Hanby Elementary Teacher Goes Viral On TikTok
Nowadays, it seems fairly easy for anything you do to end up on the internet. This couldn’t be more true for a Hanby Elementary Teacher who went viral on TikTok.
TikTok Teacher
Brook Hughes is a first grade teacher at Hanby Elementary School in Wilmington, Delaware. Sometimes, with the younger students, you have to get creative to keep them interested. Short attention spans is one of the obstacles a lot of teachers face.
Incidentally, Hughes came up with an idea to bring foster puppies into her classroom.
Foster Tales Puppy Therapy Program
Hughes started the program in January. Essentially, Foster Tales is an initiative where foster puppies are brought to school to help improve the mental health of students and staff.
What she didn’t realize was how well it would work and how quickly she would become a TikTok phenomenon.
The puppies were used to help calm students dealing with anxiety and other struggles, Hughes said.
TikTok Viral
Foster Tales also is intended to enhance the reading skills of students. Hughes posted a video in June of her students cradling puppies while reading. The video below received almost 300,000 views. Another has 2.3 million! With most of her videos receiving 30,000 views on average, Hughes was shocked at the attention they were getting.
@fostertalespt 🌟 Foster Tales Puppy Therapy 🌟 School Morning Routine ✏️ So overwhelmed with all the love from the last puppy video ❤️ 🐶 I cant wait to answer all the questions. One top question was, do the pups stay at school overnight? No way! They travel back and forth with me or other school fosters each day. The adoptable pups usually stay with us a week or two before heading to their fur-ever homes. Like and follow for more FAQ. 🥰 #fosteringsaveslives #puppiesoftiktok #puppiesofinstagram #school #therapy #therapydog #firstgrade #puppy #fosterpuppy
♬ Good Day - Nappy Roots
Through a popular fundraising platform called donorschoose.com, Hughes was able to raise over $1700. The funds would cover expenses for the program such as crates, puppy potty pads and toys.
It was not only a home run for the kids, keeping them occupied while learning to read, but for the puppies as well. This kind of connection to a gentle human being can be pivotal in helping the puppies through foster and adoption.
The foster puppies came from Rags 2 Riches Animal Rescue in Garnett Valley, Pennsylvania.
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