Teachers using TikTok to connect with students

No one was at school on March 19 because of the recent restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Raleigh middle school PE teacher Mason Pyper decided he was going to have some fun and film himself dancing to post onto his TikTok account.

His dance was the “Smeeze Challenge,” which involved Pyper skipping from side to side, while he alternated and swirled his arms in a circle. The video had a textbox which read, “Teachers can’t smeeze,” followed by the caption, “Not your typical teacher.”

Pyper is in fact not a typical teacher. He is “TikTok famous,” with more than 530,000 followers on the app and his videos surpassing 14 million likes combined. The “Smeeze Challenge” received almost 135,000 likes and more than 1 million views.

A creative outlet for millions, TikTok allows people to create videos up to 60 seconds long. They can be anything from dances to people making jokes about things happening in their lives.

Communities have formed on the app: dancing TikTok, cooking TikTok, cocktail TikTok, and teaching TikTok, in which teachers create videos about their experiences in and out of the classroom.

Pyper, 23, is in his second year of teaching physical education at Pine Hollow Middle School in Raleigh. He uses TikTok as a creative outlet, making funny skits and dancing videos.

“I feel like I have a mind where I like to think of things in different ways and use my creativity to help others, spread positivity and also share a laugh with someone or give someone the opportunity to laugh,” he said.

Pyper wanted a way to connect to his students, as well as show them he is not just some authority figure in their lives.

“I asked myself, what can I do, how can I still be constant in these kids’ lives even through this time,” he said. “Even though they are not seeing me in person, what’s something they can relate to and really see me for who I am, not just as a teacher, but who I am as a man.”

So Pyper decided to use his TikTok to create content ranging from videos showing his day teaching, him reacting to the new Travis Scott meal at McDonald’s, even videos of him throwing trick shots with footballs and basketballs from long distances similar to social media star Dude Perfect.

“Once I started posting and it started getting traction, I just wanted it to be fun,” he said. “The content of my TikTok is what I think would be fun, but also what I think could be serious.”

Pyper’s students have become increasingly interested in his hobby that has made him famous online. Students have asked Pyper if they could be in some of his videos, and he uses his platform to help engage his students in the classroom. With the obstacles the pandemic has presented to teachers and students, Pyper said this platform has helped him to relate to his students who may not know him.

“All of last year, I was in class, and I could display who I was to my students everyday,” he said. “But now, through a screen, it’s just not the same.”

Pyper tries to make his students smile and laugh, even if they are not in the classroom together. One of his most recent TikToks showed Pyper starting his virtual PE class by knocking over a tackling dummy in a football uniform, completed with shoulder pads and a helmet.

Mason Pyper, 23, poses with a basketball at the Pine Hollow Middle School gym in Raleigh, N.C. where he works as a health and PE teacher and head football and basketball coach.

TikTok has not just been a way for Pyper to connect to his students. He has also met other teachers through the app and was able to create new friendships through this online community.

One of the other teachers Pyper has met through the social media app is Brenda de Leon, a high school Spanish teacher in Raleigh. Both de Leon and Pyper are a part of a TikTok community called “Schoolhouse Tok,” a play on words combining “Schoolhouse Rock” and TikTok.

This new online community has helped teachers, such as de Leon and Pyper, to not only connect to teachers in their own state but also connect with teachers across the globe.

“It’s been really, really nice to see people from all over the world,” de Leon said.

TikTok has become a platform where teachers can connect with one another, which may be just as important as connecting with their students.

“We get to share experiences, as well as our love for kids and how we want to help them,” Pyper said. “Especially with everything being virtual, it’s not bad to meet people online, especially if they’re on the same path and have the same passions as you.”