Life
Teacher goes against usual protocol when student is teased
When a third-grader was bullied by her classmates this teacher had a brilliant solution that took the entire class by surprise.
Irene Markianou
01.15.20

Bullying is common at school, especially among teenagers. They tend to pick on each other and they can at times be really harsh with their peers, who can be seriously affected by this kind of behavior and lose self-confidence, suffer depression and even have suicidal thoughts.

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Teachers, as well as parents, often are unable to spot such behaviors or leave the kids to “figure things out among themselves” so they gain life skills. Not all teachers, though. Some take such things very seriously and have made it their mission to eliminate bullying from their schools by doing whatever it takes.

One of these teachers is Kinsie Johns, a third-grade teacher at Arnette Winn Elementary School in Lithia Springs, Georgia. One of her students went up to her one day and said her classmates had been picking on her about her hairdo. The little girl went to school on Tuesday sporting a funky “space bun” hairdo, and by Wednesday she was called “space girl” by her peers.

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Johns decided she had to do something about it, so after discussing things with the little girl, she showed up the next morning wearing her hair exactly like her student. The class was left speechless and had no idea why their teacher looked different from her usual self. And, when they asked her why she had done it, Johns explained to them that she wanted to show them that “it’s okay to be different”.

As for the bullied girl, she couldn’t contain herself and hide how happy she was at her sight.

“She was beaming when she saw me and the students noticed that our hair looked the same,” Johns said.

Kinsie Johns also took a picture of herself and her student and uploaded it on her social media so that everyone got the message that it’s fine to not be the same as everyone else. She even accompanied the picture with a short text describing the situation, closing it with Dr. Seuss’ famous quote: “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”

John’s post soon went viral and her act was praised by dozens of Facebook users who were touched by her inspiring act.

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You’re one of a kind, and KIND. We are blessed to know you and these children are blessed to have you.” a user wrote, while another one commented “What an awesome teacher you are!!! So sweet of you! That’s what we do when we love our students so much!”

But that was not all. It wasn’t only the internet that was moved by her act. Most importantly, children at her school stood up for the little girl and the next day the whole class was wearing their hair in “space buns” fashion- even some of the boys were involved, too!

This inspiring act is to show us that we shouldn’t turn a blind eye when people around us face bullying. Instead, we should try and educate people, teaching them that being different is the reason why we are unique and special, everyone in their own way.

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