Teacher Sean How: from literal rock star to rock star math teacher

Today, you may know Sean How as our resident math nerd and a gifted and dedicated middle school teacher, but his path to math and Marin Horizon is a really interesting one. Read on.

Before discovering his calling to teach, Sean’s life was a whirlwind of Los Angeles graveyard shifts and rock-and-roll. He worked long hours in a film vault color-correcting The X-Files so that he could play in his band during the rest of the day. 

But it was a rough existence and he sought a way out of the late night work. An unexpected call from a former professor led him to a middle school Latin position—a job he initially accepted under the mistaken impression it was a university-level post. (Sean had studied ancient Greek and Latin at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.)

These early years were a bit of a balancing act: he taught Latin by day and played in his band by night, often showing up to the classroom in ripped jeans and a bit sleep deprived. He eventually left teaching to tour Japan with his 60s inspired pop band, Bikeride (you can still watch/listen to the band here - that’s Sean How on the keyboards!), and later found success directing commercials for Mattel Toys.

 

However, he longed to be back in the classroom. After returning as an art substitute at the independent Westside Neighborhood School, he was challenged to lead a fifth-grade class dominated by high-energy boys. By combining his love of music into the curriculum—choreographing Thriller and practicing African step dance—he helped transform the group's reputation. He also cut his teeth in teaching all subjects—including math. 

This pivotal year shifted his perspective from viewing teaching as a temporary gig to embracing it as a career. So when an opportunity opened up to teach middle school math, he jumped at it. In many ways, it felt familiar: he’d gone from teaching the language of the Romans to teaching the language of numbers. And he’s never looked back.

For Sean, middle school is the "perfect middle ground" of human development. 

Fifteen years later, during Covid when Sean and his wife were looking for a new and greener place to raise their young son, 4th grader Declan, an opportunity opened for him to teach Middle School math at Marin Horizon. 

Sean has now been teaching middle school math for 20 years, including five here at Marin Horizon! When asked what he loves about this age group, Sean says that while high schoolers are almost "fully baked" and younger children too raw, middle schoolers possess a unique blend of high-level capability and still maintain a childlike silliness. 

 

 

“The middle school for me, it's the perfect middle ground of kids who have enough experience to do the sort of stuff that I know I'm going to throw at them–because I will definitely throw high school level thinking and methodologies and strategies and conversations at them–but they're still childlike, so all my goofy dad jokes and all the silliness still resonates with them.”

He is drawn to their eagerness to prove their maturity, even as they remain delightfully unpredictable. Sean also knows from his own experience that middle school can be a tough time, so he thinks it’s important to create an environment for kids to have as many positive foundational experiences–whether social or educational.

From regular to accelerated math and beyond

Sean teaches across the full middle school math spectrum, which gives him a strong view of how students develop over time. He teaches math to all of the 6th graders, building a common foundation, and this year he’s teaching accelerated math in both 7th and 8th grade. 

Sean describes the accelerated math program as student-driven when it comes to placement. While teachers offer guidance, students ultimately choose whether they want the extra challenge. 

In the classroom, Sean’s approach is often ambitious. He looks for openings to extend beyond the standard curriculum when students are ready. For example, with his accelerated 7th graders, he incorporates topics like trigonometry and geometric concepts such as apothems. His instinct is to deepen understanding by connecting ideas and showing students how math builds over time, not just adhering to grade-level concepts. 

At the same time, he’s seeking to make real-world connections for students. For instance, he might talk about the number of listens for Spotify songs, and how you can monetize that. Or when he's teaching simple interest and compounding to his 6th graders, he’ll demonstrate how useful math can be when they arrive at college and they are bombarded by credit card offers, or when it’s time to get a mortgage on their future house.

Composite geometric art yields “galorbo fruittodzillo” and “Italian brainrot”

One of the projects exhibited in Sean’s classroom is both very curious and very cool. As part of the sixth and seventh grade geometry units, Sean gave students license to follow their imagination to create “composite geometric art”, combining shapes into both random and intentional figures. 

 

 

“I'm such a math nerd that like, I love the art and I love that they get excited about the art, but for me, the most exciting thing is to get up close and read all the, the actual calculations and the numbers for area and perimeter.” 

Teaching Math is a Day at the Beach

Sean recognizes that his students have different learning styles and that there are routes to the same solutions. This is not just one way to do it. He likens the learning environment in his classroom to surfing. 

“You go in with a plan every day, but you sort of ride the wave and see what’s needed right now, what adjustments to make. And it depends on who’s in the class, their level, their interests.”

On any given day in Sean’s classroom, there are students at the front of the classroom describing what they’re doing, kids moving around the room working on math problems and games (kinesthetic learning), drawing and diagramming, music and (Irish) dance, and space to ask questions and engage in math conversations. And there are lots of math Easter eggs that Sean has planted around his classroom to spark learning.

Sean adds, “So if you can teach them something they're curious about as opposed to something ‘you must learn,’ I think it's more exciting for them and it gets them a little more invested in working really hard.”

Students work hard in Sean’s class, and the results are evident

Says Sean, “I love staying connected with kids on a personal level, to see how they're doing and what they're up to. From a math perspective, I learned that it's good practice to know what their experience was and what they were able to take with them.” 

100% of our accelerated-track math students will enter high school on track to reach a Calculus AB class or higher. And non-accelerated track math students will cover two thirds of the typical freshman year curriculum in 8th grade.

“I've kept a log of every graduate and the high school they’ve gone to, and what math class they've got into. Every year, I update it with what class they've moved on to, whether it's an honors class or, you know, some kids take little side routes into statistics or things like that. I definitely try and track it. And I love to hear from alumni.” 

In fact, Sean had plans that evening to attend a math presentation at Marin Academy High School by a former student!