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This post is a spin off from the #whoiamwhatido series of blogs started by @EddieKayshun. I have read almost every one of these and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Writing them for many of us has proved cathartic and has helped us to reflect on our earlier lives. This is always a useful activity.

While reading them I spotted something of a recurring theme and tweeted the suggestion last weekend that a number of our now well respected teachers were less than ideal students. This post is a combination of the tweets and some of the blogs purely for your entertainment as it is the holidays.

First up is @LearningSpy who admitted to not trying rather than possibly feeling stupid in Maths. ‘My behaviour was not good, and I truanted for the greater part of my third year at secondary school and I would (I kid you not) spend my days in Birmingham Central Library, reading.’ Tut tut David. Although reading in the library does somewhat lessen the crime.

@imagineinquiry had something of a testing time at senior school. He admits he was no stranger to the cane or strap while at seniors and hated school as a consequence of this teacher violence. Tim has told me that his Primary school, ‘Lakesend’ was idyllic. While there he learnt to love learning, senior school taught him to hate schooling. That’s rather a sad fact. After leaving school he then spent 3 years unemployed. Later he spent a night in a Russian prison cell for visa violation. Tim had such a varied younger life he even lived in a squat on Argyle Street in Norwich for a time. I’m shocked Tim! Truly shocked. I think you may have had the last laugh though as you are now a very successful writer and teacher.

@ASTsupportAAli tells me he was suspended twice and excluded once for rude and defiant behaviour. Amjad is now an Assistant Head Teacher and runs the magnificent “twitter coaching”.

@FarrowMR started young with his misdemeanours. He tells me he ran away from school twice at the tender age of 7. Good grief Richard, that’s a bit naughty!

@geordiecat2012 admitted to being mischievous and then later upgraded this to naughty. I sneaked out of school to watch NUFC train. I hid a toy cat in a room where a teacher was terrified of cats. The teacher was visibly shaken. Shocking behaviour!

@sezl said she was ‘a pain in the arse’! Her words not mine. Having met this lady I find that difficult to believe. She said she never shut up at school.

@MrsSarahSimons admitted to continually being in trouble as a teenager and actually hated school. Sarah is now a well respected FE lecturer and General of #UKFEchat. Think she made up for her troublesome teen years.

@fossa99 climbed out of the window in a Geography lesson. Naughty, naughty!

@JulesDaulby put mascara on pigs’ eyes in Biology. Poor pigs is all I can say! Luckily they didn’t know.

@fiona_peters1 even got on her own nerves. She sneaked in to the teachers’ toilets and swapped their lovely soft rolls for the shiny nasty stuff kids have to use. I love this. I wish I’d thought of that!

@simonknight100 admitted to being lazy. Who’d have thought it? He still did well though.

@jordyjax is a girl after my own heart it seems. She skipped science, sneaked out at lunchtime and caught the bus in to town. She was caught and dealt with. Even at 6th form she spent her time skiving in the local coffee bar with a group of hippies. This girl is now a Deputy in a PRU. I think she’s come good now.

@clyn was a good girl at school it seems but then made up for it during her college years by being something of a rebel. She sometimes skipped lessons in favour of the pub. She tells me that she spent an odd lesson still drunk from the night before. I’m shocked! Carolyn is now a well respected FE lecturer.

@Gwenelope does not quite possess her halo either. Twitter’s darling skived rather a lot of Geography lessons in 6th form. As if that in itself isn’t bad enough, on one A Level trip to London for lectures on Jane Austen she yawned her way through two lectures, disappeared at lunch time to Oxford Street and got lost thereby missing the whole afternoon’s lectures totally. A punishment was forthcoming and the subsidised part of the trip had to be repaid. Naughty Gwen!

I can’t end without mentioning myself. I think I would have expelled me if I’d been unfortunate enough to come across the teenage Cherryl. In fact there was a move to do so. I had so many detentions I was to be expelled, but then I spotted a flaw in this plan and stole the detention book. I truanted throughout most of my 5th year in school and could be found in ‘The Blue Room’, one of Blackpool’s pubs. I totally wasted my time in school to my now great shame.

I’m not suggesting for a minute that naughty teenagers make good teachers but I do think it possibly gives us a little empathy towards our students. If you’ve enjoyed reading some of these misdemeanours I urge you to take some time out and read the series of #whoiamwhatido blogs started by @EddieKayshun. You won’t regret it 😄