San Benito CISD teacher goes viral for classroom transformation videos

SAN BENITO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — From empty white walls to beautiful, warm, pastel classroom decorations, a San Benito Consolidated Independent School District teacher went viral on TikTok after showing a classroom transformation video for the upcoming school year.

^{(Courtesy of: Bianca Pecina)}

Bianca Pecina is a 26-year-old 4th-grade teacher from San Benito, getting ready for her fifth year teaching in her career. This is also her second year as a teacher in her hometown.

She told ValleyCentral that when she started teaching, her first classroom only had two posters. Now, as she enters the 2025-2026 school year, she is grateful for all those who donated to her Amazon wish list, helped with her DIY projects, and out-of-pocket expenses to be able to make her classroom transformation.

She added, the classroom transformations can range from $500 to $2,000 depending how much of the items are DIYed, out of pocket and donations.

Pecina explained that many of her coworkers, colleagues and family members had encouraged her to start a social media page to show her classroom transformation videos and share her ideas online.

^{When Bianca Pecina began teaching, her first classroom had only two posters as decoration; however, she told ValleyCentral that as her career took off, many donated to her Amazon wishlist, as well as she DIYed many of her classroom decorations. (Courtesy of: Bianca Pecina)}

"I had friends, co-workers, colleagues, family members, really, pushing me to share things online, because I would just come up with these ideas. and they're like, we didn't even know that you can make this and kind of just giving me those little compliments here and there," she said.

She decided to create a TikTok page where she share a video of herself before and after the classroom was decorated.

Once she posted it, she went to sleep. The following day, she said she woke up with "a ton of messages." Her video had gone viral on TikTok and she decided to continue from there.

"It really happened overnight, and I couldn't believe it, i was in shock, and from there I kind of just kept posting, 'till this day I'm still trying to keep it going," she added.

She told ValleyCentral she enjoys decorating and wants to create a comfortable classroom enviorment is for the students.

For this school year, she went for a pastel theme for her classroom, which incorproated neon light decorations, using lamps and wall lights instead of cealing lights to help dim the mood and give a "home feel."

"Overall, the students do really well with the dim lights, some students do like their own personal lamps and I do provide those for them," Pecina said. "I've had students before ask for small desk lamps because they prefer that type of lighting and it's definitely more of a welcoming, warm environment."

She added that she is very appreciative that her students trust her and are open about their learning. Pecina told ValleyCentral she has noticed online that many teachers have started to create a warm and safe space for students, such as hers.

"I feel teachers everywhere are providing [a safe space] for their students, I've seen online so many teachers doing that, we can all together start building a place for these students to feel warm," Pecina said. "I do feel like your enviorment does play arole in how your kids are seeing everything around them."

Pecina gave some words of encourgement for those teachers who are starting off as in their first year of teaching and want to decorate their class but do not know where to start.

She recommends to stick with a color scheme, as it is the most budget friendly option and it will also make your classroom look very colorful and lively.

Pecina wants to remind first time teachers to take it slow, it is not going to be an overnight transformation, as they do take a while, a lot of DIY and maybe recycling.