No matter the grade level, teachers are constantly being distracted in the classroom by unruly students.
The usual suspects are the chatty pupils, and the class clown, always looking to amuse their fellow classmates. Usually, these obnoxious behaviors from students can be stopped with a warning.
But when objects are involved in disruption and the teacher physically has to walk down the aisle to retrieve something that has been thrown or that stole focus, that's just asking for detention or a trip to the principal's office.
Curious to hear about the experiences of teachers on the internet, Redditor SpoonSArmy asked:
"Teachers, what's the weirdest thing you've had to take away from a student?"
Matters Of Food
Most students cannot wait for the lunch bell, so they'll manifest lunchtime by sneaking in a snack during class, only to have them ripped from their hands.
One student, however, was genuinely terrified about a food item he had in his locker room.
Something's Afoul
"It was December or January and we were having one of those 'lockdowns' where the police come in with dogs to sniff for drugs. We were all locked in our classrooms and no students were allowed out, even to visit the restroom. One of my students was white as a ghost, very afraid. I asked him what's the matter, but it was obvious he was afraid he was about to get busted. He said 'Do you think the dogs will go to my locker?' I said 'I don't know, do you have something to be worried about?' He said 'There's a ham and cheese sandwich in there.' I scratched my head a bit, 'I'm sure it's no problem to have a sandwich.' He said, 'Yeah, but it's been in there since September.'"
Shakespear-ian Snack
"Instant pudding. My student was mixing it in a large Cool Whip container, using milk from lunch, right in the middle of a lesson on Macbeth."
"They were making their own witch's brew."
Wrong Juice, Shelby
"A wine cooler that looked like a Capri Sun. This was a 2nd grader and she was just getting ready to drink it."
End To Torment
No teacher appreciates being interrupted during a lesson, especially when the disruption is an aggressive one.
These teachers had to put a stop to violence in the classroom by removing "weapons."
The Orb Of Death
"Eyeballs. I worked with a blind student with autism. When he would get angry, he would pop out his glass eyeballs and throw them across the room. They were expensive, so mom asked that we put them in a plastic bag in his backpack if he threw them.... no more eyeballs for you today! 🙈"
Attempted Allergy Attack
"First thing that came to mind - a drawing of a peanut. One kid said he had a peanut allergy, so a boy drew a peanut on a piece of paper, and started shoving it in the other boy's face and being a general jerk with it."
Decking The Halls, And Each Other
Christmas ornaments. They were throwing them at each other and it eventually caused a fight.
Next to that would be a curtain rod. He found it and kept hitting people with it."
When Enough Is Enough
Some items taken away involved more than one object at one time, starting with the contents of these contemptible gadgets.
Making Noise
"Not a teacher, but was part of almost eliminating the 'prize' box in my kids class."
"Kid is in kindergarten. I'm freinds with a few of the other fathers in her class. One of the things her class has is a prize box. If the kids are all on their game for the week, or a kid does something especially good, they get to choose something from the box. Its filled with the kind of stuff you would find in a blister pack in the dollar store. Stuff like a little plastic car, or a bouncey ball or whatever. Anyway, the kids love it, the parents supply stuff for it."
"So one day my kid comes home with a f'king kazoo from the thing. Nothing like a 6 year old who just figured out how a kazoo works while you are trying to work from home."
"So immediately i fire off an email to the list of my fellow dads asking what wisea** put kazoos in the prize box, and then see that 2 other people had beat me to the question."
"One of the guys finally replies back 'heh'"
"and it was on. I countered with whistles, someone else had this annoying popping thing, someone else got the worlds worst balsa planes, so like, the second time it flew it was destined to snap in half and upset your kid....this went on for like a good 2 weeks before someone crossed the line and sent in glitter."
"By this point the teacher was on to us, and told our wives on us."
Something's A Buzz
"An entire menagerie of live insects. One afternoon my class decided that they should see how many bugs they could capture and keep alive in my classroom. The next day, I returned from covering lunch duty in another part of the school and noticed that one of the cubbies had paper towel taped over the front like a curtain. Before I could investigate, I noticed several Tupperware containers hiding in desks."
"Dozens of worms (that was the cubby) Many assorted beetles Uncounted ants 4 bees A wasp And, most upsetting, several flies which were crazy glued to index cards and had their wings removed."
"That was a long day in a long year."
So Here's The Scoop(s)
"a girl had about 50 plastic spoons in her pocket, she tripped and tey all fell out, we all found it hilarious but a high up teacher was walking by and made her pick them up (she was going to anyway) and put them all in the bin
he was probably very confused over the whole situation."
My Experience
I had something taken away from me while I was in eighth grade during English class for reasons that still leaves me with questions.
It was a book written by the master of horror, Stephen King, called The Tommyknockers. I had it out on my desk and as soon as my teacher saw it, and she took it away and told me it was inappropriate for me to read.
How did she know? Did she read it? Or was it because Stephen King uses lewd language in all his novels? Or was she just punishing me because I was annoying and talkative in class? Full disclosure, it was because of the latter.
Sometimes, the mischievous ones are just asking for it. So students, always just pay attention and respect your teachers, m'kay?
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