Forget Zoom - TikTok is the tool that got teachers through the 2020 school year

• The video-sharing app TikTok has become wildly popular among Gen Z and millennial users.
• But it's also home to an unexpected population: teachers.
• Teachers have used the platform to share their experiences with other educators, families, and students.
• TikTok has also inspired teachers to create support groups for fellow educators that extend beyond the app.
• Insider spoke to seven teachers who say the app has helped them relate to students and share the "real" side of teaching.

Meghan Mayer remembers watching students in her middle-school classroom dance to "Renegade," sing unfamiliar songs, and make references she couldn't find scrolling on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

She told Insider that it felt like "the inside joke I wasn't a part of."

But Mayer, an English teacher in Sarasota, Florida, realized she could be a part of the joke - she just needed to download TikTok.

Mayer joined the video-sharing app under the username @thecrazycreativeteacher. At first, she found herself learning how to make oat milk and laughing at silly videos. Then she discovered the thousands of teachers using TikTok.

During the lockdown, TikTok quickly became a place for teachers to share everything from frustrations to virtual classroom hacks. Currently, the hashtag #teachersoftiktok has more than 5.4 billion views and hundreds of videos.

Insider spoke to seven teachers who shared how TikTok has strengthened their relationships with students and allowed them to cope with - and showcase - the trials and tribulations of being an educator in 2020.

TikTok has become a go-to resource for some teachers

During the coronavirus pandemic, teachers have had to adapt more than they would in a traditional school year.

For many teachers, spring was quickly moved to a virtual platform and the fall school year similarly started online. A virtual setting meant that teachers could no longer walk across the hall for advice from another teacher. It also meant that parents were inside the classroom at all moments of the day, and students could disengage at any point.

So some teachers turned to TikTok for advice.

For example, TikTok videos showed Arielle Fodor, a kindergarten teacher in Los Angeles, how to set up her Google Classroom to ease her kindergartners into online learning.

"There are times when I've been really frustrated with the way that we're distance learning or I've been missing my classroom and normalcy, so I'll go on the platform to see other teachers and how they're dealing with it," Fodor, who goes by @ms.frazzled on TikTok, told Insider.

Brooke Rogers, a teacher in Antioch, California, said she's added TikTok videos into her middle-school virtual lessons. For example, she's acted out characters from books and taught point of view using videos from her account @thatnewteacher.

Rogers told Insider that these strategies have helped her students engage during online classes.

Outside of the classroom, Rogers said that TikTok "brought joy during a really dark time." She explained that teachers can be viewed critically, especially now. Through TikTok, she's built a community that supports and understands her.

Mayer has found a similar group through TikTok, and one that she said she never expected.

"Mental health-wise, it's been crucial for me," she said. "On TikTok, I can't even tell you how many videos I've seen of teachers crying, myself included … It really helps you to know that you're not alone in how you're feeling."

The teachers shared that the app, compared to other social-media platforms, is a place to show that they're human

Teachers told Insider that TikTok allows them to showcase a more authentic version of an educator.

"We're not these robots that stay at school all day and sleep at our desks," Meredith Scott, an English and theater teacher in Pontiac, Michigan, told Insider.

TikTok provides an opportunity to show parents and students - as well as other educators - that teachers are multifaceted people who, like everyone else, laugh, cry, and experience failure.

Sofia, a 23-year-old kindergarten teacher in Las Vegas, embodies that concept. Her TikTok videos, under the account @iamsofiabella, show her as both a teacher and a fan of the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny.

Sofia said she initially felt pressure to decide if her TikTok brand would be making videos related to Bad Bunny or teaching. But the Las Vegas teacher realized that people liked her because she loves both, she told Insider. Students often don't see teachers outside of the classroom, and sharing passions - like rap music - helped students realize that teachers are human, too.

Fodor added that she sees TikTok as one of the few social-media platforms where teachers can showcase a range of emotions and the realities of their careers and lives.

"I remember so well going on Instagram and seeing perfect teacher after perfect teacher," Fodor said. "I wanted to be like them because in my head that was a good teacher, but that's not the whole picture."

On TikTok, Fodor showcases her days, which are often filled with exhaustion, frustration, joy, and tears.

Simone Slater, a 23-year-old kindergarten teacher in Dallas, Texas, agreed.

She said that the platform has quickly become a place where she finds encouragement. Meanwhile, when she sees other teachers sharing challenges, she can return the favor by supporting them through her TikTok account, @lovemsslater.

"It's just a really cool way to see that people are going through the same thing I'm going through," she said. "If all else fails, we're just going to laugh."

'Renegade' references and Charlie D'Amelio help teachers relate to their students

In January, Scott noticed her students just wouldn't sit still.

Whether they were sitting in their desks or standing at the teacher's desk, her middle schoolers were constantly fidgeting, she said.

She couldn't understand what they were doing. Then, she realized that the students were practicing dances they learned on TikTok.

In April, Scott downloaded the app out of boredom and created her account, @mrsscott_teaches. She's now familiar with all the dances and trends that occupied her students.

Scott said she's used the app as a way to relate to students.

"I know it's really helped my relationship with my students," she said. "I'm a big believer that students learn better if they trust you and get along with you."

Mayer has also seen improvement with her student-teacher relationships now that she can reference TikTok.

"When they know you have the same interests as them and you can joke with them while still being professional and being respectful, I think that they really appreciate that," she told Insider. "You're just able to relate to them more."

For example, Mayer said she had a group of girls in her class that she tried to connect with, but they weren't opening up to her.

The teacher used TikTok to build that bridge. Mayer and the students practiced the "Renegade," a dance that went viral on TikTok.

"They could not wait to teach me the dance," she said. "They are now so eager to talk to me, and it really helped me as far as being able to teach them in the classroom."

Dan Shutes, a fifth-grade teacher in Paw Paw, Michigan, said TikTok has become another tool that he's using to relate to his class members.

Shutes, who posts under the TikTok account @danshutes, said that he usually relies on sports and country music to connect with his students, but now he can also use dance trends and funny videos from TikTok to better understand his group of fifth graders.

"I don't think it's changed the way I do my job," he said. "But it has helped my ability to reach kids and relate to them."

60-second videos have turned into lasting classroom hacks

This year, Scott is teaching English at a new grade level, so she's sought advice and class materials from her community of TikTok teachers.

She's gathered lesson plans, materials, technology ideas, and classroom ideas from the community she's built on the app. For example, the Michigan teacher learned how to revamp her classroom with alternative lighting so she and her students don't have to sit under fluorescent lights all day.

"I know that it seems like a really small thing, but it really calms them down," Scott said of her students.

Thanks to TikTok, Fodor learned how to use Loom, which allows teachers to record themselves reading books. Now, the Los Angeles teacher's kindergarten students can watch her reading a story at any point during their day, which she said has been an instrumental tool for virtual learning.

When Mayer thinks about her classroom, she can point to a variety of tricks she uses from TikTok. She mentioned her online classroom setup and new teaching strategies all originated from TikTok videos.

"Everyone jokes on TikTok that they have learned more on TikTok than they have in professional development courses, and it's really, really true," the Florida teacher said.

Between classroom hacks and fulfilling communities, TikTok has become an unexpected platform for teachers to get through this challenging - and often isolating - academic year.

"It really shrunk an isolated world in a lot of ways," Fodor said.

If you're a teacher, student, or parent who wants to share their story on what it's like to go back to school right now, get in touch at mhumphries@insider.com.

• Read more:
• Inside teachers' first week back in US classrooms: Nerves, disorganization, and exhaustion
• A Vermont teacher swapped desks and chairs for hammocks and tree stumps so her students could learn outside year-round
• 2 teachers in Florida transformed their desks into Jeeps to ease students into social distancing
• A TikTok video of an energetic teacher shows how much effort it takes to keep kindergarteners engaged during virtual classes