Hempfield teacher with viral TikTok video appears on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show'

A Hempfield Area teacher’s viral creativity has catapulted her to a moment in the TV spotlight.

Taylor Crossland, an elementary school teacher at Fort Allen Elementary, wanted to throw a special incentive event for her students to reward them for staying on-task through the end of September.

With donated Starbucks cups and treat bags, and decorations and ingredients she purchased herself, she created a “Starbucks Day” party for her class. Crossland’s 20 third grade students drank chocolate milk and whipped cream faux coffee, corrected grammar and spelling on pretend Starbucks menus, completed a cash register math activity, and came up with their own Starbucks drink recipes.

On Sept. 22, Crossland documented the preparations for the activity on her TikTok account, @CrafTayCorner, where she often shares her homemade classroom activities and home and classroom organization skills.

After the video went viral and received upward of 9 million views, Crossland was contacted in early October by “The Kelly Clarkson Show” for a segment called “#WhatImLiking,” which showcases viral online content liked by Kelly Clarkson. The episode featuring Crossland’s remote interview aired Monday afternoon.

Crossland participated in the taping for the show last week. She was thrilled to share her project with the show and hopes other educators will see it and get inspired.

“I am a huge Kelly Clarkson fan, so I was kind of fangirling while watching,” she said. “I’m an educator for other educators to get ideas and inspiration. … I know I get a lot of ideas from (TikTok). Really, if I can help out any other teachers with ideas and information, I share a lot of ideas I find.”

@craftaycorner Replying to @Jess Greens Starbucks Day in my third grade classroom! ????☕️ my class absolutely loved this day & it was well deserved for their behavior! #classroomtransformation #schoollife #elementaryschool #elementaryteacher #starbucksbarista #classparties #thirdgradeteacher #thirdgradersbelike #classroomdecor #teacherlife #classroommanagement #starbucksclassroom #classroomparty #classparty #classroomincentives #teachersoftiktok #teacherideaz ♬ Coffee shop, healing, coffee, guitar jazz(1299748) - ChillStars

Creative classroom

Crossland originally started her TikTok account about a year ago to share her home organization projects but shifted to posting more teaching content over time.

“I didn’t originally make it for teaching, but I realized the teaching videos were the ones that people liked the most,” she said. “All of my co-workers are like, ‘I downloaded TikTok just to watch your videos!’ ”

Her students do not appear in her videos — instead, she showcases the crafts and activities she puts together for her class, often outside of school hours.

Crossland has put together incentive activities such as the Starbucks party for years, long before the advent of her TikTok’s popularity. She has made plans for a fall party event and a “Polar Express” theme day.

She picked Starbucks as a theme for this recent event because her students love getting cake pops and pink drinks at the coffee shop chain, she said.

To make the event feel even more authentic for the kids, she wrote each student’s name on their “coffee” cup order and put vanilla cappuccino scented air fresheners around the room for a coffee shop atmosphere. She dressed up in her own Starbucks green apron and decorated the room with green streamers and tablecloths, giving students their own “barista in training” nametags.

Sharing projects

While some of Crossland’s other videos have gotten 1 million or 2 million views, this is her first to hit 9 million. She said she received more than 5,500 comments on the video, and was grateful for the positivity shared there.

“So many people commented really nice things, which was nice,” she said. “All teachers appreciate when other teachers and educators have that spotlight for positivity. Everything we do is for our students — having that kind of national recognition is something awesome for our community. Every teacher (goes) above and beyond every day.”

Crossland’s husband, Jared, said Taylor is “such a positive influence on her students.” He sometimes helps with filming her videos.

“Now through this, she’s had a positive influence on her peers and other teachers who are able to see some of the ideas she has posted,” Jared Crossland said.

Jared Crossland is an emotional support teacher at West Hempfield Elementary School. The two got married this year and met while both were teaching Extended School Year classes in the summer at Hempfield.

“Being a teacher is a family affair,” he said. “We’ve put a ton of our lives and our time into it, Taylor even more so. A lot of the stuff I do, the bulk is between school hours, but Taylor does a lot of after-hours things. If I’m not dealing with something here during the day, a lot of her work requires a lot of extra effort and after hours.”

Taylor Crossland said getting this much publicity is a new experience for her, but she noted she is encouraged by it.

“I think social media can be for good and for bad, and I definitely like to take advantage of the good aspects of it,” she said. “It’s definitely something different for me, to be kind of putting myself out there more than ever before.”