Cathedral City teacher uses TikTok to engage with students, make classroom more fun

In the classroom, social media is often a distraction. Smartphones often pry the eyes and attention of students away from the lecture.

But one Cathedral City middle school teacher is choosing to leverage the online platform his students love as a means of connecting with them in a fun and lighthearted way.

Shane Frakes is the teacher behind 7thGradeChronicles, a TikTok account he started to get his students more involved in the classroom. The account has gained 84,000 followers and millions of views since its creation in 2021.The content primarily centers around Frakes posing a simple question to his classroom at James Workman Middle School, and then documenting the answers. One of the more popular TikToks, with 3.6 million views, poses the question "how will you know you are officially old?"

"It's funny what they construe as being old," Frakes said.

The video starts with a view of Frakes in the classroom and has the question written on-screen. Salt-N-Pepa's hit song "Push-It" plays in the background as it cuts to a slideshow of his student's answers, which are shown on sticky notes.

"When you use Candy Crush," is the first answer revealed.

"Here I am at like level 300, thinking I am killing the game (Candy Crush), only to learn that unfortunately makes me old in the eyes of my students," Frakes said.

Besides the millions of views on the platform, that particular TikTok also garnered the attention of singer/talk show host Kelly Clarkson. On Jan. 26, Frakes was featured on the segment "What I'm Liking" on the "The Kelly Clarkson Show" where she highlighted some of the student answers and briefly talked to Frakes about them on a video call that aired live.

"I think people love the content that we have produced because the mindset of a seventh grader is just a unique perspective," Frakes said. "It's that era in each of our history where we think we are super grown, but are still very naive young kids."

Becoming a 'Teacher of TikTok'

The idea to create the TikTok account was not Frakes'. In fact, he'd never even been on TikTok before hearing about it from the middle schoolers. It was his English Language Arts students who told him he could be a "Teacher of TikTok."

"An edu-influencer is someone in the world of education who is viewed as an influencer," said Jessica Pack, a colleague of Frakes' at James Workman Middle School.

Pack is a former California Teacher of the Year, author of "Moviemaking in the Classroom: Lifting Student Voices Through Digital Storytelling" and co-creator of the podcast, "Storytelling Saves the World."

Pack said edu-influencers are similar to influencers in other industries. They give recommendations and share ideas to other professionals in education. These creators can be found under #TeachersofTikTok, #TeachersofInstagram and other education-related hashtags found within popular social media platforms.

"I think it is really powerful given that, traditionally, teachers are pretty isolated," Pack said, "It's a great way to connect outside the four walls of your building."

Pack said what Frakes is doing is unique compared to what other edu-influencers typically do, which is produce relatable content of the life of a teacher or student.

Frakes' most popular TikTok videos don't include student faces and only show what the students have to say, written on sticky notes.

"Like a message in the bottle," said Pack.

Students have been featured in some videos posted on the 7thGradeChronicles account, but Frakes made the decision to not include them moving forward. He wants to protect the students from any online harassment and teach them about having a digital footprint.

"While most people are extremely kind and favorable to the content that we're producing, there's absolutely trolls," Frakes said. "I can take it, I'm a grown adult, but I'm not putting children online to be bullied."

Engagement in a post-pandemic classroom

The first TikTok posted on 7thGradeChronicles was on December 2021. That was the time students returned to in-person learning at James Workman Middle School after a year of distance learning due to COVID-19.

Pack said students are having trouble socially navigating a post-pandemic classroom and the ramifications of distance learning made them more disconnected. Students are still relearning all the social skills they lost, which she believes has only amplified the awkwardness of middle school.

"Even now, a couple years out, the kids I see in sixth grade are not functioning on the sixth grade social skill level that they used to," Pack said.

However, she is impressed by how Frakes uses TikTok to build camaraderie in the classroom. She also believes that because the platform is one students are accustomed to, his use of the app helps make the classroom a more comfortable environment.

"I just found TikTok to be a very useful tool when trying to provide engagement in the classroom because it's something a lot of teachers are really struggling with," Frakes said. "We have a lot of kids that are struggling to find the fun in school."

Frakes uses TikTok to get his class ready for the day. On what he calls "TikTok Thursdays," he hands all his students a sticky note and presents the question to them. He collects all the answers, which are written anonymously, and then reads his favorite responses outloud.

"They come in excited, they want to participate. If we're not doing a TikTok question they get sad," Frakes said. "So it's definitely been something that helped draw them back to the classroom."

Kevin Caparoso is a features intern that covers arts and life around the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @kevydean or email him at KCaparoso@gannet.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Cathedral City teacher goes on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show' to talk TikTok