Math teacher works rap into formula for fun learning
Waterloo grad ‘busts a move’ to inspire students’ interest
While rapping, Drorit Weiss dances, writes on a blackboard and sits on a desk.
She sings about dimensional analysis, Pythagoras, reciprocal identities and other trigonometry-related concepts while sporting sunglasses or a sideways hat.
“The brain is a math machine and it’s ruthless,” she sings in “Bust a Proof,” a spoof of the 1989 Young MC song “Bust a Move,” filmed in her portable classroom.
Weiss, 41, teaches senior mathematics and physics at Vaughan private school The Hill Academy.
She studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Waterloo, and graduated from York University with a computer science degree; she is working toward her master’s in math.
But she wasn’t always confident in her mathematical prowess.
In Weiss’s early years, there were times when she struggled with math.
She grew up in Richmond Hill and remembers coming home from elementary school crying one day because she was having so much trouble adding fractions. Her father quizzed her on the subject, and then shamed her for not being able to add fractions, she said.
The fractions only came into focus when her mother stepped in.
“She explained it for hours. It clicked. I was so happy,” Weiss said.
After high school, Weiss wanted to take a creative route — she was accepted into the Ontario College of Art and Design, but her parents warned her there was no steady career in painting and encouraged her to pursue something else.
So, Weiss studied math and computer science. After graduating, she dove into software development (coding), technical writing and software training and support.
She ended up working in the industry for more than 10 years. She lived and worked in Silicon Valley, but eventually felt burned out.
The last full-time job she had in software was in 2008.
“I found it an Old Boys club,” she said. “I always felt I had to prove myself.”
She didn’t like the corporate environment. She realized that the only time she was excited about her job was when she had to teach software to executives. “I loved it,” she said.
So, she decided to go into teaching.
Weiss returned to Canada and ran an Academy for Math And Science in Richmond Hill’s Hillcrest Mall and Thornhill’s Promenade as a manager and tutor before going into teaching.
She had an inspirational teacher at teachers’ college — the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education — named Ron Lancaster.
“He’s so innovative. He made math fun. He’s my main inspiration. Having his support, having him thinking I’m a good teacher, it empowered me,” she said.
Weiss has been inspired to take risks, including creating the rap video.
She tells students: “I believe anyone can do math. If I can do it, anyone can.”
Christy Flynn, the secondary school principal of The Hill Academy, loved Weiss’s video so much that she put it in a newsletter sent to parents; parents came up to Weiss on parents’ night saying they loved the video, even if their children were not in her class.
Flynn says that she was not surprised Weiss created a rap video.
“Ms. Weiss is one of those rare people who take a genuine interest in almost everything,” she said via email. “She can engage you in a conversation about permutations just as easily as she can recite every David Bowie album released. She tries new things all the time because she is smart, talented and fearless, so I am not surprised that she has found a new way to channel her lessons in a creative way.”
Mario Zitella was a student in Weiss’s calculus and vectors class last year. He is in both her “Bust a Proof ” video and one she is working on now, filmed at a rink with Weiss in full hockey gear.
Zitella says that Weiss is also famous at The Hill Academy for another tool — her video lessons. When students on a sports team miss days for a tournament, she uses another visual tool — a video lesson used to teach students while they are on the road.
Last year’s valedictorian, now a Harvard student, described Weiss as a “superwoman” and a “role model.”
Weiss finds this description gratifying.
“This is the reason I wanted to go into teaching,” she said. “I wanted to inspire girls to go into computer science and physics.”
Principal Flynn summarizes Weiss’s contribution to teaching math.
“I think that while Ms. Weiss is an innovator in her field, it is not news that education has changed its shape in recent years ...We have to think about learning differently and that teachers like Ms. Weiss who are truly passionate about what they do are the key to bridging gaps between teaching and learning, doing and thinking, following and asking.”