I Also Had a Student Hold a Toy Gun to my Face

toy

This story is vaguely similar to something that happened to me in my first year of teaching. Whilst I was teaching a maths class, a student from another class barged into my classroom and aimed an uncannily genuine looking toy gun at my face from the close range. He then joined in the hilarity that ensued when I covered my face with my hands, obviously petrified by the ordeal.

The student later got a measly one day in-school suspension for the prank.

I sympathise with the teacher who had a similar experience:

A VICTORIAN teacher who had a toy gun pulled on her by a pupil in a misguided prank is claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from the Education Department and the former student.

Suzanne May Tyson, 54, claims she may never work again due to stress after believing the $2 plastic gun pointed at her by then 16-year-old Mooroopna Secondary College student Adam Tyler Dorsett was real.

On March 4, 2009, Ms Tyson was teaching in the library when Mr Dorsett held a replica gun to her head in close proximity and pulled the trigger, a writ filed in the Supreme Court earlier this month states.

The court document alleges Mr Dorsett fled, but then returned to the library and verbally threatened the terrified teacher.

Ms Tyson allegedly suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression as a result of the incident, and has been unable to return to work.

The writ states she was rendered incapable of any employment, perhaps indefinitely.
There will be some who disapprove of Ms. Tyson’s lawsuit. Some will accuse her of gold digging and question if her conditions could possibly have occurred from such a mild incident. Whilst I have neither suffered post traumatic stress nor depression from my similar experience, I wouldn’t recommend it to my worst enemy.

Click on the link to read Who is Going to Stand Up For Bullied Teachers?

Click on the link to read 12 Tips for Managing Time in the Classroom

Click on the link to read If Teachers Were Paid More I Wouldn’t Have Become One

Click on the link to read Different Professions, Same Experiences

Click on the link to read Our Pay Isn’t the Problem

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One Response to “I Also Had a Student Hold a Toy Gun to my Face”

  1. James Says:

    Hi, I was in that class at the time, and it was a see-through plastic light up gun given to students by the drama teacher the class before. He didn’t threaten her with it, it was just playing with it in class. It lit up and made sounds, such as pachelbel’s canon.

    Miss Tyson was widely considered by students and teachers to be a nutbag and nobody was surprised when she left after screaming in a library about a plastic see through gun.

    I hope she won her lawsuit because she should never be near students again. She used to scream at people for dropping a pencil on the floor and no teachers wanted to work with her.

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