Being a teacher is not easy. Middle school pupils are very difficult to teach. Teaching middle school adolescents who have spent many of their formative years dealing with a worldwide epidemic in an era of cellphones, social media, and a youth mental health crisis is nothing short of heroic.

If you haven’t been in a middle school classroom in a while, you may not realize how intense it is on many levels, from the discomfort to the body odor to the amazing laughter that tweens bring to the table. Connecting with students may be beneficial, but failing to do so might seem like reading “Lord of the Flies.”

Skilled instructors bring out the best in young people, and this may be done in a variety of ways. In reality, this new generation of students demands unconventional thinking and new concepts to keep them interested in the learning process.

Amy Allen does this by making her middle school classroom a lively, inviting learning environment and interacting with her kids. Allen prioritizes having fun and making others feel welcome.

“I love teaching middle schoolers because they are awkward, and I’m awkward, so we get along,” Allen recently told Upworthy.

@_queenoftheclassroom If this looks like fun to you, pick up my grudgeball template (🔗 in bio) #qotc #grudgeball #10outof10recommend @Amy Allen ☀️ @Amy Allen ☀️ @Amy Allen ☀️ ♬ original sound – Ms. Allen ☀️

She plays games with pupils, gets boisterous with them, and provides opportunities for them to release some of their strong pre- and early-teen energy in safe ways. For example, she provided a video of a game of “grudgeball,” an active trivia game that makes prepping for a quiz or test interesting and competitive, demonstrating how high-energy her classroom is:

“I think for teachers, we always want to create moments for our students that are beyond the standard reading, writing, memorizing, quiz, and ‘traditional learning,'” Allen tells me. “Games are a great way to incorporate fun in the classroom.”

Allen obviously loved the game as much as her students—”I love the chaos!” she exclaims—and there’s nothing wrong with it. Fun also keeps instructors sane.

Allen’s TikTok profile has 15,000 followers, and she provides a lot of classroom and teacher stuff there. The majority of them appreciate her as a passionate instructor.

Most of them.

One individual recently commented on Allen’s goofy and loud classroom demeanor, saying, “You’re a teacher; act like it.” (Not my typo—that’s precisely what the individual typed, but without a period.)

Allen, who has never shied away from public criticism on social media, responded to the insult in another video in the most ideal way possible: by acting precisely like a teacher.

Watch as she slams the anonymous commenter’s bad spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

@_queenoftheclassroom Replying to @كل الكلبات تريد مني Come see me if you have any further questions. #qotc #iteachmiddleschool #weDEFINITELYdonthavefuninhere @Amy Allen ☀️ @Amy Allen ☀️ @Amy Allen ☀️ #Inverted ♬ original sound – Ms. Allen ☀️

There are two reliable methods to deal with a disrespectful statement without making matters worse: ignore it or respond in a way that makes the offender appear foolish without being mean or unpleasant. Allen’s grammar lesson response was flawless, right down to the “Come see me if you have any further questions” caption.

Teacher mode is active.

In fact, when the reply video went viral, the individual appears to have gone back and erased their comment, making it even more humorous. Allen’s video has received over 4 million views on TikTok and over 18 million on YouTube.

“What’s funny is I left my correction on the board accidentally, and the next day, students asked me what that was all about,” Allen recalls. “When I told them about it, they thought it was cool because ‘why would someone go after Ms. Allen?’ At that moment, the video had received around 10,000 views. “I never expected the video to go viral.”

Two days later, as the video approached one million views, she increased the stakes. “Some of my students are my ultimate hype people, and they were tracking it harder than I was,” she admits.

“I made a ‘promise’ with my fifth-period students that if it hit 1 million during class, they could sit anywhere they chose for the rest of the week.

“During lunch, I checked, and it had hit one million. So when they returned from recess, I declared it like I was a superstar. They yelled and cheered for me. “It was an incredible moment for me.”

Allen’s supporters, and many more people beyond that, enjoyed her response:

“You are an incredible instructor. (Did I do it correctly?).

“Well, I appreciate you acting like a teacher… love it…”

“I adore the clap-back! Look at you “acting” like a teacher!”

@_queenoftheclassroom Up Next: We decide to form a band with our first single “Rub some dirt on my boots”. #staytuned #qotc #parentdiscipline #teacherhumor #CapCut ♬ 打字声 – 成都潜在人工智能科技有限公司

The irony, of course, is that Allen was acting like a teacher in her grudgeball video—an engaged instructor with interested kids who are actively involved in the learning process. Just because it does not appear to be serious study does not imply it is not learning, and for some children, this type of activity may be considerably more successful at helping them recall what they have learned (in this example, vocabulary items) than less vigorous methods of reviewing.

Allen knows her pupils well and goes out of her way to meet them where they are. Last year, she organized a “mental health day” for her students. “I could tell they were getting burnt out from all the state tests, regular homework, and personal life extracurricular activities that many of my students participate in,” according to her. “We went to my school library for ‘fireside reading,’ solved a murder mystery, made blanket forts, watched the World Cup, colored, and did sudokus. Is this part of the curriculum? No. Is it worthwhile to spend one class time doing something cognitively stimulating for students? Absolutely.”

Teaching middle school necessitates a variety of abilities, the most essential of which is the ability to connect with kids, both because it is significantly simpler to educate someone who wants to be in your classroom and because good teaching entails far more than simply academics. A teacher may be the most loving, stable, and reliable adult in some pupils’ lives. What appears to be ridiculous fun and games in the classroom may really make kids feel comfortable, welcomed, and appreciated by demonstrating that a teacher cares enough to make studying as joyful as possible. Furthermore, shared laughing in the classroom fosters a community of engaged learners, which is precisely what a classroom should be.