Manual pagination after sorting won't render

I have this code

$lessons = Lesson::approved()->get();
$lessons = $lessons->sortBy(function($lesson){
    return $lesson->getViewCount();
});
$lessons = $lessons->reverse();
$lessons = new Paginator($lessons, 3);
$lessons->setPath('sort');
$lessons->appends(['sort' => 'viewdesc']);

is there something wrong with my code? I couldn't use simplePaginate because I need to sort my collection using my custom function (getViewCount), so this is what I tried. However, when I click on next page button, the page url parameter changes to page 2, 3 etc, but it always show the same collection :/ (page 1)

I tried this too, btw

$lessons = Lesson::approved()->get();
$lessons = $lessons->sortBy(function($lesson){
    return $lesson->getViewCount();
});
$lessons = $lessons->reverse();
$lessons = new Paginator($lessons->slice((3*$page)-3, 6), 3);
$lessons->setPath('sort');
$lessons->appends(['sort' => 'viewdesc']);

and this time, the next and previous button won't even render. funny thing is, if I manually change the page parameter on URL, the content will change accordingly.