TikTok helps Hawaii teacher revamp her classroom

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Red Hill Elementary School third-grade teacher N’mmah Kanu is quickly becoming a social media star.

More than 152,000 educators and fans from across the U.S. follow her on TikTok, inspired by her creative perspective on teaching.

“I’m a big kid at heart,” Kanu said. “When I think of school, I think of fun. I think of color. I think of a happy place.”

That happy place is room B10. Over the summer, Kanu cleared out the old and replaced almost everything with colorful additions.

She believes that creating bright, inviting spaces that will make children want to be there is the first step.

“They identify with the classroom. It feels like home to them. They feel safe. When kids feel loved, they’re ready to learn,” she said.

Kanu developed his beliefs over 17 years of teaching young people. Before moving here from the mainland, he gave away all of his classroom accessories to his colleagues.

So the transformation of Red Hill started from scratch.

“Starting over on a teacher’s salary wasn’t ideal,” she said. “I used places like Temu, secondhand stuff, and Amazon. I created a wish list on my TikTok, which actually went pretty viral, and they helped me decorate my classroom too.”

“The cutouts, oh my gosh! I love this so much!” she says in one of her unboxing videos.

Over the summer, Kanu went live on TikTok to give his growing audience a daily update.

“They were giving me ideas of where to put my couch,” she laughed. “This is our classroom. Sure, I have 16 amazing students, but it’s also TikTok’s classroom.”

Kanu’s daughter was also a great help and inspiration, offering suggestions on what the third graders might want in their school spaces, and she hit the nail on the head.

“They absolutely love it,” Kanu said. “When the kids leave my classroom, I want them to always remember Ms. Kanu, I want them to always remember how special they are, how much I love them and how much fun they had.”