Most Embarrassing Teacher Moment

My most embarrassing moment was at Freshman Orientation. It was my first day in front of my students after an eight-year hiatus from the classroom. I was doing some ice breaker games with the students when I fell flat on my rear. That was August 8, and today, November 3, my ankle still shows signs of the sprain. My students all still talk about it.

I have two that pop into my mind quickly, although I’m sure they have been many more. When I was subbing right after I graduated in December, I was in an art classroom. The teacher had all the desks around the outside of the room, facing into the center. I was propped up against a desk as I was explaining things, and all of a sudden the desk collapsed. I quite loudly yelled an expletive as I fell. Embarrassing!

Later in my teaching career, I had taken my class to their “specials” class and walked back into my room. I had been holding one in for a little while and when I got to the safety of my empty classroom, I let it rip, and did it ever. It definitely would have been heard had there been anyone else around, but I knew my room was empty. Except it wasn’t. A poor student from another class had come in looking for something, and as I turned to go to my desk I saw him, bright red and booking it for the door.

When I was student teaching, one day we didn’t have a normal schedule, so of course the 7th graders were restless and off-kilter. They just couldn’t settle down, but saying “Shut up” was something that students could get suspended for, so faculty, of course, avoided saying it. I finally had just had it with them, and being so careful to avoid “shut up,” said, “Be quiet, damn it.” Stunned silence. I apologized to them. They were definitely quiet after that.

Yup! We gotta keep it clean, Fran. One of my sheltered freshmen was upset one year when I used the word, “jackass.” We were reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream and discussing Nick Bottom, who literally gets turned into a jackass by Puck’s fairy magic. That was just too, too much for this one kid, though. Oh!

So, a few years ago, I was in the middle of teaching using a PowerPoint. Since I rarely stand still when I am teaching, I was moving around my room really getting my point across. My students were really engaged and right with me. At one point, I was walking quickly to the front of the room to emphasize a point on the screen. As I walked to the front of the room, I tripped on a cord and literally flew 5 feet. I landed flat on my stomach, hit my face on the floor, jumped up, and just kept on teaching. There were several gasps in the room, not a single snicker, and then suddenly one of my 9th grade football players said, “Wow! You’re tough!” I then laughed and the WHOLE class broke into laughter and several kids sweetly asked, “Are you okay?” For the rest of the day, kids were coming in and asking if I could fall again they heard it was “really cool”! Ugh! Gotta love freshmen!

I was teaching a grammar lesson a few years ago and had sentences written on the board. I try to use silly sentences to keep it somewhat entertaining. I think the sentence was “Joe Bob was eating squirrel stew.” It was at the end of the day, and I was tired. I also talk fast, and as I read the sentence, instead of saying “Joe Bob,” I said “Boe Job.” Let’s just say I do not use that name anymore.

I have a knack for falling. In the third quarter of my first year of teaching, my coteacher was giving a lecture while I patrolled, making sure our freshmen were being good humans. I told one student to scoot in or someone might trip and, you guessed it, my foot got caught and I starfished on the ground.
The following year, I took my creative writing students to our wetlands and attempted to jump over a puddle. I missed. I taught the remainder of the day, three more periods, with mud caked from mid-back to toes.
Thankfully, I have a great sense of humor and no pride left, so I’m still teaching.

Last year, I started teaching high school English. I had one student bring in stress balls. He was continuously bouncing them off of the walls in my classroom. I told him if he did it one more time I was going to take away his balls. Not only did my class enjoy this, my boss overheard this and took away the stress balls while chuckling herself.

My first DAY teaching at my first job, after literally months of planning, I finally take a seat in a student desk to see what the room would look like for a student. Five minutes before the bell rings, I realize the text books are blocking the welcome message on the chalkboard. I panic, and start moving stacks of textbooks from the table to the floor. As I squat down to move the first stack, my pants rip! And, pretty majorly, too. I was so nervous that I just had to laugh, because if I had cried, I wouldn’t have stopped all day. I tied a sweater around my waist, and told my 7th graders at the end of the week the story. It always reminds me to not take things too seriously.

Several years ago, I taught middle school and we were in the middle of standardized testing. You know the drill – deathly quiet environment, no talking whatsoever, an aura of seriousness permeates the room. My class was deeply engrossed in one of the tests when I needed to grab my computer cord out of my computer bag. Rather than getting off my rear to get it, I decided to reeeeeaaaaach for it – sideways. Well, this was too much for my puny office chair. It flipped over and I smacked my head on a countertop behind me on the way down to the floor. The class was absolutely silent for a second until I heard someone say, “Are you OK?” then the class erupted into laughter. I started laughing like a hyena, absolutely horrified and embarrassed about having hit my head and being sprawled like a newborn fawn on my cement floor. Then, to make matters worse, the teacher next door had to come over and ask me to be quiet, as her class was also in the middle of testing, so add that embarrassment to the mix. Oh, what a day that was!