Sixth graders at Polly Ryon Middle School in Richmond, Tex., clamored to get into a certain math class at the beginning of the last school year. That’s not because they’d heard rumors that the class was easy or that they’d get to watch a lot of movies between lessons. The reason: The class was taught by Deidre Kelly, a teacher with 1.5 million TikTok followers.
“Usually the kids before they even come to this school know who I am. They’re excited to see me,” Kelly, 34, said. “They’ll say they’re starstruck. I’m like, ‘I am just a teacher. I am so normal.’”
Kelly’s TikTok account is full of math-focused videos with tips and tricks for adding fractions, subtracting integers, and multiplying by 8. She often stands in front of her classroom’s whiteboard, usually with a trending (but appropriate) TikTok song playing in the background. Sprinkled between educational videos are sponsored clips that Kelly films for advertisers such as Mastercard’s Girls4Tech STEM education program and fast-food chain Sonic’s donation campaign for local school projects.
Kelly, who has been teaching for 10 years, started posting videos during pandemic lockdowns in 2020 as a way to reach her students outside their virtual classes. “Knowing that they’re all going to get on TikTok right after we got off Zoom,” she said, she hoped that the TikTok videos would reinforce the lessons students were supposed to be learning in class.
A growing number of teachers are tapping into the short-form–video app to reach their students, as well as a broader population of math-curious young people and even adults. TikTok videos using the hashtag #TeacherTok have been viewed 2.8 billion times, while #mathtricks has been viewed 1.4 billion times.
While students turning to social media is nothing new—just look at the popularity of Khan Academy—TikTok has emerged as a quick, punchy alternative to in-depth YouTube videos. Plus, the ByteDance-owned video platform is already where young students are spending hours of their time each day. TikTok became the favorite social app of U.S. teens earlier this year, surpassing Snapchat for the first time, according to a spring 2022 survey from investment bank Piper Sandler. In 2021, 63% of 12- to 17-year-olds in the U.S. used TikTok on a weekly basis, according to research from Forrester, up from 50% a year earlier.
Continue reading on The Information
“Having more resources out there for kids is always a good thing,” said Robin Jacob, associate research professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Education.
