About Us

• On May 15, 2012, Canaa Lee, founder of EDUKATE Academy, has published a collection of math stories entitled, Algebra for the Urban Student. She has been a teacher for 11 years now and loves algebra. Lee has watched students struggle in math year after year and wanted to help students wrap their minds around abstract math concepts. Lee is an expert algebra teacher. She also orchestrated a math enrichment program, Project (Educating and Diversifying to Grow Exponentially) EDGE. Not only do students struggle with math but they also struggling with reading. The most effective way to incorporate reading in algebra is to select the topics that had a common theme and infuse them into story. The vocabulary in an algebra textbook is more advanced for the students and therefore difficult and frustrating for them. Now, students can learn the main algebra topics and learn the math skills at the same time! By incorporating and reading and algebra together, Lee discovers that students are able to get the best of both worlds. Algebra for the Urban Student is written in everyday language so any parent or students can pick up the book and be able to understand and complete the assignments. As an expert algebra teacher, Canaa Lee understands that algebra is based on the concept of a line. However, there are many skills students must master in order to master the concept. Through the use of culturally relevant stories and the use of the graphing calculator, students can finally make the connection the skills and the concepts. The stories help students follow along throughout the whole unit. There are questions asked along the way in which are able to demonstrate their understanding. The assessments are directly related to the unit so students have the opportunity to incorporate the graphing calculator in almost every unit. It is imperative to show students that algebra is more than just a “bunch of letters and numbers with no meaning.” For example, relating parabolas to a hill or a valley is an idea every student ca relate to or showing the relationship between linear equations and inequalities shows helps students understand that everything in algebra is related and really is not that hard at all! The students Lee teaches inspired Algebra for the Urban Student. It starts off as just a collection of units for my students so I could ensure that were exposed to and master all the topics for the assessments. Parents comment on homework assignments because they could now help their children with their homework because it was easy to understand and follow without even stepping foot in my class! For the first time, many students understand their homework and could complete their assignments. Also, students were improving their reading and comprehension skills in both English and algebra! Canaa Lee has written enough units and assessments to write a book. Textbooks are designed for math teachers and professors; Algebra for the Urban is intended for the common student.