Women’s History Month: Teacher making impact in classroom, social media
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Cynthia Bradford was born to be on stage. Her first show was “The Sound of Music” in the first grade, and the rest is history.
“My dad was in the army,” Bradford said. “We did shows in Germany, moved to California and then in college, I got a minor in theater and I’ve absolutely loved it. It’s been a part of my life and my family’s life as well.”
She’s now a middle school theatre teacher at I-L Texas and has been there for six years.
Before teaching, Bradford had a desk job and said she was terrible at it. She knew there was something better for her and decided to get her teaching certification.
She learned about her current position while taking her son on a school tour.
The educator said she loves what she does every day and works to instill a passion for the arts into her students.
“My goal is by Theatre III, they can direct, they can cast, they can produce an entire production, whether it’s a one-act play or whether it’s an improv day,” Bradford said.
The teacher shares their progress with those at school and her community on TikTok. She has nearly 40,000 followers and is known as “dramallamamamma.”
“It’s a good release for me, but it’s also a way for me to connect with my students,” Bradford said. “They’ll send me, oh you should do this TikTok or you should do this sound and they will tell me if I did something cringy.”
Bradford created her TikTok account in 2020 with the help of her students.
“We were hybrid,” Bradford said. “We were half online, half in person and that was a good way to cross both genres of students.”
Since its creation, her videos have collected 3.9 million likes and have been acknowledged by brands and outlets including ESPN and HEB.
Her goal is to share real moments and the imperfections of life.
“People can relate to real,” Bradford said. “I’m 48, I can’t relate to perfect all the time or ever really so, I relate to what’s real and what’s going on in my real life.”
Whether teaching or uploading, she always strives to set an example, especially for the young girls watching.
“One of my girls, I have a binder somewhere, she gives me stickers every day and she puts them on my binder and the first sticker she gave me was “Strong Female Lead” and that really meant a lot to me and that was one of the times I realized oh, strong female lead. That’s how she sees me and so that’s a lot of responsibility as a woman to be that example to the girls and future women around you.”
To watch Bradford’s TikToks, click here.
