Michigan Teacher Gives Fifth Graders Non-Alcoholic Beer: 8 Other Lessons Plans Gone Horribly Wrong

Shaping young minds is a tough job. But it's probably not the best idea to share a beer with your students, even if it is non-alcoholic. One Michigan teacher had a lapse in judgment when she decided it was okay to serve non-alcoholic beer to her fifth-graders as part of a history lesson on colonial times.

A student at Hyatt Elementary School brought in some O'Doul's to represent ale common in the 1700s and illustrate what people drank due to lack of clean water. While O'Doul's is advertised as a non-alcoholic beer, the beverage still contains a trace amount of alcohol. The teacher allowed kids to have a taste, though no one was forced to try the drink.

School officials sent a letter home with students explaining the situation, in which the superintendent said the teacher thought the O'Doul's was "OK to use." Three fifth-graders also took a bottle home, which must have confused parents.

While school officials said no one complained, the teacher's decision was leaked to the press and is causing a bit of a stir. But her lapse in judgment doesn't even compare to some other examples of major teacher fails.

Check out the 8 craziest examples of lesson plans gone horribly wrong.

8. Sex Acts Accidentally Displayed On Students' iPads

Students in Little Rock, Arkansas got an unforgettable and uncomfortable surprise on their classroom iPads when their teacher accidentally showcased an image of her performing "sex acts."

The teacher was trying to display classwork on their devices using her personal iCloud account when her racy picture popped up instead. The school maintains it was just an image, but some students claim they saw video.

The teacher personally called parents to explain, and the school sent out a letter with a formal apology. The data from the kids' iPads were reportedly wiped, but we're sure it's still stuck in their memories.

7. Student Traumatized After Teacher Plays Clip from Psycho

Schoolchildren as young as nine came home never wanting to use the bathroom again after their teacher played a clip from the iconic shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's horror film, Psycho.

Students at Eastfield Primary School in East Yorkshire listened to a clip from the movie as part of a lesson on how to "establish mood created by music." One parent said her son became too scared to take a shower and wouldn't go to the bathroom without a plastic sword to protect him. (Suppressing inappropriate laughter.)

The school ended up apologizing to the parent and said they would carefully review music selections for future classes.

6. Physics Teacher Accidentally Shoots Student

Richard West, a popular physics teacher at St. Peter's Collegiate School in England, accidentally shot a student with a pellet gun during a science experiment.

The 17-year-old suffered a minor scratch and even defended the teacher after he was fired following the accident. He said West meant to shoot through paper into cardboard boxes across the room in order to demonstrate the speed of the bullet and deceleration. He's not sure how it happened, explaining the bullet must've richocheted off a table.

Students created a Facebook page called "Bring Back Westy" in order to have him reinstated. After an appeal, the teacher will be returning to the school, hopefully leaving his trigger-happiness behind.

Simon Howes on YouTube

5. School Spirit Dance-Off Ends in Teacher Lap Dance

Two teachers at Churchill High School in Winnipeg, Canada were just trying to show a little school spirit during a rally when things got a little out of hand. During a dance-off, the male and female educators started off with some harmless swaying ... before turning their performance into a full-on lap dance.

The teachers were sent home without pay. Luckily, it was all caught on tape.

Grosscrime on YouTube

4. Kids Forced to Wear Star of David in Holocaust Lesson

Eight-graders with last names beginning with the letters L through Z were made to wear yellow stars of David on their clothes in a school experiment meant to mimic the Holocaust experience. It's important to understand history, but making kids relive Nazi policies might not be the most sensitive approach.

Parents say children at Apopka Memorial Middle School in Florida were told to stand in the back of the classroom and were not allowed to sit down. One student was even reportedly forced to go to the back of the lunch line four times by a school official.

The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida said they applauded the school's efforts to educate students but clarified that they "do not encourage nor train teachers to engage in simulation exercises."

3. Teacher Binds Two Girls While Discussing Slavery

Slavery? Awful. Tying up two little girls to illustrate a lesson on slavery? Also awful.

A white teacher at a New York Middle School tried to make history class more engaging by having students participate. Her idea of participation was unconventional to say the least — she taped the hands and feet of two black students and had them crawl under a desk to mimic the experience of slavery. One of the students volunteered, while the other took part in the activity against her will.

The teacher apologized after a student's mother and a local chapter of the NAACP got involved.

2. Teacher Kills Pet Bunnies in Front Of Children

Nothing says childhood trauma like the murder of a helpless animal, especially if they're cute, cuddly BUNNIES.

A science teacher at Plant City High School in Florida apparently killed a pair of day-old rabbits in front of her class. She reportedly ended the animals' lives with a shovel, and then asked the group of students to help her bury them.

Like you do.

The bunnies were sick and had been rejected by their mother, and a school spokesperson said, "we believe that she was trying to explain to them that, sometimes in the course of farming, it is necessary to put animals down."

She was fined for animal cruelty.

1. Students Tasked With Planning a Terrorist Attack

An Australian teacher gave an unusual assignment to her students when she asked them to plan a terrorist attack that would kill as many innocent people as possible. Literally. The prompt read: "Your goal is to kill the most innocent civilians in order to get your message across." Twisted doesn't even begin to cover it.

The task from the class on contemporary conflict and terrorism asked the high school students to pretend they were terrorists making a political statement by planning a chemical or biological attack on "an unsuspecting Australian community." They were also supposed to explain how they chose their victims.

The school's principal cancelled the assignment and said the teacher was young and inexperienced.