School Culture & Colleagues

Teachers Share The Most Surprising Things They’ve Done on the Job

This was not in the job description.

Teacher Surprising Stories
By Elizabeth Mulvahill, B.A., Certified Teacher
Nov 23, 2020

Life is an adventure, especially when you’re a teacher. We asked teachers on Facebook to share some of the most surprising things they’ve experienced in the classroom. Read on for their hilarious answers!

1. Training the girls’ hockey team while dressed as a pirate. (It was Book Week!)

Gif of Captain Jack Sparrow yelling and hushing himself-- surprising teacher stories

Ahoy, matey!

2. Taking a rock out of a kid’s nose because he was “bored” riding on the school bus and “thought it would fit”!

This is definitely not in my contract. 

3. Refereeing intense UNO games on my lunch hour.

Gif of a man saying "well played"

Who knew it could get so intense?

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4. Sewing students’ clothes back together during recess time.

Geez, I don’t even do this for myself!

5. Doing headstands at the end of the day because I was double-dared to do it!

Gif of a man doing a handstand on a chair and falling to the floor -- surprising teacher stories

Good thing it wasn’t a double-dog dare!

6. Cleaning spilled chicken soup out of a backpack.

Which will forever smell like grandma’s kitchen. 

7. Participating in a head-banging mosh pit dance with 22 fourth graders to ‘Hey Mickey.’

Gif of a group of men dancing in the car.

Now that’s what we call a brain break!

8. Participating in a “howl off” during homeroom.

For a wild time, call Mrs. Wilson’s seventh-grade class. 

9. Repeating myself so often!

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Gif of a man saying "over and over again"

Ad nauseam.

10. Singing while taking attendance. (It takes twice as long to do it remotely and singing keeps them entertained.)

Hey, if Mary Poppins did it, so can I. 

11. Mediating between two girls about “who left the poo in the loo.”

Gif of a man next to a poop emoji saying "if it's brown flush it down"

Potty talk, classroom style. 

12. Cleaning a student’s vomit out of my purse!

And 
 time for a new purse. 

13. Waving my puppet doll at the computer to keep my students entertained.

Gif of a man manning two puppets and having one puppet scream at the other.

Anything to keep the focus. 

14. Hunting for a student’s missing shoes on the playground with 2 inches of snow on the ground.

Maybe let’s ask Santa for a pair of snow boots this year, yes?

15. Telling students to “Please unmute yourself.”

Gif of a teacher saying "you're still on mute!"

He said for the millionth time. 

16. Finding turds around my third-grade classroom and having to figure out who the “mystery pooper” is. 

Don’t even ask. 

17. Anything that I do right now! My degree is in Secondary School History and English and I now teach kindergarten.

Gif of a teacher playing the ukelele for a class of students.

Good thing teachers are so “resilient.”

18. Having the principal show me photo evidence of penises drawn all over the boys’ bathroom walls by my fourth graders.

Oh, boys. Really?

19. Trying to explain to a Pre-K kid that a waffle iron is not Baby Shark. And what a waffle iron is.

Gif of a woman dancing and saying "baby shark!" -- surprising teacher stories

Generation gap. 

20. Feeling like I’m the star of my own cable access show.

Lights, camera 


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And check out Teachers Share the Funniest Things That Have Ever Happened at a Staff Meeting. 

Teachers Share The Most Surprising Things They've Done on the Job