When fourth-grade teacher Talia Hessman celebrated her 20th year in education this month, she commemorated the moment by posting a video to TikTok, hoping that audiences might be drawn in by her cheery personality and creative, interactive teaching methods. But she made a rookie mistake when the classroom whiteboard featured in her video failed to display any fancy handwriting. Instead, in the video, Hessman is seen standing in front of a hastily written “March 8, 2021” that lacks any adornment whatsoever. Unquestionably, according to Emily, our 10-year-old resident “viral content” expert, this visual blemish in the video seals Hessman’s fate, ensuring that she’ll never go viral.
“Teachers who go viral need to spend at least three hours writing their whiteboard messages out in fancy calligraphy,” explains Emily. “People want to see flawless handmade lettering that looks like it was printed by a machine. This lady has none of that.”
Though Hessman has five Teacher of the Year awards and serves as the advisor to her school’s most popular club, none of this is reflected in her 12-person TikTok following (the equivalent of less than half of one classroom for Hessman).
“Look at that whiteboard, Jesus,” says Emily, holding up a side-by-side of Hessman’s video and a viral video by some random teacher in Ohio, whose eerily exact whiteboard lettering garnered 2 million views in two days. “This lady brought a knife to a gun fight.”
According to trends in viral videos made by educators, a teacher can use fancy dry-erase lettering to spell out anything, not just the date. It could be the teacher’s name, the class subject, the day’s lesson—it just has to scream, “This took me multiple hours to execute.” The more arduous and time-consuming, the better!
For optimal results, Emily recommends that for future videos, Hessman should plan to arrive at school early to make it happen. For example, if she normally reports to school at 8 am, she should adjust her schedule to get there at 5 am and prep her whiteboard for the day’s video. (Unpaid of course!)
“As a lifelong teacher who builds meaningful relationships with each and every student who comes through my door, I was really hoping that my genuine passion for the job would be enough in the eyes of the world,” says Hessman, who has a bachelor’s degree and three master’s degrees.
“I don’t care how many degrees this lady has,” says Emily, thumbing through Hessman’s lackluster content. “As soon as she shows herself in this opening shot in front of a plain whiteboard with bad handwriting, I’m opting all the way out. Boo!”
Hopefully, Hessman can work a little harder next time instead of trying to coast on her accolades and experience and joyful personality!
