GraphQL connections Not Authorized to access in Mutation

I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly with the connections in AppSync GraphQL.

This is what my graphql models look like:

type User @model @auth(rules: [{ allow: owner, ownerField: "username" }]) {
  id: ID!
  username: String!
  email: String!
  userType: UserType
}

enum UserType {
  TEACHER
  CREATOR
}

type Teacher @model {
  id: ID!
  userId: ID
  name: String!
  activations: [Activation]
    @connection(keyName: "activationsByTeacherId", fields: ["id"])
  creators: [TeacherCreatorPartnership]
    @connection(name: "TeacherCreatorPartnership")
}

type Creator @model {
  id: ID!
  userId: ID
  name: String!
  email: String!
  username: String
  teachers: [TeacherCreatorPartnership] @connection(name: "CreatorTeacherPartnership")
  posts: [Post] @connection(name: "CreatorPosts")
  activations: [CreatorActivations] @connection(name: "CreatorActivations")
}

type TeacherCreatorPartnership @model(queries: null) {
  id: ID!
  teacher: Teacher! @connection(name: "TeacherCreatorPartnership")
  creator: Creator! @connection(name: "CreatorTeacherPartnership")
}

type CreatorActivations @model(queries: null) {
  id: ID!
  creator: Creator! @connection(name: "CreatorActivations")
  activation: Activation! @connection(name: "ActivationCreators")
}

type Activation
  @model
  @key(
    name: "activationsByTeacherId"
    fields: ["teacherId"]
    queryField: "activationsByTeacherId"
  )
  @auth(
    rules: [
      { allow: groups, groups: ["Admin"] }
      {
        allow: owner
        ownerField: "teacherId"
        operations: [create, update, delete]
      }
      { allow: private, operations: [read] }
      { allow: public, operations: [read] }
    ]
  ) {
  id: ID!
  teacherId: ID!
  title: String!
  teacher: Teacher @connection(fields: ["teacherId"])
  creators: [CreatorActivations] @connection(name: "ActivationCreators")
}

The idea is that when user signs in with Amplify, they'll go through an onboarding process and choose whether they're a creator or a teacher.

This works fine, but the problem is if a signed-in user wants to create a new Activation.

I'm not sure if the graphql on the Activation model is set correctly, perhaps the auth key is wrong?

This is how I'm processing create

const createNewActivation = async () => {
  if (!title || !content || !location) return;
  const newId = uuid();
  activation.id = newId;
  const user = await Auth.currentAuthenticatedUser();
  try {
    await API.graphql({
      query: createActivation,
      variables: {
        input: {
          ...activation,
          teacherId: user.attributes.sub,
        },
      },
      authMode: "AMAZON_COGNITO_USER_POOLS",
    });
  } catch (error) {
    console.log("Error: problem creating activation: ", error);
  }
};

I've also set up a lambda function so that when user confirms their account from sign up, it will save the user information in DynamoDB with an ID, the username, and email.

Edit: Got it working but...

So, I was able to save the data, but I had to change the schema in my Activation model from:

{
  allow: owner
  ownerField: "teacherId"
  operations: [create, update, delete]
}

to just

{
  allow: owner
}

Not sure why I can't set the owner to teacherId? Wouldn't I need this so I can make proper connections to Teacher's model with teachId field?