Meet Australia’s top TikTok teacher Mr Luke

“Do you eat rocks?”

This is one of the strange questions teacher Luke Springer has been asked by his class of Kindy students.

Mr Springer is a popular teacher at his Adelaide primary school – but he is also very popular online.

Mr Springer has gained 1.8 million followers on TikTok, where he is known as Mr Luke, and his videos have had more than 64 million likes.

Mr Luke shot to TikTok fame after the videos he started posting about the funny questions his students asked him went viral*.

The 34-year-old teacher acts out the conversation by slicing the footage of him as teacher and him as the kid asking the question.

His most watched video is one of him explaining how a gold coin donation can’t be handed back for the tuck shop. A simple idea, but the video has attracted two million views and counting.

And while Mr Springer admits he hasn’t made money from the videos themselves, they have led to deals with brands such as Bunnings Warehouse. He also appeared on ABC kids’ TV show Play School in 2022 and last month released a children’s book, called Guess What We Are Doing Today?

“My income* is my job and my job is teaching, this is a hobby,” he said.

“If a video goes viral, it goes viral, which is great but there’s no money made just out of posting videos.”

He is known for his big smile and positive attitude and energy, which Mr Springer said comes from loving his job as a teacher.

“I come to school and I’m happy to be here,” Mr Springer said.

Looking after his younger cousin Lauren and his little brother Jackson as a kid sparked his interest in becoming a teacher.

He enjoyed helping kids learn and play and would join Lauren at the “bub club”* when he was in Year 9 and she was a baby. Cousin Lauren also introduced Mr Springer to TikTok.

Mr Springer’s first video, on Lauren’s account, was a dance challenge.

“I downloaded it merely, as originally planned, as a bit of a time waster,” he said.

But after seeing people sharing their lives online, Mr Springer thought “why not give it a go?”

“It didn’t take long to go from a consumer* to a creator*,” he said.

What makes his content special, and has drawn the attention of millions, he said, is that “Everyone has their own experiences of their own school life”.

Since his rise to fame, Mr Springer has had to set aside time for planning his social media content.

“I still don’t know what I’m doing on a daily basis online but I know I’m having fun and hopefully making some other people laugh on the other side of the screen,” he said.

Mr Springer said he has learnt to deal with negative online comments by understanding that “not everyone is going to like you”.

“If you go on to social media with the expectation of trying to make everyone like you, it’s really dangerous,” he said.

“Just like being a teacher, some students are going to like you and some students won’t vibe with you, it’s going to be the same online.”

Mr Springer said if “used correctly, social media can be fun and enjoyable”.

When not creating videos, Mr Springer can often be found at home, tending to around 100 “plant babies*”.

“I have a plant addiction*,” he said. “My house is a little jungle and it looks like you could go shopping.”

Teaching, however, would always be his top priority. “I can never see the social media side taking away from the teaching side,” he said.

“I cannot comprehend making a life just out of social media … I don’t understand how people do it. But it’s such a cool hobby because it allows me to shed light on my other passion, which is my career.”

Mr Springer’s latest achievement has been his book about the class “guessing what we’re doing today and their wild imagination”.

He described publishing it as “a full circle*, overwhelming moment”.

“If you can read your own book to your own class, that’s an insanely incredible teacher win,” he said.

He read his book to his students, who had “amazing reactions to it”.

“There was a lot of confusion because on the last page there is a picture of cartoon me reading the book,” Mr Springer said.

“There was a lot of, ‘Luke, how are you reading the book to us in class but you’re in the book reading the book?’”

POLL

GLOSSARY

• viral: when an online post is liked and shared over and over again in a short amount of time
• income: money earned from working
• bub club: childcare centre
• consumer: someone who uses a service or product
• creator: someone who makes content
• plant babies: plants that someone loves and takes good care of
• plant addiction: can’t stop collecting plants
• full circle: when a journey comes back to the point it started from

EXTRA READING

Is English down the ‘skibidi toilet’?

Scam smart kids start with ABCs

Nine-year-old YouTuber dreams big

QUICK QUIZ

1. How many followers does Mr Luke have on TikTok?
2. Which TV show has he appeared on?
3. What is his most viewed video about?
4. Aside from TikTok, what is another hobby he enjoys?
5. What is the name of the book he wrote?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Not everyone is going to like you
Mr Luke states a very important point about the negative posters on his TikTok videos, stating that “Not everyone is going to like you”.

Why is this such an important concept to understand and accept?

TikTok and other social media cop a lot of flack about being a negative space for young people. What are some of the benefits and advantages of using it to make you laugh and have a bit of fun?

–

–

–

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Digital Technologies, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Think of a funny comment or question you may have asked when you were younger or you’ve heard a small child ask that made you laugh.

Act out this comment in a style similar to Mr Luke where he asks the question to himself, then answers the question as the child.

Perform for your class if you’re game!

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Drama, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Saying it as it is!
Mr Luke is famous for simply telling us about his day in the classroom.

Do you ever come home and tell your parents about a funny, interesting or crazy story that happened at school that day?

Do you think you could turn it into a comical story or book?

Share a school story with a classmate to see if they think it’s book worthy.