It can be daunting to teach young teenagers. They are experiencing puberty and forming their identities, which often results in mood swings, jokes, and drama.
In May, Molly Dugan, 26, from Kansas, took to social media with a video that showed what teachers who educate these kids endure regularly. The footage contained some statements that her 8th-grade students had made to her. It left viewers in stitches and has since garnered over 11 million views.
Dugan is one of those teachers who genuinely loves to teach and goes all the way in caring for her students. For her, the most important task is building relationships with the kids, which makes them confident enough with her to express themselves.
Dugan says she is not afraid to be herself with her students. Although this can sometimes cause embarrassment, Dugan’s reaction to those situations has shown her students that it is okay to laugh at their mistakes.
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Displaying her vulnerability helps her students feel safer to be themselves. Of course, the kids might respond by poking fun at her sometimes, but Dugan says she is proud to have taught them.
She teaches English-language arts at the 7th and 8th grade levels and will begin teaching high school students next year. It is her fifth year as a teacher. She fell in love with the profession after choosing it as a major and developing a fondness for secondary English education.
In the video Dugan shared, the first insult saw one student asking if she was in therapy because she gave those vibes. She delivered the content with a serious teacher tone while appearing to grade books.
The next comment she read saw a student liken her to their “grandpa’s couch.” She said the comment perfectly represents middle-school children’s thinking and admitted it was pretty accurate.
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Another funny comment she read revealed how fondly her students thought of her. It said, “Now that the ops are gone, we can yap.” Today, OPs mean rivals and presumably refer to other teachers.
Once, a pupil, feeling great about getting a question right, yelled that he felt it in his “nuggets.” One particularly mischievous student’s comment targeted Dugan’s fashion sense, claiming her pants looked like trash bags sewn together.
An amusing comment involved a student who complained about the feedback they received on their work. “I don’t get why you write so much on my rough draft. I’m not reading all that, bro. For real, for real.”
Despite the many nasty one-liners and funny statements they made about Dugan, she loves her work and is proud of the positivity she brings into the lives of her students.
The final comment she shared was about a student who wanted to know how she felt about being the only unmarried teacher in their school. Dugan never takes offense, as she recalls how her cross into adolescence was for her.
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In the footage, she revealed that those were emotional, confusing, and transformative years for teenagers. This is reportedly why she chose to become a teacher for middle and high school students. Dugan hopes she can continue to be a positive role model for her students as they navigate the choppy waters of growing up.
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