Teacher from Dzerzhinsk on TikTok fame and educational entrepreneurship
Andrei Grigoriev has taught history and social studies for nearly 16 years.
Being a teacher in a world with artificial intelligence and social media taking up more of our time is a challenging task. It«s not enough to just know your subject — information must be presented in a way that seems more interesting to children than social media videos or numerous games. Andrei Grigoriev from Dzerzhinsk has been teaching history and social studies for over 15 years. While managing the city»s largest educational center, he continues to work at school and simultaneously films videos for social media, showing the daily work of a teacher and discussing professional topics.
Tens of thousands of subscribers watch as the teacher interacts with kids, throws a toy goose at them when giving a failing grade, selects a «victim» for recitation using a randomizer, and even occasionally records dances with students to viral songs. NN.RU spoke with Andrei Pavlovich about how he decided to create a TikTok account, what acquaintances and colleagues think of his popularity, how often he encounters hate, and why salary is not the deciding factor in a teacher«s career.
«I work in the best school in Dzerzhinsk»
Andrei Grigoriev dreamed of becoming a teacher since childhood and from second grade onward never saw himself as anything else. He had no relatives in education — «all chemists,» but teachers contributed to shaping his image of an educator.
«A huge influence on me was Stanislav Mikhailovich Shalnov — a well-known Dzerzhinsk local historian, excellent historian, and outstanding teacher. In my school years, I attended his club. Then I entered the Nizhny Novgorod Pedagogical University and, graduating in 2010, went to work as a teacher in Bogorodsk under a program to support young specialists. But the relationship with the principal was very difficult, and enduring separation from my hometown was very hard, so after ten years I returned home. And now I work in the best, in my opinion, school in Dzerzhinsk — school No. 7,» the teacher says.
Andrei Grigoriev spent his childhood on the grounds of a women«s monastery.
There was another reason for returning home — the private educational center «Pelikan,» which Andrei Pavlovich launched together with his wife Ekaterina, also a teacher, in 2018. Now it is the largest establishment of its kind in the city, but it all started with a small tutoring office.
«In 2013, our eldest daughter was born, and around that time difficulties at school began. The child was often sick, so we took turns taking sick leave — the administration, of course, didn»t like that. Money was catastrophically short. To earn extra, we started giving private lessons: our apartment was like a thoroughfare,« recalls Andrei Grigoriev.
Soon the couple decided to open an educational center. They used 30,000 rubles (about $330 at current rates) saved for a vacation, borrowed another 30,000 from his mother, and took out a loan for a laptop and TV. Thus, they got a tutoring office in Dzerzhinsk, which they took turns traveling to from another city every day.
«Moreover, at first I taught lessons at the Bogorodsk school — there was a huge workload with homeroom duties, then I went to Dzerжинск and taught there, and after that returned home. The next day my wife would go, and I stayed with our daughter. In the first year of operation, we broke even. And when the business started to bring in a little, we expanded further. And now we have several hundred students.»
«You can work in school out of vocation»
To keep the educational center developing, it needed promotion — with this goal, Andrei Grigoriev began his journey into blogging. First, he wrote posts on VKontakte, and then students suggested he create an account on TikTok.
«I started with videos about the Unified State Exam — but they got about 50-60 thousand views. After 2022, I dropped it, but then returned anyway and, looking at other teachers, decided to try recording my regular lesson — and that was it. One video blew up to five million views, a sea of parodies were made about me, and I got my share of hate. But I decided to move in this direction,» shares the teacher. «I immediately decided for myself that I would show the teacher»s life from a positive side. There is and never will be criticism of the education system in my videos — everyone talks about that anyway. And I want to convey that you can work in school out of vocation and still enjoy it. And I«ve been actively doing this for a year now.»
The teacher throws a plush goose named Lavrenty at students who receive failing grades.
Now, the blogger rarely encounters negative reactions to his content and tries to respond with humor. The only thing that still offends him is comments hinting at an unhealthy interest in children.
«For some reason, it»s commonly thought that there«s always some subtext in a man»s desire to work in a school. But that«s not true. It just happens that a man likes working as a teacher, and that»s normal. Yes, in our profession there are scoundrels who disgrace it, but they exist in any other field too. And these comments about a teacher-pedophile truly offend me because it«s simply humiliating. I am a father of two daughters myself — you can»t take that calmly,« the man believes.
Otherwise, he reacts calmly to negativity. For a while, the teacher even wore a «Lisping Devil» sticker on his phone — a comment someone left under one of his first videos.
At school, the news that one of the staff films videos about his work was taken normally, but not everyone is so lucky. For many media-savvy teachers, blogging leads to conflicts with management, and they ultimately leave public education. And beginning teachers often become disillusioned, not even because of salary — it«s not that low, according to Andrei Pavlovich: at the initial stages, you can earn 50,000-60,000 rubles a month (about $550-$660 at current rates). Of course, that still doesn»t save you from burnout.
«It happens that a teacher runs away literally in the first one or two months. I think several factors come into play here, but a lot depends on the school where the person goes. If there»s adequate administration, that«s already 80% of success. When I ask former students who also became teachers what they like about working in school, they don»t even mention salary, but good leadership. So I am more than convinced that money in our profession, as in other fields, is far from the main aspect.«
«An eighth-grader yelled: »Hey, Panych!«»
Acquaintances took the teacher«s sudden popularity lightly: at first they didn»t believe it and were surprised when people approached him during walks asking for a photo, but then they got used to it. Now, according to the man, he and his friends don«t even discuss the topic. After all, blogging for him is part of work that brings decent income, but no more.
As for schoolchildren, they are only happy to participate in videos and occasionally suggest ideas for filming to the teacher. He himself doesn«t mind promoting his students if they are involved in some activity, but the main thing here is to avoid familiarity.
«Once I was walking through the school, and an eighth-grader, whom I don»t even teach, yelled at me: «Hey, Panych!» After that, we had a very serious talk: who I am to him and how he should address me. So I keep my distance and don«t allow this familiar attitude — it»s generally the worst way to earn children«s respect. And the good way is to set personal boundaries. When meeting a new class, I always state the rules: no phones, don»t interrupt each other, and don«t be late. These rules apply to me too — we all follow them together. The same with grades: you need to establish maximally objective criteria so the child clearly understands why they get an A or an F,» the Nizhny Novgorod native says.
Here, the teacher explains why he uses a random number generator to call on students.
But to instill knowledge in a teenager«s head, discipline alone is not enough. To captivate kids, it»s important to be an extraordinary person yourself, the teacher believes.
«When I just started my path, I read in a book that a teacher should attract students not with their personality, but with the subject. I fundamentally disagree with that. In my opinion, the teacher themselves should be interesting, not afraid to discuss football or some world events with the kids during breaks, avoiding sensitive topics. Their life should be vibrant. For example, I»ve been going on archaeological expeditions for 20 years and tell my students about it. Because how can I teach history and not engage in it myself? I also like to recall interesting moments from travels in lessons and apply them to the subject, so it all comes together like a patchwork quilt. But, of course, you shouldn«t think you can captivate everyone. TikTok will be more interesting to them anyway, and there»s nothing you can do about that.«
«Teachers don»t give a damn about your kids«
There is no single correct way to be a good teacher, Andrei Grigoriev is sure. On the contrary, schools should have teachers with different sets of qualities to make learning effective.
«Every teacher should have their own superpower. One has a democratic style of communication, another is authoritarian but directly hammers material into heads, a third might sing songs and recite poems in class, and so on. The key to success is changing activities, and this applies to school too. The more different teachers there are, the less tired children get and the more interesting learning is for them,» the teacher is convinced.
He sees his superpower in caring. According to Andrei, when a teacher does unpopular things — for example, gives an F or makes a child learn material, they are merely doing their job and trying to ensure the child leaves school not empty-headed.
«It»s a misconception to think we exert ourselves only for a bonus or to avoid a scolding for poor results. No, many teachers simply do give a damn about your kids. In adult life, the absolute majority won«t care about your children anymore, but we try, expend effort, nerves. Because we understand it»s our work.«
However, as in any other field, this work should remain only part of life, not consume it entirely. The man tries not to get attached to students and not think about school in his free time.
«There isn»t room in your soul for everyone. After all, my own family comes first for me. Some say about their students: «My children.» I have never said that in my life. They are their parents« children, and for me they are others; teaching them is my job, which needs to be done well. When you start treating others» children as your own, it«s the first step to burnout. And among teachers, by the way, this is a mass phenomenon.»
«The AI got deployed»
Sometimes, to make their work easier, teachers might use others« materials or artificial intelligence, but this path leads nowhere, Andrei is sure. Once he himself used a neural network when preparing for a lesson — generated worksheets for tenth grade and ended up deeply regretting it.
«As soon as I handed them out, I hear: »Oh, Andrei Pavlovich, the AI got deployed.« They instantly sensed that I didn»t make them. I felt so ashamed at that moment: the students understood I wanted to deceive them. The same with others« materials — a whole business is built on selling them online. But you»ll never become a good teacher on purchased materials. Another issue is lack of time. After all, the workload is very heavy, and people simply don«t have time to prepare for every lesson, so they resort to such tools,» the teacher notes.
Of course, AI is used not only by teachers but also by students, and this problem is widespread. According to Andrei Grigoriev, its impact will become noticeable in about ten years, but already the first consequences are visible.
«Modern graduates have great difficulties with text comprehension: they can»t not only write it but also read it correctly. And all because they interact with it too little. With AI, the situation will only worsen — it«s a global problem. Therefore, I, for example, assign children retellings, ask a lot orally, so there»s no chance to copy. And parents interested in their children«s education don»t allow them to use neural networks — I, for example, forbid it to my eldest daughter too. But, unfortunately, not everyone understands that studying requires effort. Some think their child is learning just by watching a little webinar. But there are no easy paths anywhere; it«s always hard work.»
«I am at a crossroads»
Now, Andrei Grigoriev«s TikTok account has almost 90,000 subscribers. New videos come out fairly often, but how long this will continue, he himself doesn»t know. According to the teacher, this endeavor takes a lot of time — there isn«t even enough for family.
«The day before yesterday I left for work at seven in the morning and returned at half past eight in the evening, when my younger daughter was already asleep and the older one was doing homework. So now I am at a crossroads. The blog undoubtedly brings money: first it was TikTok monetization, now advertising. Of course, from one integration you can earn more than a teacher gets in a month, but still it»s not my main activity. I need to work on the educational center, and the blog takes a lot of energy. Moreover, I«m not sure I can constantly remain interesting — I»m afraid sooner or later I«ll just get tired,» shares Andrei Pavlovich.
Now he is a bit tired of creating videos and from mid-December plans to take a break from social media. The man isn«t afraid of the sunset of his blogging career — he is sure he will find other pursuits for himself.
«For example, I would like to pass on experience to beginning teachers or those who are just planning to work in a school. Tell them that the first months are hard for everyone and you just need to get through this stage, that students don»t listen during a lesson not because you«re bad but simply because they»re children. I would like to become a mentor for teachers — teach them to be teachers.«
