Being a teacher takes special skills, especially when dealing with kids who definitely don't like to listen. These teachers share the biggest meltdowns they've ever seen. And you better believe they're disastrous.
A Real HOT Mess
I had a first grader that was hot (we did not have air conditioning), so he stood up, knocking over his chair. That wasn’t enough so he threw the chair then walked to my desk and cleared it off with a swipe of his arm. After that, he pushed the intercom button calling the office and before they could answer he stepped into the hall to sit down to wait for the principal. Once the principal arrived to take him to the air conditioned office, the student bit the principal on the arm (we heard the hollering as we were trying to clean up). He was suspended for 3 days and got to stay home in his air conditioned apartment. Source
Run Forest Run!
Taught special ed. Had a kid throw a chair through the window, break it, jump through window and run away. Man, I do not miss teaching. Source
A Hairy Situation
Not me, but a teacher friend of mine was proctoring SAT’s when one kid flips his desk and screams “F— YOU DANIEL!” And storms out. Turns out Daniel had been ripping his own pubes out of his junk and putting them on the kids shoulder in front of him. When the kid in front of him found out he obviously flipped out.
And for the record, yes, Daniel is a fake name. Source
Love Will Do That To Ya
We were meeting in the computer lab for a week because the student were working on projects. One of my students was hanging out with his girlfriend before class started. I was in the classroom, so I wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation. He walks into the room and he was fuming. I asked him what was wrong and he didn’t respond. He went to his computer and punched the screen. I tried to calm him down and he picked up the table , which had five computers on it, and tipped it over. I got the rest of the students out and called security.
He absolutely destroyed the computer lab. He was suspended for the rest of the year, was banned from prom and graduation, and his parents had to pay for the damages.
His girlfriend apparently cheated on him. I heard they got back together after that, but it was never confirmed. Source
Well That’s Harsh
I teach English in Japan and I worked in some Elementary schools for a few years. In one class this one kid just wouldn’t keep quiet, kept talking in a loud voice to the kid next to him no matter how many times I asked him to be quiet and pay attention. I got frustrated and told him off saying that even if he didn’t want to learn he was screwing it up for everyone else and to either be quiet or get out (all in Japanese of course) Just to note, kids are almost never kicked out of class in Japan as far as I’m aware because people have the right to education by law here. The kid flipped out and started yelling at me. I can’t remember everything he said but the highlight would translate as approximately “Die you fucking pervert” and this was coming from a 4th grader. Then he buggered off somewhere.Source
On The Run
Adding this because it’s comical and not sad, like so many others on this thread.
We had a girl in our school with Down’s Syndrome who was a tiny shrimp of a thing…skinny, short, and FAST. Her appointed aids were older and not in the best shape, so she gave them a run for their money–often.
The kiddos in her classroom come down to take care of recycling and such every day in all the hallways, and one day she must have been pretty mad at her aid…because she gave her a good long side-eye, and then took off for the exit doors in our wing. I’m a regular ed English teacher, who was just on my way to make copies, and saw her sprint away toward the doors. I literally knelt down, hooked her around the waist (she was looking back at her aid, smiling), and basically hugged her into a stop saying “I don’t think you’re supposed to go out those doors!” Her aids laughed and laughed, and she just looked at me, horrified that I dare impede her break from freedom.
Repeat this scenario about eight or nine times over two years…I think I hooked that kid in a dead sprint more often than anyone else. When I retire, I want to come back and work with these kids. They’re a hoot. Source
Woah There! It’s Not The Computer’s Fault
I’m a teacher in a prison. They were doing Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and one inmate kept putting his hands on the wrong keys, to which he freaks out and starts yelling at the computer how its a “dumb mother—–“. Source
A Black Eye Nightmare
I’m not a teacher but I was assisting a teacher because I’m a student aid and one of the students started arguing with the teacher and he threw his desk down hard and started calling the teacher a “godless whore.” I told him to calm down and he punched me in the face and then stormed out of the classroom. He was expelled due to that being his 3rd disturbance and I got a black eye. Source
And One Day, He Snapped
This happened 10 years ago, when I worked as a primary school teacher. I was teaching year 2 (8ish year olds) at the time, one student stood out. He was a very bright kid, could do mental arithmetic as quickly as me if not faster, but he was also EXTREMELY weird. No eye contact, did odd repetitive stuff by himself at recess like timing his sprints across a certain section of playground over and over. He had a few (less) odd friends who tolerated him, but he was mostly bullied for being so strange.
He usually reacted stoically or defensively, but one day he absolutely SNAPPED. At recess, he was being teased by a popular girl for reading so much, and she dared him to punch her when he got upset. Apparently today was the day because he did. More than once. All directly to the stomach, probably 5-6 good kid-sized blows before I reached them and he snapped out of it and stopped.
He got put through the ringer for that as most teachers disliked him as well. I tried to explain he was constantly bullied and usually non-violent, it got “taken into consideration” and he was still suspended for a week. Source
Laser Focus
I once had a student who was using a laser pointer during class presentations that day and after his group was finished, he was of course the normal freshmen and decided to shine it around the room. Before I was able to tell him to cut it out he managed to shine it in another students direction. The student who had the laser pointed at him exploded. He flipped his desk screaming a string of profanities before punching my cinder block wall shattering his hand. He then stormed out of my classroom before i was able to address the situation/get him some help for his hand. Source
You Life Ruiner
In highschool I had a laser pointer in class and was being a dick shining it around the room. The boy next to me starts freaking out saying keep it away from me, keep it away from me. So of course, being a dick, I start shining it on him. He screams “you’re going to give me cancer!” and stabs me in the arm with a pencil.
We both got sent to the principal. The principal was pissed at me for having a laser pointer but the whole being stabbed thing kind of took the heat off me. The kid who stabbed me started crying and moaning about how his life was ruined over something so stupid.
The principal just seemed embarrassed and disgusted. Just told us both to leave. Source
Now That’s A Hero
We were on a class trip on the way back to school when one of my colleagues pointed to a boy who was leaning against the subway doors, upset about something. I walked over and learned he had left his backpack at the movie theater and was very upset. I tried to encourage him but he didn’t care.
Eventually we are at our train stop and everyone is getting off but this kid is still leaning against the subway doors (opposite side had opened). Doors are about to close and only he and I remain from our group. I tell him please don’t freak out but I’m gonna take you off the train we have to go.
He immediately starts struggling but I’m a big guy so I get him off. As train starts pulling away he is trying to walk back towards it and we are all like WTF be careful train is pulling out of station. Eventually I grab him and drag him backwards to the ground and yell at co workers to get kids out of here.
As they are walking away he is trying to crawl towards the open subway tracks. Presumably to kill himself. This kid is 12 and I’m a giant man but I am struggling to subdue him. I wrestled in high school so I know how to keep control of someone on the ground but he is really determined to get to those tracks. I’m still struggling with him and another train comes by but I keep him on platform.
People are by now asking him if he is ok and eyeing me like WTF are you doing to this child. Eventually I yell to my co worker to go get the police and she runs off in tears. Now I’m alone struggling with this child on the ground and I assume it’s about to get real but as soon as he hears mention of police he starts calming down and begs me to let him go promising to be good. After a minute of not letting go I talk him into standing up with me and I take him away while aggressively holding his hand and putting my arm around him.
We breathlessly walk into school and I immediately take him to main office where a small crisis team has gathered. Once he is safely sitting in a chair I collapse into one as well and start processing my ordeal.
His family comes to school to pick him up but we have to mandatorily send him to hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Couple days later he is back in school like nothing ever happened. We had a special bond after that and he always came to my classroom to check on me all year even though I wasn’t his teacher.
I don’t work at that school any more but I’m heading back at end of this year to see those students graduate and hope to find him happier and healthier. Source
Odd Behavior
After just starting my career working at a vocational college I was witness to a student’s multiday meltdown that probably stemmed from things happening in his personal life.
He was a student who I had come in contact with regarding his academic performance (at the time I was a counselor and not yet teaching) One day I get a message from one of our instructors that just said “Please come to my classroom right now.” This was a VERY strange request at the time. I also handled disciplinary cases and amm a pretty big guy. It just felt off so I rushed out of my office and through the building until I reach her class, and there is this student just sitting in the empty classroom, in the back, staring at her. She is at her desk in the front of the class alone. I walk past the student and go to talk to her, she just whispers that she wants him to leave and that he came in uninvited and sat down without saying a word and never took his eyes off her. I went back and greeted him and asked him to come with me. Which he did.
We were met in the hallway by the academic dean who had also been notified and together we walked the student out of the main building where the dean spoke to him. I found out later he had been given a warning about his behavior.
Two days later I am sitting in my office and the lights in the adjacent classroom go out, this is in the middle of the day and that was a lab that usually had people working in it. I get up and walk through the dark classroom to the light switch and flip it back on and then a voice behind me says “Hey {my name}” I turn around and there is the student, he had pulled up a seat as to be positioned right behind me, I walked within inches of him in the dark.
Then finally the friday of that same week the lights go out again. Then come back on, then a bit later they go off. This time I leave my office and take the door into the next lab, exit the building, walk around to the main entrance and then into the dark lab. I open the door and reach in and flip on the lights. From this angle I can clearly see a pair of legs sticking out from behind a cubicle wall. I approach and can the student there, almost incoherent. Next to him is a huge pile of spit out sunflower seed shells and a big bottle of empty mouthwash. I went back and got the academic dean. We revived the guy, called the authorities and he was checked out by our Nursing director and then thrown out. I processed his expulsion that same day.
A few months later I saw him in a gas station and he says “don’t worry I don’t hate you anymore” Source
A Series Of Unfortunate Events
I teach middle school and have witnessed many meltdowns. A favorite was a new girl in my class. She threw one of my calculators across the room so I told her to go the office. She went out yelling/swearing and I just stood there non-reactive. Then she went to slam the door on her way out. Or at least she tried. Can’t slam a safety door–self-closer. Couldn’t help but have a laugh at that. Source
I Can’t Go on
idk if this counts, but I tutor at this girls house, she’s in her early teens, and there was this point in helping her with her homework where she made a mistake in pen and needed whiteout. neither her nor her mom could find it and it ended with the child yelling “I HAVE OCD MOM, I CANT GO ON WITHOUT WHITEOUT, IM HAVING AN OCD ATTACK, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME, NO I SWEAR I HAVE OCD, WHAT THE HELL” Source