Everyone has had a strange teacher or two, but some really stand out for their bizarre, funny, and downright unusual behaviors. In every school, there’s always that one teacher who defies the norm, from odd outfits to bizarre teaching methods that leave students scratching their heads or laughing behind their backs. While you might be picturing a science teacher who insists on conducting experiments with the most unexpected materials or a math teacher who breaks into spontaneous dance during lectures, there are teachers worldwide with much weirder behaviors who have earned their place in the “weird teacher” hall of fame.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the weirdest teachers from around the globe. These are educators whose antics go far beyond the ordinary. From the teacher who eats beans out of a can with a ruler to the teacher who uses a cardboard cutout of Danny Devito as a legitimate substitute, these educators have turned their classrooms into real-life comedy shows. Prepare for a good laugh or an intense head shake as we uncover the funniest, most unconventional teachers you’ll ever hear about!
And just in case you’re wondering, our research has revealed most conclusively that science teachers are by far the oddest people of all the subject teachers!
Odd Habits and Inappropriate Lessons
According to this Reddit discussion, one math teacher had a particularly strange lunchtime habit that included eating beans straight from the can with a ruler. Yes, a ruler. The weirdest part? Afterward, he’d clean the ruler with a tissue and put it back in the drawer. Meanwhile, a computer science teacher introduced his students to the dark web (something that most students never expected to learn about in school.) And if you think that is bizarre, a physics teacher once shared unsettling stories about living near a bridge known for people “unaliving” themselves, using it as an example in lessons about forces. Sometimes, classroom experiences took even darker turns, like when one physics teacher told a grieving student he was glad her dog had passed away, resulting in the student cursing him out and getting banned from his class!
A Bit Too Personal
Teachers sometimes let their emotions (and strange examples) get the best of them. For instance, one physics teacher used projectile motion to throw a ruler at an annoying student’s face. Meanwhile, another science teacher offered a highly personal (and rather odd) anecdote about her unsuccessful IUD, revealing her daughter, who was in the same grade as her students, was an accident. And, speaking of bizarre teacher behavior, the chemistry teacher would talk about the voices in his head telling him to fetch an axe from the cupboard! Things were just downright hilarious in other classrooms, like when a science teacher had a life-sized Danny DeVito cardboard cutout in his classroom. He would place it on his chair whenever he left, saying, “Danny is always watching.”
Unusual Teaching Methods and Outlandish Lessons: Weirdness in Every Subject
It’s not just the quirky behaviors that make some teachers unforgettable—it’s also the strange teaching methods they employ. In biology class, one teacher instructed the students to use their “gonorrhea voices,” explaining it was the voice you’d use to casually tell someone you have an STD. Another science teacher had a “gravy cabinet.” Shrouded in mystery, this cabinet was where students could claim gravy tubs as rewards for good test scores—sometimes even KFC gravy! Then there was the chemistry teacher who would break into Irish dancing (despite having no Irish background) to quiet her class down. Some teachers took their eccentricity to the extreme, like the art teacher who once licked a table in front of the class or the drama teacher who appeared completely nude in an independent film covered in pomegranate molasses.
Sometimes, the strange behavior crosses boundaries inappropriately, like when an English teacher kicked a student in the shin after a long-running joke about her “silly clog shoes.” The same teacher later transitioned to teaching automotive mechanics at college. As for some other strange lessons, there were computer science and history teachers who veered into highly questionable territory, from teaching how to launder money to sharing bizarre personal stories about their conversion to Christianity after dreaming of a green cow claiming to be Jesus. These teachers sometimes didn’t just stick to textbooks; they used real-world, often outlandish, examples to drive their points home.
Surprising Teacher Secrets: From YouTube Channels to Criminal Records
Some teachers’ secrets are too wild to believe. For instance, a school librarian ran a YouTube channel where she dressed up and acted like a caterpillar. Others led far more secretive lives. One computer science teacher ran a website dedicated to hip-hop cover songs about computer science topics. And then there were the teachers who broke laws—like the science teacher who was arrested for terrorism. One of the most bizarre incidents involved a teacher who threw an iron at a student (admittedly a troublemaker), but it missed, flew through a third-floor window, and landed on another teacher’s car, smashing the windshield.
Teachers sometimes have unique ways of collecting things, as evidenced by the head of the language department, who would steal students’ items. Pencils, pens, erasers, and even scarves mysteriously disappeared, only for a substitute teacher to find the items neatly categorized in a cupboard, each box labeled with the date and student’s name. These strange and funny teacher tales highlight just how unpredictable and often downright hilarious classrooms can be when your teacher is a little bit of a weirdo!