Texas teachers use dance, fun and energy to inspire kids
Two North Texas teachers shared with Fox News Digital the upbeat way they inspire their young students today.
Meet PB&J, as they're known on TikTok — or Miss Beall and Miss Johnson, as their fourth- and fifth-grade students have been calling them.
Payton Beall (PB) and Taylor Johnson (J) are elementary school teachers in North Texas.
They met in their mid-20s and became best friends.
After they were paired together for student recess duty, the teachers quickly realized they had a common passion for dance.
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In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Beall, 25, said she grew up competitively dancing and was on the cheerleading team in high school.
Payton Beall (left) and Taylor Johnson Brown (she recently got married) met during recess at the school where they teach — and became fast friends after realizing their mutual love of dance. (Payton Beall)
Johnson, 27, also grew up dancing and continued her career professionally spending four years as a world-renowned Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
With over 261,000 TikTok followers at the time of this report, the women's social media dancing career has taken off.
"I think you’re just born with the passion."
"Every Friday we would film a dance, and that’s kind of how our TikTok career took off," Beall said.
"[It's] how we became so close — through our love of dancing and our love of teaching."
The teachers both went to college to pursue education degrees — and always knew teaching was for them.
"I think both of us have always known that we wanted to be teachers," said Johnson.
"I think you’re just born with the passion."
For Beall, observing the commitment her grandmother, a teacher, had for education was an inspiration.
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"Just seeing her day in and day out, and how hard she worked and how hard she loved those kids, definitely I was like, no other job that could be that rewarding," she said.
The COVID-19 pandemic threw them a curveball, they said.
The young women's friendship grew while they helped each other through the tough moments as teachers during the pandemic.
The two women from Texas use TikTok as a positive outlet for their energy and messages outside of teaching. (Payton Beall)
"Teaching is really hard, especially in the past few years with COVID and virtual teaching," said Johnson.
The elementary school teachers have stuck together through the hard times while also trying to push positivity to their students.
"Taylor and I figured out really quickly [that] we are very joyful people."
They offer each other balance as both professionals and best friends.
Johnson recently married — and both young women remain committed to their students and to coming up with great dance moves.
The Texas-based teachers want to bring positivity and upbeat, clean content to younger TikTok users, they told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Johnson said, "I know for me when Peyton came along, it was like, OK, here's somebody that can be my Energizer Bunny when I'm on zero, and vice versa."
When asked if their students had seen the viral videos, Johnson said they have — and that’s the point.
These two elementary school teachers in North Texas have gone viral on TikTok for their upbeat dances. "We are joyful people," they said. (Payton Beall)
"They’re at that age where they are on social media, and they’re seeing these TikTok videos. And not every TikTok video is appropriate for a nine-year-old," Johnson said.
The teachers hope that just one interaction with their kid-friendly video can help improve the TikTok algorithm for their students and other children at the same influential age.
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The two ultimately hope to simply bring joy on the social media platform.
"Taylor and I figured out really quickly [that] we are very joyful people," Beall said.
"Sometimes it’s just too much energy — so it was a great outlet for us to bring joy."
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