Mel.
“My daughter’s grade two teacher put a harmonica in the prize box. To troll the parents more so than the kids.”
Emily.
“Primary: kids often ask me who my favourite student is. In separate conversations I tell each child who asks that they are my second favourite, but that I can’t tell them who the #1 favourite is. Of course they talk to each other, and once they’ve realised I’ve told them all the same thing, I confess that they are all equal second, and I’m my own favourite. Secondary: whenever the latest internet thing is getting too annoying, I pretend to totally not ‘get’ it, and be sure to do it near them repeatedly and badly. Once their teacher starts dabbing or saying yeet, not a single teenager is willing to do it in my presence again. Worth it.”
Yaël.
“When kids answer to the wrong name to mess with the casual teacher I call them by that name at every opportunity.”
Ah, teachers. We salute you.