LOUISVILLE, Ky. — If you haven't heard of TikTok, your kids certainly have. The app has 500 million monthly users, many of whom are teens and young adults. That's why students at Oldham County Middle School were taken by surprise when their 52-year-old math teacher's dance videos went viral on the social media app.

Craig Smith originally downloaded TikTok because his 10-year-old daughter was interested in it, but he didn't want her to have it on her phone. She asked him if they could make a video, so they did. It wasn't something he thought about until his students started talking.

"I heard the kids talking about TikTok and I mentioned that I had done a TikTok video. They were like 'no way.' They just thought that was the craziest thing," Smith said.

One day during lunch, he decided to make a video dancing in his empty classroom. To this day, he still only has a small handful of posts, but that was all that was needed.

"They were like Mr. Smith, you are TikTok famous," Smith said.

One of his videos took off, reaching over 1 million people. That then sparked a wave of national media attention.

"I was like, 'what?' Is that actually my teacher?" student Trenton Evans said when recounting his initial reaction to his teacher's TikTok fame.

Smith tells Spectrum News 1, that he barely paid attention to the following. That's not what he was doing it for.

"My goal is reaching them where they are," Smith said. "I wanted to find a way to show them that I'm interested in the things that they are interested in."

Since starting the TikTok videos, Smith said communication and engagement have been increasing in the classroom.

"I think he was kind of doing it for a joke, but then he figured out it brings the class together," Evans said.

Smith said he knows TikTok is not for everyone, but he does encourage other teachers to try to find creative ways to reach students where they are.