How to Annoy Your Teachers

Last Updated: August 26, 2022

Though annoying your teachers may not be the best academic long-term strategy, sometimes you just feel the urge to do it. There are good ways and bad ways to go about it. You can go the creative route, the irritating route, the repetitive route, or best yet, the informed route. Whatever you do, if you're determined to drive your teachers crazy, you can pull it off — just don't expect to get a perfect report card in the process!

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Choosing What to Do

1
Copy your teacher's behavior. This is the single easiest way to annoy your teacher. Most teachers have some distinctive talking style, may pronounce some words outlandishly, use certain gestures, or make a certain face, and emulating them in front of them in a discreet way may upset them. The best way to go about it is to act really sincere as you imitate your teacher, so it may take them a little while to catch on to what's happening; your classmates, however, will quickly know the score and will start cracking up.
- When your teacher gets angry, just play dumb. Say, "What? What did I do?" and shrug your shoulders. Use body language.
2
Make funny noises. There are so many great noises you can make to disrupt the classroom — you can make a farting noise, you can scuff your shoes on the ground, you can repeatedly click the top of your pen up and down, you can clear your throat every few seconds, or you can drum on your desk. If these sounds make your classmates rock in laughter, then all the better. If you want to be more subtle, quieter, repetitive noises are also sure to annoy your teacher. Here are some other sounds that may annoy:
- Rip a piece of paper an inch at a time. Do this only when your teacher turns toward the board.
- Scratch your nails on your desk.
- Repeatedly make a slurping noise when the teacher is not looking.
- Click your pen or tap your pencil.
- Drop your belongings.
- Repeatedly sniffle without blowing your nose, or cough.
- Scratch your legs loudly.
- Moan in an inappropriate way.
- Hum to yourself.
- Slap your legs. Try to get your friends to do it with you.
- Sharpen your pencil constantly and often.
- Drop your pencil multiple times.
- Rub things around as if getting something.
- Quietly repeat what the teacher is saying as you take notes.
3
Sabotage your teacher's equipment. If your teacher is a bit of a space cadet, then this should work well. If you're watching a movie in class or using the overhead projector, see if you can get a hold of your teacher's remote when they aren't looking — this will work best if you can leave a replacement remote that doesn't work in its place. Then, when your teacher isn't looking, turn the TV off, pause it, or change the settings on the projector. This will definitely annoy your teacher and will ruin her lesson — however, don't expect that this won't get you in trouble!
- You can either use the remote openly, to have your classmates laughing, or sneak it under your desk so no one knows what you're up to and so that no one can tell on you.
4
Sleep in class. This works best if you are either in the back of the class or if you are watching a movie in class; all you need to do is put your head down and close your eyes. Nothing is more annoying or disrespectful than falling asleep while your teacher is talking. If you can't actually fall asleep, you can fake it.^{[1]
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- You can fold your arms across your desk and get a big smile on your face or snore, making sleep look so appealing that other students want to copy you.
- Another annoying thing you can do is to pretend to sleep for a while, and then wake up and ask a bunch of questions that the teacher answered while you were "sleeping."
5
Throw stuff at other students. Another thing you can do to really annoy your teachers is to throw stuff at other students when the teacher isn't looking. You should start small, with objects such as erasers, crumpled paper, pencils, or chalk. You can up the ante a bit and throw a smaller book, an apple, a tennis ball, or even your shoe if you really want to make your teacher mad. You should try to do this when your teacher is turned around and then look all innocent when they turn back to you. Be aware that, depending on what you throw, you could get suspended or charged with assault. Your victim may even retaliate.
- For this trick to be most effective, you should get a partner in crime — a student who will throw something back and forth across the classroom with you. Otherwise, you're going to run out of tools pretty fast.
6
Shoot spit wads. (Empty a pen's inside and suck on bits of paper, stick them in the "barrel" and blow.)
7
Doodle. If you want to drive your teacher crazy, start drawing something while they're talking. Make it pretty obvious that you're doodling — this can work great if you're in the front of the class and they see what you're up to. It'll be even better if they can see that you're doodling but you try to act really interested in what they're saying and pretend to take notes, while you're actually just drawing.^{[2]
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- If you really want to be extra annoying, you can even bring in a set of highlighters or colored pencils and go all out. Create a masterpiece in thirty minutes.
- You can also show off your drawing to other students in the class, to show your teacher that you really don't care about what's going on.
8
Pass notes. Another way that you will annoy your teacher is if you pass notes. You can pass notes to your friends, or just to anyone in the class. Make it clear that you're writing a note by writing it on a notebook on your lap, and then fold the note into a square or a football and throw it to a classmate. If you're reading a note, hold it out in front of your face and laugh, making it really obvious that something other than the class curriculum is cracking you up.^{[3]
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- It can be extra annoying if you have a sly smirk on your face while the teacher is talking to let them know that you're writing something funny to your friend.
9
Show up late. Teachers hate when students habitually show up late. Lay your head on your desk for most of the day. Seem enthusiastic about lunch time. Roll into your teacher's class a few minutes late with a shrug and a smug smile on your face; if you apologize, that will annoy your teacher a bit less, unless your apology sounds really insincere. You should not only show up late but look visibly frazzled, dropping your books, running, or taking forever to rummage through your bag to find the right supplies. Alternatively, show up 10 minutes late, and act all nonchalant, like this is totally normal. Show up with a coffee in your hand, to show that you took a detour that made you late.
10
Distract the other students. Another way to annoy your teacher is to try to keep as many of the students off task as you can. Ask the other students lots of questions, crack jokes, laugh loudly for no reason, and talk about personal stuff during group work. Distracting other students can disrupt the entire classroom and undoubtedly annoy your teacher.^{[4]
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- The important and tricky thing you have to do is to make sure the other students like and respect you, or at least find your nonsense funny, so they go along with what you're doing. If they just think you're obnoxious and roll their eyes any time you talk, then you won't be able to distract them.
11
Play on your phone. Take out your phone and text people, play Angry Birds, or just look at it every once in a while and smile. You can even look things up on Wikipedia to try to prove your teacher wrong. Your teacher may take your phone away after a little while, but it'll really annoy her while the game lasts. You can also set your alarm to go off during class, making sure that the alarm is as annoying and distracting as possible.^{[5]
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- You can annoy your teacher by pretending to be sneaky about using your phone under your desk. Teachers are on to this, and they'll be extra annoyed that you're trying to hide your phone.
12
Disregard your teacher's rules. Every teacher has their own set of rules, and if you want to be annoying, you should ignore as many as you can without getting sent to the principal's office. Even breaking smaller rules can get really annoying. For example, you can get the formatting wrong on your essays or turn in your assignment a day late, acting like you were sure that was the due date. If your teacher has a certain rule about going to the bathroom in the middle of class, try to break it.
- When your teacher tells you you've broken a rule, you should act surprised or say something like, "But that rule makes no sense..." or, "That's not how the other teachers do it."
13
Show up without your notebook or a pencil. Your teacher assumes that you will take notes, write assignments, and use a writing tool during most classes, so showing up empty-handed shows that you really don't care. It'll be extra annoying if you say, "Anyone have a pencil I can borrow?" or, "I don't have any paper!" so you completely disrupt the class while getting the materials you need.
- You can bring the wrong book to class and laugh loudly, saying, "I brought the wrong book again!"
14
Be extra annoying when your teacher is being observed. If your teacher is being observed by the principal or a senior teacher, you should try your hardest to be as annoying as you can possibly be. This can mean talking out of turn, showing up really late, or just generally making it look like the classroom is completely chaotic. The more you can make your teacher look bad, the better.
15
Fight every wrong answer on a test. When you get your exams back, you should complain loudly and contest every single question you got wrong, even if you know that there's no use fighting it. If the answers are multiple choice or very black-and-white, such as the answers on a math test, you should be really insistent, telling your teacher that they're wrong.
- You can try to waste your teacher's time after class, asking them to go through every question on the test with you.
16
Finish your tests absurdly early. If you are given a long exam, after 10-15 minutes or so, just slam your paper down on your desk or turn it in and say, "Done!". Additionally, you can even say, "That was easy!" to be extra annoying. This will make the other students nervous about what was taking them so long and will cause confusion and nervousness. Of course, just be prepared to have your grade suffer — in more ways than one — as a result.
17
Roll your eyes at the teacher. Teachers get very mad when you pretend you don't care.
18
Understand the temper line. You may have to annoy your teacher for 20 minutes or 1. Also annoy them enough so they get bothered, but not enough to put you in detention. You don't want to get there!

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Knowing What to Say

1
Talk while your teacher is talking. Nothing can drive a teacher crazy faster than talking while they are trying to give a lesson or to explain something. You can whisper to your friends, or even talk openly to your friends. Act like you really don't care that your teacher is trying to give a lesson, or like you don't even notice that your teacher is up there, working hard. It can be even more annoying if you ask one of your classmates a question that your teacher should be the one to answer. This will definitely annoy your teacher, but you won't be able to get away with it for long! It doesn't even matter what you say, it can be anything.
- This can be particularly effective when you see that your teacher is low on time and that you'll be able to prevent them from finishing their lesson.
2
Be a know-it-all. If you really want to bug your teacher, then you should act like an expert on every topic they bring up – with little or no evidence to back it up. Whenever your teacher is trying to explain something, look really skeptical, like you know they've got it all wrong, even if they're talking about something really basic and obvious. Scrunch up your face as you stare at them until they feel compelled to ask if you have a question. Putting your teacher in constant doubt like this may make them lose their train of thought and bother them.
- After your teacher says almost anything, you should say something like, "Can you explain that?".
- If your teacher actually indulges you and tries to explain their point further, you can say something like "I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."
3
Tell your teacher that other people know the material better than they do. If being a know-it-all isn't annoying enough, you can also waste your teachers time by saying, "I talked to my dad, and he says something completely different...". You can also tell them that your old teacher, or even your teacher in another subject, does things differently. These things imply that other people know the teacher's stuff to a greater extent than they do. This can be extra annoying if you have a younger teacher who is trying to prove themselves.^{[6]
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- You can reference TV shows or books to say that other scientists or educators know more about the subject than your teacher does. Say something like, "I saw this show on Discovery Channel that says...".
4
Ask incessant questions. Usually asking questions isn't a problem, but it will be frustrating if you can't understand a math equation and ask your teacher to explain it to you for the tenth time. This also works with irrelevant questions such as "What color was George Washington's hair?" Try to act really earnest when you ask these questions, so your teacher can't tell if you're just joking around or not; if your teacher thinks you're serious, they will try harder to answer your questions.
- It may get annoying if you keep asking the teacher questions that they've answered a million times. If they say as much, you can say, "Oh, really? You covered that? I must not have been paying attention..."
5
Interrupt your teacher as much as you can; doing so is very rude and annoying. When they are talking about something important, raise your hand and keep making random points that have nothing to do with what they are talking about, or ask questions that only make everything more confusing. Furthermore, it can be even more annoying if you raise your hand and your teacher keeps telling you to wait, to show that you are trying to interrupt them "politely".^{[7]
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- Talking out of turn, especially if you're just going to crack a joke or distract the class, is annoying under any circumstances.
6
Ramble on when you're supposed to answer a simple question. If your teacher asks a really basic question, like what the capital of Florida is or what 10 times 15 is, then you should raise your hand and talk at length about your family's trip to Florida or about how you think the number 10 is the most perfect number on Earth. When your teacher looks frustrated and confused, talk even more slowly so you really end up taking up way too much time.
- Act completely oblivious, like you don't think you've done anything wrong.
7
Read way ahead and ask about the material. You can annoy your teacher by reading ahead in the textbook and then asking about all the stuff you've read about a week too early. Your teacher will say, "We haven't gotten to that yet," or, "I'll explain later," but you should be really insistent, until you end up confusing all of your classmates.
- This can work especially well in an English class if you read ahead and announce the ending of a book way before the other students know what happened.
8
Call out to people in the hallways. If your friend, or even a random person, is walking by your class after the bell rings, say something like, "What's up?" or, "I'll text you in a minute!" to show that your mind isn't really on the task at hand. This will annoy your teacher, as it'll show a blatant disregard for their rules.
9
Talk really slowly. Raise your hand and answer a question, but mumble a lot, say "uh" and "um," and act like you forgot what you were going to say; generally, take forever to get to the answer. Talking as slowly as possible, without making it look like you're doing it on purpose, may annoy your teacher.
- If you're called on to read, you can try to read very slowly and stumble over words.

Community Q&A

Question

Will I be labeled a troublemaker if I do this?

Community Answer

Probably, but if you only do these things every once in a while it shouldn't be a big deal.
Question

Can I annoy a teacher by playing sound effects?

Community Answer

Yes, it is possible to annoy a teacher by using a soundboard from an app on full volume.
Question

How do I do the air horn prank to annoy a teacher?

Community Answer

Get a app on your phone that has an air horn sound effect on it, or actually get an air horn if you can (though it would be pretty hard to hide that).

Warnings

Never make anyone in the class your scapegoat (the person who gets blamed). If things get really out of hand, stand up and admit it.

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If you get caught, do as your teacher says. Don't try to act rough or arrogant.

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Make sure other students in the class are loyal and won't spill your name even if the whole class gets into trouble.

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Don't take it too far as you might face more serious consequences. Even if you don't take it too far, annoying your teacher will probably land you in trouble.

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If your teacher gets mad, sincerely apologize for your behavior.

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Some students take their education seriously; you could end up alienating the very students you're trying to impress.

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