‘You’ve made your bed so lie in it’: Art student gets even with teacher after being picked on for 6 months, her entire class gets rearranged

Author image for Sienna Varady
Sienna Varady
Feb 6, 2024 10:00 AM EST

There will always be those who believe we are gifted and capable of achieving success in life, and there will always be others who think we will never amount to anything worthwhile. The secret to success is to never give up and to never allow someone to bring you down.

The story that follows is from a frustrated student. OP has been studying to teach art. As part of his training, he must work as an assistant to a senior faculty art teacher for six months. Although OP was ecstatic to have the opportunity, the instructor with whom he was matched could not have been more sour. For six months, the teacher—whom we will name Karen for the purposes of this argument—made OP's life as miserable as possible. When OP's time came to say farewell and wish him luck in his future endeavors, Karen was not even able to provide him with the last respect of saying goodbye. As a result, OP decided to reorganize her classroom so that Karen would never again be able to locate the art supplies and teach her a lesson.

So, in light of this, be sure to read the story below if you're interested in learning the specifics of what transpired between Karen and OP! And when you're through, remember to check out this story about the man who gives his roommate a taste of her own medicine!

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  • 01
    "Revenge is a dish best served cold..."
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  • 02
    Student Teacher Revenge
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  • 03
    Kind of a long one, but the payoff is deece. A little over 10 years ago, I (35M) was completing my final year of college. I was an art education major and the last task was a semester of student teaching. I was placed with a cooperating teacher in an elementary school that covered prek-5th grade.
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  • 04
    For context, I have multiple family members who were art teachers and I pretty much grew up in and around the classroom. They took a lot of pride in teaching actual techniques and processes rather than the classes becoming just an activity placeholder in the middle of the day, so that's what I was used to doing/seeing.
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  • 05
    When I arrived at my placement my cooperating teacher (60+F) was already annoyed by the fact that I was a male. She would make comments about how she "expected a female” or she's "only ever had female students who were always great." Whatever.
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  • 06
    For the first week or so I was to sit in and just observe the classes. I was suppsed to pay attention to how she presented her lessons, the content of the lessons, and how she would interact with individual students and grade levels. I realized one thing immediately: this person was horrible at art.
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  • 07
    That's not even the biggest problem because as an elementary school teacher you definitely don't have to be Caravaggio. She just never even used a pencil. She didn't paint because it was too messy. Every "project" felt like busy work. The kids were bored out of their minds. To make it even better, every one of
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  • 08
    her presentations to introduce this project was like she was putting on a puppet show at a birthday party. Again, I won't knock what works to keep kids attention/behaved but it clearly didn't connect well with a lot of them and just wasn't my vibe.
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  • 09
    When it came time for me to start giving my own projects, I did them how I'd always known how. I'm pretty laid back and I present a project based on an artist/technique, hold group discussions with examples and what students see/feel from them, and then work with them
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  • 10
    individually on the techniques during the class. I didn't do the song and dance and I mostly just talked to the kids like I would talk to anyone. They were super receptive and I felt great about it. Then I got absolutely shredded during our free period.
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    She told me everything I was doing was wrong, that I need to be more bubbly and exciting, and that all of this was too hard for the students to handle. I asked how that was possible since almost all of them fell right into it with no problem. She just kept repeating herself and
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  • 12
    telling me I need to do things exactly like she does. This was going to be a long couple of months. This continued the entire time I was there to the point where she tried to contact my advisor and have me removed. It was truly insane and
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    the sad part was, the kids were making some really, really interesting stuff and seemed to be enjoying it. I had even gotten a few of the more rowdy kids to get into the work and produce something they were proud of.
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  • 14
    The end of this placement couldn't have come sooner. All of my classmates were super bummed to be leaving their students and co-op teacher and I honestly was questioning my degree altogether. I figured "just two more weeks and I'm out."
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    She would also have me input all of her computer work so I could "know what that's like," while she would use her prep period to leave school and do whatever. One day she left her calendar open and I saw that she had taken 2 personal days on my last two days of my
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  • 16
    placement. I couldn't believe how incredibly childish that was. At least I wouldn't have to do an awkward goodbye. She didn't say a word about it the entire time. Right up until those days she'd leave and say "see you tomorrow." Then I got an email that
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  • 17
    she was "sick" and unfortunately would miss sending me off. Good riddance. I thoroughly enjoyed those last two days more than any in the last few months. The kids were awesome and each class threw a mini party to send me off. The other teachers in the school were super cool about
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  • 18
    all of it and a few of them even expressed apologies for how tough it had been. But the best part about it was that I finally had my lunch and prep period to myself. I could listen to some music, eat in peace, and just appreciate some silence. And then it hit me. She had been in this same room for 20+ years...
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  • 19
    Every single supply had it's specific place. She knew where everything was like the back of her hand. It was all labeled but she wouldn't even look up if I asked where the pencil sharpeners were, she would just point and say which drawer.
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  • 20
    I proceeded to use every free period that I had left to completely rearrange her room. Colored paper? That's on the marker shelf. Stick glue? That's where the scissors were. Everything. Right up until the minute I left, I was still moving stuff around. The only thing I wish I
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  • 21
    could have done was see her reaction, but I'm pretty sure I could imagine. That Monday my advisor called me telling me that my co-op called first thing in the morning in an absolute rage. She demanded that I was failed and not allowed to move on and get my certification. I had to
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  • 22
    hold back tears of laughter while my advisor listed off her complaints and she asked me if I had indeed rearranged her entire room. She was aware of how unhinged this whole situation was and I simply told her that all I did was clean up. She had been out sick for the last two days and I probably had put a
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  • 23
    few things away in the wrong spot because she wasn't there to tell me where they go. She agreed that this whole situation was completely outrageous and told me to just forget about it and move on. The work spoke for itself and she ended up giving me an A-. To this day, I'm
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  • 24
    still happy that I could return some of the stress she put on me. Tl;dr i was a student art teacher and my cooperating teacher treated me like dogs t so I rearranged her room of 20+ years so she had no clue where anything was.
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  • 25
    newsy0011 18 hr. ago What you did when you left was a masterpiece.
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  • 26
    BewareofStobor · 16 hr. ago A true work of art.
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  • 27
    OomaTwoBlades 18 hr. ago As a retired old lady art teacher, this story is hilarious! I would have loved to have a student teacher come in and perk up the kids and have fun with them, and I would have done my best to help someone new start
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  • 28
    off on the right foot. I worked with a lot of art teachers in the district who are like this woman and I always wondered why people who clearly dislike children are teachers? Especially as an art teacher because all the kids love that class, I
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  • 29
    mean, it's fun and there's no homework! Ha! The best part of teaching is hanging with the kids and I learned as much from them as I like to think they learned from me.
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  • 30
    I hope you're still teaching and inspiring kids, I did it for 28 years in middle school. Although I did retire almost 2 school years ago and the burnout was real. Make sure you take time for yourself!
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  • 31
    definitelytheA 14 hr. ago I had a couple of friends who liked to pull unexpected pranks. Pretty tame stuff, like we'd go to leave their house, and my car was stuffed with balloons. They came to visit one weekend, and I was on pins and needles, just
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  • 32
    waiting. I kept checking my car in the garage. Nothing. I was kind of disappointed! I'd been recently widowed, and I thought maybe they were being kind (I needed a belly laugh!). I took a shower in the
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  • 33
    morning, right before they left, thinking 'this is where they get me.' Nothing. Until they were gone, and I went to a kitchen cabinet to get something, and they'd (with the help of my own children) rearranged every single
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    thing in my kitchen! I had to wait for them to get home to call and let them know I'd found their 'gift.' It was awesome!
    via u/definitelytheA

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oddly specific feud art petty-revenge-reddit students malicious compliance comedy central reddit story petty revenge teacher petty Reddit Terrible Teacher dramatic oddly satisfying
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