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WBBJ-TV
JACKSON, Tenn. — Nowadays you can pull out your phone, press record, and possibly go viral.
And that’s exactly what happened to these educators at a local school in Jackson.
TikTok Fridays is a familiar phrase for students and administration at North Parkway Middle School, but on November 10, what was a regular TikTok Friday post sky-rocketed into a viral video.
“Our biggest thing is school can be fun. We really wanted school to be fun, so we started doing these TikTok videos because the kids, that’s their world. They engage with TikTok,” said Dr. Ladonna Braswell, with the school system.
The TikTok that was posted, teachers imitated how their students act. The idea was brought by Brooke Hall, an instructional coach at North Parkway Middle School.
The video, posted nearly two weeks ago, has more that one and a half million views and over 300,000 likes.
“We have a fun faculty, and they’re always up for anything. And they’re lots of fun, so they each came up with their own ideas of what they wanted to do in the video,” Hall said.
After the video was posted, positive reactions flooded the comments saying, “This is hilarious,” “Perfectly executed,” and “On point.”
Administration says this is exactly what they wanted to do to connect with students through something they enjoy and can relate to.
“Since COVID, it’s been hard to get children to come to school consistently, which is really how this was birth. Finding a way to make school fun and children, and staff as well, to want to come to school,” Braswell said. “Feel supported in doing so.”
North Parkway Middle recently went from a level four to a level five school. And along with academics, they plan to continue to find different ways to build teacher and student relationships.
“Also, it comes from the top. Even our superintendent, he really pushes a positive school culture and so I think things like this to step out of the box and make school fun. I think that plays a part in it all, in us being successful in and out of the classroom,” Hall said.
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