Teaching Tips

  • Hip Hop Headucatorz Teach Math (Music – Video – Resources)

    I’m so proud of this project. We worked on it a long time to bring Hip Hop into the classroom. This multimedia project will help you teach mathematics in a fun and engaging way. The Math Album by Hip Hop Headucatorz helps students learn all about the four basic operations of mathematics. Seven songs teach the concepts of…


  • The Math Album by Hip Hop Headucatorz (Music + Resources)

    What Math Has For You is the introductory track to The Math Album, a project that Hip Hop Headucatorz have created for teachers to use in their classroom. Not only are there seven songs based on the four operations in mathematics, but there are ready-to-use resources for your classroom, too. First off, there are lyric videos that help illustrate…


  • Head of the Class – Deluxe (Album + Teacher Resource Book)

    For many of our students Hip Hop is a way of life. That is why we combined our love of teaching and rap music to craft an album and resource pack that we can use in our classrooms. “Head of the Class: The Deluxe EDition” features the original 11 song album, an exclusive bonus track,…


  • Teach Like Your Hair Is On Fire!

    Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 by Rafe Esquith This book is inspiring and reminds me why I love teaching. I took so many notes that I won’t be able to share them all in one post. If you teach, I highly recommend reading it! Here are a…


  • How Other Cultures Can Inform Education in North America

    A Mirror For Americans: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Teaching Students Who Excel by Cornelius N. Grove Many of us think that school needs to be a certain way. But the way schools operate in different parts of the world is vastly different from the way they do here in Canada and…


  • Know School – A New Way of Learning

    I often find it hard to sleep the night before school starts every year. Even though I have spent countless hours setting up my classroom, writing lessons, and organizing resources, my mind races with possibilities. Today, my mind is racing for a different reason. After close to twenty years of teaching in the public education…


  • The Surprisingly Simple Skill of Listening

    I Hear You: The Surprisingly Simple Skill Behind Extraordinary Relationships by Michael S. Sorensen Do you ever read a book that just drags on and on. This one doesn’t do that. “As you’ve no doubt noticed, this book is pretty short. I was tempted to add additional (read: unnecessary) chapters, stories, and other fluff in…


  • A Conversation with Dr. Grove About Public Schools

    I had the chance to sit down with Dr. Cornelius Grove to discuss new new book, A Mirror For Americans: What the East Asian Experience Tells Us about Teaching Students Who Excel. We need a major overhaul to the education system as it is in North American schools. Perhaps we can learn from the way…


  • Using the Super Mario Effect to Be a Better Teacher

    One of the best teachers I’ve ever had didn’t teach in a school. He was my Scout Leader and he did something absolutely incredible. He provided us with amazing activities that we actually wanted to do and had fun accomplishing. I remember being dumbstruck at the end of one of camping weekends when he provided…


  • Free Children from Acting Upon Labels

    Labels can be dangerous. Once a child has a label placed upon them, they often live up, or down, to, that expectation. As such, they play a role that can limit their growth and development. Fortunately, there are things we can do to free children from playing roles. Here are a few tips from Adele…