With a limited audience of just three followers, band director Laura Zilhaver finds fondness within posting on the skyrocketing app: TikTok.

Her drive to post stems from acting as her aunt and two sisters’ source of entertainment. 

“I don’t post a lot because [of my little following],” Zilhaver said. “I like to keep it that way; I just want to make my sisters and my aunt laugh. That’s all.”

Another FHC teacher who thoroughly enjoys the app is English teacher Anne Keller. 

“Originally, I thought it might be a good teaching tool,” Keller said, “because when I taught sixth grade last year, many of the students talked about TikTok and had accounts.”

Although when Keller started, she only used TikTok for strictly educational purposes. However, the lively, addicting app reeled her in for more than just junior high teaching methods. 

Alike her fellow co-worker, Zilhaver, Keller also focuses her posts on one thing: her faithful pets.

Her chameleon, Leon, her bearded dragon, Lamont, and Piper the Corgi all love the spotlight. As seen on Keller’s TikTok account, there are countless videos of Leon improving his climbing skills, Piper enjoying herself on her daily walks with mom, and Lamont chomping on his delicious meals.

“I enjoy sharing what’s happening with my pets,” Keller said. “because I have students who enjoy seeing them.”

All in all, in comparison to Zilhaver dedicating her TikToks to her family, Keller devotes her posts to her students. 

For Zilhaver, her discovery of TikTok came from her younger sister.

“My younger sister kept sending me TikTok videos,” Ziilhaver said. “I eventually broke down and made an account.”

Her encounter with TikTok has grown from hesitance to a hobby. If not either reading, crocheting, exercising, or making music, Zilhavor will subsequently resort to TikTok.

“I got so annoyed with my sister texting me TikToks,” Zilhaver said. “It was way easier to watch the videos on the app, so I decided to just download it.”

From a student’s perspective, junior Vinod Rajakrishna finds humor within the fact of his teachers running and operating their own personal TikTok account. 

“I just think it’s funny,” Vinod said, “because most of the students here have a TikTok account. It’s funny to see teachers join something that’s mainly used by our generation.”

In regards to Vinod himself, he does indeed have a TikTok account but doesn’t follow any FHC staff. Additionally, his TikTok account, following, and interests look a little different from his teachers’.

“I follow a lot of athletes or just comedic accounts that make me laugh,” Vinod said, “It’s just fun to watch little videos, and it’s easy to not lose focus.”

Like Vinod, Keller enjoys TikTok not only because of its diverse, entertaining features but also because of the creators and users of the app that make TikTok such a great past time. 

“I think it’s fun that you can set your videos to music,” Keller said,” and I like to see the humorous and creative videos of others.”

The question still remains, though: is TikTok a good teaching method? Keller, being introduced to TikTok by her own students, thinks so.

“I thought [TikTok] would be a good medium to use with my students when I first started using it as a teaching tool,” Keller said.

From Vinod’s point of view, he agrees; however, only in a certain aspect, he believes TikTok would truly work to benefit students’ methods of learning.

“I think it could work out,” Vinod said, “Maybe [the teachers] could use [TikTok] as a source of review material or something like that.”

The enjoyments of this app are overwhelmingly fun for these TikTokers. According to Zilhaver, this app was a great introduction to contemporary learning and “Generation Z” trends and populars.

“I enjoy learning about new things,” Zilhaver said. “I don’t post often, but I watch videos to unwind after work.”

Vinod, on the other hand, appreciates the functionality behind TikTok, and how the creators managed to bring out the best qualities possible.

“[I like] the fact that each video is only a minute or shorter,” Vinod said, “which makes it easy to stay engaged with the app.”

However, while being a user of the app for so long, Zilhaver discovered some potential issues and even dangers generated from the social media app.

“I wish people would be nicer to creators in the comments,” Zilhaver said, “People can be unnecessarily mean. I hate seeing that. I also worry about how safe it is for teens and kids to be on the app and interacting with adults.”

TikTok is a free app that is a commentary to anyone, so, Zilhaver’s worries are valid. But, she believes if you remain on the right side of the app, the joy and laughter it brings people is overpowering. 

Teacher TikTokers like Keller and Zilhaver are only in it for one thing and one thing only: to make people smile. Specifically for Zilhaver, her goal is to make her aunt and sisters’ days, and for Keller, she simply just wants to get a chuckle out of her students by exhibiting her charming, unique pets.

To them, their follower count is just a number. What means the most is how they’re spreading joy to the ones around them by using an app that is raved about. 

So keep an eye out; you might just come across one of your very own teachers on your For You Page (FYP).