Sioux Falls teacher’s social media stardom leads to Netflix, live shows

At a glance, there’s nothing particularly provoking about what Gabe Dannenbring wore to his teaching job one March day a couple of years ago.

Unless you’re a seventh grader.

“One of the best things about being a teacher is how honest the kids are, and today I wore what I thought was kind of a trendy outfit,” Dannenbring explains in a short video he made about his day.

He shows off his attire, then proceeds to roast himself, repeating the kids’ comments.

“Mr. Dannenbring, are you not wearing socks because you can’t afford to buy socks?”

“Cool shoes, Dannenbring, do they light up when you walk?”

“Are you wearing a jacket inside because you’re old and cold all the time?”

In about 30 seconds, the 25-year-old captures a snapshot of life as a middle school teacher so well that his TikTok post has been viewed more than 10 million times.

@g_unit24 Gotta love kids #teacher #teachersoftiktok #teachersof2021 ♬ Seve – Tez Cadey

“They love making fun of me,” the Ben Reifel Middle School science teacher said. “They’re classic middle schoolers. They think anything an adult does is cringy, and I push right back.”

Accordingly, his latest TikTok post began because a student called him “cringy.” He responded by “being as cringy as I possibly can” and using his students’ slang words wrong.

“Here’s what you would have seen if you had walked in my classroom,” he continues.

“I know yesterday’s homework was kind of tough. Somebody even called it W RIZZ, right?” he says.

@g_unit24 Intentionally using my students slang words wrong #teachersoftiktok #wrizz #teachersoftiktok #studentsbelike #slangword #teacher ♬ Southern Nights – Glen Campbell

But, generally, his response to any middle school mockery in person tends to end with this reminder:

“Well, the 2 million people who follow me, they don’t think so,” Dannenbring said.

From his Sioux Falls classroom, this teacher, by his own description, is living what “feels like a double life.”

Part educator, part influencer, he has more than 1.6 million followers on TikTok and 200,000-plus on Instagram.

“My life is forever changed,” he said. “It has opened up the floodgates of really cool opportunities.”

Finding his way

Dannenbring grew up in Yankton with a dream of being a doctor that died when he “realized I wasn’t able to see blood.”

So he turned a liking for science and a desire to “do something I care about and something I think is beneficial to society” into a teaching career. He graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead at the start of the pandemic. Jobs he thought were prospects dried up.

“I was forced to move home. I moved back down to Yankton, and I was kind of broke and didn’t know which was way up and which way was down,” he said.

A teaching job in Sioux Falls brought him to Patrick Henry Middle School.

“I applied for so many jobs and had so many turn me down, and … I was really losing hope, and I got the job, and it worked out perfect.”

In September 2020, he was in class and filmed a short video. It was simple — a shot of himself with the caption “Students are crackheads for Kahoot” — a reference to a game students love. As the soundtrack begins in the background, the students are heard shrieking.

“It’s still to this day the video I thought was the dumbest one I’ve ever made, but it’s gotten the most views,” he said.

Try more than 40 million.

“One video changed my life.”

@g_unit24Students are crackheads for Kahoot♬ original sound – Gabe Dannenbring

As TikTok took off as a social platform, so did Dannenbring’s following.

“All of a sudden, my life changed forever because of social media,” he said.

He estimates he creates three or four videos per week, often a fun, satirical look at life as a teacher.

@g_unit24 #teacherlife #teachersoftiktok #classroommanagement #studentsbelike #teachertips #teachertired #teacher ♬ original sound – Gabe Dannenbring

While he makes some in his classroom, “I only film me,” he said. “I’ll never put a student in a video. I can take the negative comments, but the last thing I want to do is expose a student to negative comments or think I’m exposing my students to gain followers. There’s a lot of negative around education right now, and I want to bring positivity to education.”

At Ben Reifel, where he has taught since 2021, Dannenbring “does a great job building those authentic relationships with kids and with families,” Principal Shane Hieronimus said.

“He’s got a vibrant personality, and he brings that to his classroom. He gets kids excited about science. We talk about our core values of empathy, excellence, integrity and unity quite regularly, and he just brings those core values to life, and they’re more than just words. He lives them, and the kids see that, and he’s just been a great role model for our kids in the building.”

Big opportunities

Dannenbring likely has the DNA to capitalize on the doors his social media fame has opened. His father is a teacher who also owns a landscaping company, and his mother has a dance studio.

“So my first taste of entrepreneurship was seeing my parents. When you’ve got skin in the game, you work so much harder, and seeing that was so great for me,” he said. “My new company is myself — my social media and personal marketing. I’m my own business, and it’s fun because the harder I work, the more videos I make, and the more opportunities I do, the more money I can make.”

He has “a full team of agents” who manage his contracts and negotiations, which have included deals with Amazon, Campbell’s soup and NBC. He manages all the creativity behind the content himself, he said.

The content for the brands is consistent with his own approach — with Campbell’s, he ate the soup in a lunch video. With Amazon, it was a classroom makeover.

A year ago, he was part of a reality show filmed in Greece that will air this spring or summer on Netflix.

While he can’t say much about it, he said it “first perfectly with my brand. People like the authenticity of my content, and that’s about as much I can say before it releases.”

He said no three times after the producers found him on social media before agreeing, “and it was such a great experience,” he said.

He also does a podcast in Florida called “Teachers Off Duty” that’s approaching 1 million YouTube subscribers.

“I’ve been so lucky,” Dannenbring said. “As doors keep opening, I’ve always said you can either walk through a door or it’s going to slam you in the face, so I keep taking on as many opportunities I can.”

This summer, he’ll be part of a live show tour through major cities on the East Coast called the “Bored Teacher’s Comedy Tour” that also has a stop planned at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls.

“It’s fun giving comedy to teachers because they’re tired and they just want to laugh,” he said.

His own co-workers “think it’s cool,” Dannenbring added. “They’re so supportive. They love seeing the opportunities and know I have a passion, and everything I do is trying to bring positivity to the education world, which is in a tough spot right now.”

The demands of his dual role are “extremely challenging,” he acknowledges. When he gets home from teaching around 4:30 p.m., he’s usually got two hours of meetings and editing ahead before thinking of ideas for new videos.

Many Friday nights find him on a flight to work on the podcast or other projects, returning by 11 p.m. Sunday in time for the next week of school.

“I’ve got an extremely supportive fiancee who loves to see me work hard and wants me to chase my dreams,” he said.

He especially enjoys going to universities and speaking to education students, he said.

“I keep telling people there’s a lot of great things about going into education,” Dannenbring said. “It can be challenging, but I want you to enjoy it. I want to kill people with positivity.”

Dannenbring’s message is critical, his principal said.

“He gets people excited because he has a passion for teaching, much like many of our staff members,” Hieronimus said.

“It’s been great. I know he has spoken with a few collegiate university education programs, and he’s been a great ambassador for that as well, getting people excited about going into the field of education, especially during a time we’re struggling to get people to go into education and getting qualified people to go into education.”

As for whether Dannenbring will continue to balance classroom time with online time, it’s a solid yes.

“I’m a character online. I’m a teacher. But it’s authentic because it’s my real life,” Dannenbring said. “If I stopped teaching, nobody would really care about my content. In education, a lot of schools are scared of social media. They’re scared from a PR perspective. I look at it through the lens of if you want teachers to be positive role models, let’s show them how to be positive role models online. You can be successful and not make raunchy content. You can have a clean page and make a lot of money and talk about everyday stuff.”

He also sees himself continuing to be based from Sioux Falls, he said.

“I love it here. I absolutely love Sioux Falls,” he said. “And the community is super supportive. It truly does feel like a small town, but it’s big enough to provide opportunity. Having the airport here, I can get anywhere I want and be back Sunday night and ready for work on Monday.”

In the ever-evolving world of social media trends, Dannenbring acknowledges his own staying power is an increasing rarity. He said his focus is on making strategic decisions about how to handle the wide variety of opportunities that continue to come his way.

“I can be a positive role model in the classroom and out,” he said. “My life is a great example of you never know what tomorrow is going to bring.”