- Welcome back, everybody.
I'm always in awe of teachers who can connect
with their students and bring out the best in them.
It's truly magical.
It's clear our next guest is doing just that.
A couple months ago, his school held
a dress like your favorite author or character day.
Well, this teacher happens
to also be a children's book author.
And to his surprise,
one of his students showed up dressed as him,
which is so sweet.
We have that teacher joining us now
along with the boy who dressed as him.
Let's welcome Mr. Freeman and Luke, everybody.
(audience clapping)
What?
Mr. Freeman, what did you think when Luke walked in
and he was dressed like you?
- Listen, initially, Kelly, I was like,
who is this kid walking down the hall?
He looks like an old man.
What old author is he, right?
As he got closer to me, I said to him
I'm like, "Who are you?"
He's like, "I'm you!"
And I was like, "You're me?
There's no way you're me.
I have way more hair than that."
That's what I said to him, right.
Way more hair.
Which I really don't.
I am bald.
But I said to him, I said, wow.
And then it start to touch me.
- Oh my God, I would have bawled.
- Made my entire year.
It really touched me.
I said, this kid took the time to want to dress like me
to go through this stuff.
And it really touched me.
Me, I'm the only black male teacher at my school
out of 54 teachers.
- Wow.
- So for him to see himself in me,
it really was special for me.
- That is inspiring.
And so cool.
So Luke, what made you wanna dress up like Mr. Freeman?
- Cause he's inspiring, kind, funny, brave.
And I thought it'd make him happy.
- Oh my gosh, that's so sweet.
I love that.
And it's cool that your teacher is also an author.
That's pretty incredible.
So this story went so viral, y'all,
but it didn't just capture the hearts of the internet.
Our season long partner, Pilot G2 Pen, the go-to pen
of "The Kelly Clarkson Show" is also very touched
by the connection Mr. Freeman and Luke have developed
and they wanna shine a light
on unstoppable teachers who inspire kids' spirits
and imagination.
So, Mr. Freeman, you say that you've seen a change in Luke
since this story went viral, right?
- I have seen a change.
Initially, Luke, most people think Luke's an outgoing kid.
He's the kind of kid that's always--
- Because he's very comfortable right now.
- He's very comfortable right now.
And he looks great, you look amazing, Luke.
But most of the time in class
and he's still now today, he doesn't really talk.
He doesn't raise his hand.
He just watches me.
And so.
- That's my son.
- Yeah, he's like that too.
Okay, so I'm like, it was such a stun,
it was such amazement to see that this kid
has been paying close detail and attention to me.
And I just wanted to make sure
that he was inspired and motivated,
that he felt seen in the classroom.
- Yeah.
That's such a beautiful thing.
It's an amazing thing to obviously be educated
on the curriculum, but there's so many more social things
happening in school that you learn
that are just as important.
- Right.
- Like, that's it.
- So over, I have over 20 years of teaching, right?
Over 20.
- Thank you.
- Oh, thank you.
- Wow.
- Thank you.
It is tough.
It is tough to keep great teachers and stay motivated.
But I have over 20 years of experience teaching
and I was gonna leave the field of education.
I was gonna go into medical sales.
I had already said year five, I wanted more money.
I wanted to travel.
- Yeah. - I'm leaving.
But that wasn't my gift.
My wife said to me, your gift is kids.
And so, she said you had to find another way
to connect with kids.
And so I started writing books,
pushing from my own child pushed me to write books.
My oldest son.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- [Mr. Freeman] I started writing children's books.
But grown with adult content, kid-friendly language.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And so I, my first book, the Adventures of BG
is "The Importance of Positive Self-Esteem."
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Having kids believe in themself.
My second book that deals with the friendship at its best,
it deals with terminal illness.
One of the characters is terminal ill,
ends up being surviving in remission.
And my third book, "The Adventures of BG:
Lucky Enough to See the World Differently,"
deals with autism and diversity.
- I love what you're representing
so many different people,
kinds of people in all those books.
That's so important.
- It is important for people to see themselves in books.
- Exactly. - All kids.
And so, I'm honored to be here to share this.
This has made our year.
This has made our day.
We have a connection that we'll never forget now.
- Luke, what do you love about Mr. Freeman's books?
What do you think is cool?
- That he lets his favorite kid from his class
be in one of his books.
So, and he said, I will be his next book.
- Oh my gosh.
- You'll be famous in a different kind of way.
That's amazing.
That's so cool.
- And he has, what about that nickname?
What do the kids call you now?
- Sir Luke.
- [Kelly And Mr. Freeman] Sir Luke!
- You've been tapped.
- Sprinkle me, Luke.
Luke, sprinkle me.
(Mr. Freeman laughing)
- I love this so much.