When one of Jessica Hawk’s students introduced her to TikTok, showing her a video that got 100 views, she took it as a challenge. And you could say she crushed it.
Today, Hawk has more than 700,000 followers on the app, 38.6 million likes and her videos get upwards of a million views as she posts about the struggles, joys and hilarity of teaching, as well as her child-free lifestyle. She just finished her final year of teaching at Delsea Regional High School in Franklinville, but that’s not slowing her down.
Q: When did you start posting on TikTok?
In November of 2019, I didn’t know anything about TikTok, so I watched this video, and I said, “Wait, you got 100 views for that? Challenge accepted.” I started making them, and I started to gain traction. Right before Covid, there were very few teachers on TikTok, and then when Covid hit, the market was flooded with teacher content.
Q: Where did the name “My Teacher Face” come from?
I used to be the teacher who ran internal suspension for the first period of the day. And I had to set the tone as kids came in, so I would put my glasses at the end of my nose and just laser stare at kids. It would get to the point where I wouldn’t break it for so long, that they would put their folders in front of their face and audibly say, “Stop looking at me!”
Q: What message do you hope people take from your videos?
I hope that seeing teachers in this light gives a sense of humanity to them. So people realize that we are fully formed adults who don’t go into the closet in our classroom at night and stand there like mannequins, and then the next morning somebody comes in and switches us on. We’re fully-formed people outside of school. We are doing the best we can. Sometimes we hit the mark, and sometimes we don’t, but we have students’ best interest at heart.
Q: Have you had a video that was super difficult to shoot?
When I was doing the character videos early on, and I didn’t know the ins and outs of editing as well as I do now, I was shooting one character, moving the camera, shooting the second character, then moving the camera back to the first. So there were a few of those videos that were rather difficult, but that was my own fault.
Q: Do you have any advice for future teachers?
If you feel education is for you, pursue it, because there are great schools and great administrators out there. The negativity that we see about teachers and the teaching profession is very, very real for some people, and I will never negate that. I stayed in teaching as long as I did because I felt supported and valued. That’s what it takes. So when you’re looking for a school to work in, go all over the school’s website, their social media pages, look at the township pages. If there’s a chance to shadow a teacher in the school for a day, do that, or substitute. It’s really important that you pick a school that is going to fit what you need.
Q: You also make videos about being child-free by choice. What contributed to that decision?
I pretty much knew from the time I was a child that whatever gene you’re supposed to have to feel that maternal urge, it skipped me. Then at my wedding reception, multiple people were asking how long before a baby was coming. And I kept saying, “Oh, we’re not having kids.” And I learned through the course of my wedding reception to stop saying, “We’re not having kids,” because everybody said, “You’ll change your mind 100%.” So I just said, “We’re not sure.”
Q: Do a lot of people resonate with those videos?
After I posted one video that was a humorous take on these things that people have said to me, I got literally hundreds of messages from women all over the world telling me they appreciate the representation. Saying, “I don’t want to be a mother, but in my culture, I can’t say that,” or “In my religion, I can’t say that,” or “In my family, I can’t say that. Thank you so much for showing me what my life can be.” And that really knocks the wind out of me each time. It’s a big responsibility.
Q: What would you say to those who don’t like your child-free videos?
If you don’t like it, take your finger and drag it from the bottom of your screen to the top. Remember, once they interact with my video, they’re going to get more child-free content. Just saying.
Q: You’re retired from teaching now, right?
Yes, last year was my “Farewell Tour.” I decided to retire at the end of the year before, and I said to my friend, “Yeah, next year is going to be my last year.” And she said, “It’s like your farewell tour, like a concert that’s ending.” So I went online and made a concert-style t-shirt and each month we would cross that month off the back of the shirt. After the second or third month, all of the students were like, “It’s tomorrow! T-shirt day!” It was adorable.
Q: So, what’s next?
That’s the question everyone has been asking me. Believe it or not, right now I am doing content creation full time. And I’m hoping to look into academic advising jobs for the spring semester.
—- Bonus Q&A —-
Q: How did you get into teaching?
I’ve taught for 30 years. I should have known when I got hired right away to be a little suspicious. I was thinking ‘Oh my god, I did so well in the interview, look at me.’ Then I got to the school, and realized that it was the middle school where kids came after getting expelled from another school. It was really underfunded, and if it wasn’t for the mentors I had there, I would not have stayed in teaching. So it was definitely a baptism by fire, and it took me a good 5 months to get the kids on my side.
Q: How did you do that?
First, I tried to stand up and be “Policy Percy-pants” and talk about grammar and writing and that really had no effect on their lives. So I started listening to the horror stories they had in their lives and I started doing more free writing. I found they needed to be heard, and they needed to have an adult who wasn’t just up there doing the basic stuff and not getting to know them as people. I’m still in touch with a lot of kids in that class.
Q: Do you have a favorite kind of video to make?
I love playing various characters. I think I’m an actress deep down. I’m writing scripts, planning out the shots and angles and everything else. This is a creative outlet for me. I tried painting, but that took up so much space.
