A teacher in Wilmington, Delaware has become a ‘superhero’ after a video of her students reading children’s books to napping puppies went viral on TikTok.
Brooke Hughes, a first-grade teacher at Hanby Elementary in Wilmington and the mastermind behind Foster Tales Puppy Therapy, said that she was completely blind-sided by the response when she posted the video in June. None of her earlier videos had elicited such a response.
“I was pretty surprised that the video blew up, just because the other ones really didn’t,” Hughes told The News Journal/Delaware Online. The video has over 2.2 million views on TikTok.
“This person isn’t a teacher, this is a super hero,” praised one person, while another said: “I wish all schools could do this!!!!! I’ve seen kids take the dogs out and run with them and get gym credit!”
“There’s something about a 1st grader holding a snoozing pupster like a baby that says I’m ready to adopt!,” wrote a smitten TikTok.
Ironically, Hughes’ idea was met with criticism when she first said she wanted to bring foster puppies into her classroom.
Foster Tales Puppy Therapy
Foster Tales Puppy Therapy is a program where foster puppies are brought to school to help improve the mental health of students and staff. In January, Hanby Elementary became the pilot school for it.
School counselor Christine Cebrat held various therapy sessions in her own classroom where puppies were present. Pups were used to help calm students dealing with anxiety and other struggles, Hughes said.
Foster Tales is also intended to enhance the reading skills of students with kids practicing on cute dogs in a pressure-free scenario. The program is helpful to foster puppies, too, since it provides them with a safe, social environment that teaches them new things, while they’re waiting for adoption.
The program’s expenses — such as a portable pet crate, potty pads and toys — were raised through donations from donorschoose.com, a popular crowd-funded website that teachers use to get money for supplies.
Hughes raised $1,704.
These dogs have jobs. Very important (and sometimes ruff) hotel jobs.
Puppies in the classroom
Foster puppies for the pilot project came from the Rags 2 Riches Animal Rescue in Garnett Vally, Pennsylvania, Hughes’ home state. The first-grade teacher’s classroom is spacious and features a huge puppy playpen made of wire that comfortably fits multiple children and puppies. This is where the students hang out with and read to the pups.
Two students were allowed in the playpen at a time, Hughes said, adding that classwork had to be completed first and students were asked not to disturb sleeping puppies.
At the end of the day, the puppies either went to Hughes’ home with her or to the homes of other participating teachers as schedules permitted.
Hughes said that since introducing Foster Tales in her class, all of her students’ reading scores improved.
“There’s so much research that reading to animals can increase your reading fluency and your comprehension because, you know, they’re not judging you,” said Hughes, adding that even her most reluctant readers were “so excited to read to a curled up, sleeping puppy.”
It also instilled a sense of responsibility, patience and empathy in students as they understood what it takes to “rescue an abandoned animal and get it adopted and then give it a loving home.”
Hughes began her journey fostering puppies in 2020 but the idea of bringing them to the classroom came to her after students returned to the classroom from virtual learning during the pandemic. The teacher said she thought bringing puppies to school would “help with the emotional mental health crisis that we were going through at the time.”
Hughes said “it took a little bit of convincing to pilot the program,” but she managed to get the green light from Hanby Principal Juliet Agresti.
Parents were supportive, too. “I never got permission slips signed and returned so quickly,” she said.
Since she works with Rags 2 Riches Animal Rescue, she had a strong sense of which puppies would be compatible with her students and already had experience fostering 20 pups.
Besides the student, the program has been immensely beneficial for the puppies as well with 18 puppy adoptions.
One of the puppies was adopted by a student’s family. The fur baby’s name is Pete, inspired by Philly restaurant and bar “Chickie’s & Pete’s.”
Hughes hopes to expand her puppy therapy program and bring it into more classrooms.
“My ultimate goal would be to develop a curriculum for other schools or districts to follow because a lot of people are asking me questions about how I got started,” she explained.
This summer Hughes is working on a comprehensive way of showing teachers in Brandywine School District and beyond how she managed her pilot program, in hopes that other schools will bring puppies into their classrooms.
“Holding one of these loving puppies has eased the anxiety of many Hanby children this year,” said Principal Agresti.
