Heather Ryan

Background

About Heather Ryan

On my first day of student teaching as a college senior every single student walked out of the classroom before the bell rang. 6 months later I found myself in front of students again during my summer teacher training experience with Teach For America. One afternoon, after I finished teaching that summer, my TFA coach told me he wanted to record my class and share it with other TFA corps member teachers as an exemplar because of my classroom management skills. I showed him the video from my first day of student teaching and he told me "you aren't even the same person." I wasn't and that is because I was given the opportunity to learn from incredible mentor teachers as well as TFA coaches and staff, using that opportunity to improve myself, for kids. I continued to live into this growth mindset in my time as a teacher, leading me to becoming Teacher of the Year at my school in my third year and holding multiple leadership roles within my school. Personal growth continues to be something that I value both personally and professionally. In my role as Director of Advisory Board, Staff and Executive Strategy & Support at Teach For America's Florida regions I utilize skills that I began to develop in my years as a teacher, skills like: people development, data tracking & analysis, project planning, and relationship building. While, living into personal growth, I have also developed and utilize new skills: brand awareness & alignment, written & oral communication, executive calendar management, and event logistics & operations.