Teaching is about so much more than imparting knowledge and a love of learning. For many who find themselves in front of a class, what turns their profession into a passion are the quirky and funny moments – and their pupils’ reactions – when things don’t quite go to plan.
Staff will tell you that seeing children through their educational journey is a life-affirming privilege, and that there are more memorable, uplifting (and sometimes hilarious) moments than they can count. For this piece, they recall a few of them …
‘Poland! Not Poundland!’
Bruno Roth, 34, is a primary and early years teacher at Millfields community school and children’s centre in Hackney, east London
Roth is from a family of teachers, though before training he spent time as a musician touring with a band in his native Spain before moving to the UK.
His love of rock music remains and features heavily in many of his lessons. He plays songs to help pupils burn off steam at the start of class while opting for calmer tunes to encourage quiet reflection or calming meditation. He loves bringing laughter to his classroom with approaches such as a “SATs TV show” or by using Willy Wonka-style golden tickets to reward good performance.
Key to delivering this is something Roth, and other great teachers, have in abundance: the ability to laugh at themselves.
In fact one of his funniest memories was prompted by an error on his part.
“I was doing an online lesson for a nursery class that I’d only had for two weeks, so I really didn’t know the children that well. It was the end of the term, so we were talking about holidays. I asked what their plans were and if they were excited, and plenty of hands went up.
“This really nice boy said he was excited because he was going on holiday to Poundland. I made a big deal out of it as I wanted him to feel special, so I went on and on about how exciting Poundland was and how many unexpected items you can find there.
“After speaking excessively about the wonders of Poundland, his mum interrupted and said: ‘Poland! Poland! We are going to Poland!’
“I was incredibly embarrassed and I could see all the parents [on the Zoom call] burst out laughing. Even I couldn’t help but start laughing about how ridiculous the whole situation was.”
When teacher stands corrected
Shobha Pillai, 44, is a primary teacher at the Park Federation academy trust, in Hayes, west London
As a child, Pillai liked school so much that at home she used to make her younger brother play pretend classrooms. It’s fair to say that she was probably destined to become a teacher.
Now, with a specialism in maths, Pillai uses her extensive knowledge to upskill colleagues and to plan classes for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) – and it is from one of these that she has a particularly treasured memory.
She says: “I was with my SEN group doing area and perimeter. We use a scheme called white rose, which includes a turtle called Tiny.”
Tiny is a teaching aid who suggests answers, and it is up to the pupils to decide if he is right.
After one question, Pillai asked her class: “Well, can Tiny be right?”
“One of my students, who actually finds maths quite tricky, put his hand up to point out that the width was missing so you couldn’t work out the area. That in itself was wonderful because a few weeks earlier that child didn’t know what area was.”
But before coming up with his reply, he wanted to make a point: “Well, first of all Miss, I don’t think turtles do maths,” he said.
Quite.
When the pupil turns up on a tractor
Sam Jones, 37, is head of drama at Hele’s school in Plymouth
Jones didn’t have a traditional route into teaching. Nobody in his family had graduated from university so, after struggling with his own exams, he decided that continuing with formal education wasn’t realistic.
Although he always felt drama was one subject he was good at, he initially dismissed pursuing his passion for performance as mere fantasy.
Instead, he followed both his father and brother in picking up a trade, and started working as a scaffolder.
Jones was helping to build a supermarket when he was handed a further education prospectus that ultimately led him into teaching, completely changing his life.
He enrolled on a performance and live art degree at Nottingham Trent University and later worked on the “Aim Higher” scheme, which looks to provide opportunities for pupils from underprivileged backgrounds.
Teaching has provided Jones with a career of highs. He has taken 44 pupils to perform at Notre Dame, in Paris, and, in 2019, was a Silver winner, one of just 11 nationally, in the Pearson Secondary School Teacher of the Year award.
But one of his most treasured moments came thanks to a pupil with a penchant for melodrama.
“When I was directing an outdoor production of Romeo and Juliet, we were all waiting for this one student [who was playing Mercutio] to arrive for the performance. We couldn’t find him anywhere. We were in the depths of Somerset waiting for this boy and then, finally, there he was. On a tractor.”
The boy had spent the morning ploughing fields and had decided to drive the tractor in for show time. Well, it’s one way to make an entrance.
I don’t know but I’ve been told, Miss
Rachael Procter Lane, 38, is a secondary teacher at Bradley Stoke community school, in Bristol
By day she teaches English language and literature and by night she is a comedy improviser.
Procter Lane has always adored teaching and has managed to strike a balance between her work in education and her comedy career.
She says: “I think that’s because both use such transferable skills. For each student, you have to be who they need you to be in that moment. That may be the best friend or the worst enemy – whoever I need to be to move that child along.
“Keeping 30 teenagers engaged in your lesson means you have to be entertaining. If you are a teacher, you are a performer. Though you don’t often get a round of applause at the end.”
Her approach of wedding education and performance has proved a real asset in the classroom. Procter Lane recalls a recent lesson on grammar in which she was beginning to lose the attention of her year 9 class.
Procter Lane said: “They needed to learn the list ‘For-And-Nor-But-Or-Yet-So’ to use in compound sentences. But they started to look like they were falling asleep at their desks.”
Thinking on her feet thanks to her improv skills, Procter Lane came up with a plan. She laughs: “I got the class to stand up, march round the room and chant the list to the army drill song ‘I don’t know but I’ve been told’.”
Procter Lane’s attention-commanding approach was a hit. The teens threw themselves into the chant with such enthusiasm that it even instigated something of a tradition when entering the English class.
In the coming days, if Procter Lane crossed their path in school corridors, the pupils would burst into the chant – and laughter – as a greeting to their English teacher.
The one with the nap
Michelle Smith, 41, is a modern foreign languages teacher at St George’s Church of England school in Gravesend, Kent, who it happens is also an adventurer
Smith loves to surprise pupils with tales of her mountaineering, extreme events and adventures visiting places such as Mount Kilimanjaro because pupils often forget that teachers have lives beyond the classroom. She believes that sharing her experiences and achievements can help motivate them in and out of school.
She says that sometimes the funniest moments occur when a meticulously thought-out lesson plan doesn’t quite work out as intended.
She says: “Sometimes, when you take over a class it can be quite tricky. One particular instance was with a year 10 class who were not answering my questions about the previous learning.
“The class was quite flat that day, so I decided to lay on the floor and told them I was going to sleep.
“Instantly, one of the class said: ‘Miss, are you OK? The answer is …,’ and then proceeded to come out with the perfect answer to one of my questions.
“The thing I have learned is to laugh at myself when things don’t go to plan and to encourage resilience.
“After all, we are key role models for all those sitting in front of us.”
In teaching every day is different, and so is every teacher. Discover 100 teachers across the country, shaping lives. And if you’d like to know how you can bring your individual passions to a job in teaching, head to Get Into Teaching to find out more.
