Despite Amanda Ryan’s current passion for math, it was not always her utmost favorite subject in school.  

            “In school, math was probably one of my favorite subjects. I struggled in it but I liked the challenge. I loved American Sign Language; that was my go-to favorite subject,” Ryan said.

Today, Ryan is more enthusiastic about math than ever. Such passion is made quite clear through her emphatic answer surrounding the reason why she chose to teach math to high school students as a career.

            “Math is awesome, right? Math is great. There is so much of it and that is what I like. You can go from the numerical math, to going all the way up to calculus and start doing weird stuff. You can also apply it to engineering,” Ryan said.

Ryan also described her personal style of teaching and how she chooses to engage students with different learning styles.

“I am a visual learner, so I always like to try to come up with some kind of vision. We had an assignment on the second day of school and we were trying to remember our properties. I then drew a car and made up a story about the car and the properties,” Ryan said.

In the future, Ryan plans to expand the horizons of her teaching styles.

“I am really excited about doing some hands on math. Some stuff works better with this type and other stuff works better with this type,” Ryan said.

Ever since her early academic years, teaching was something that impacted Ryan profoundly.

“I had a teacher named Mrs. Query and I had her for Algebra II. When I first walked into her class, I did not want to be in there. I had a different teacher and they moved me to her class. I was so irritated. Then she talked. I was like Oh. My. Gosh,” Ryan said.

To this day, Ryan still remembers the way that her algebra teacher had influenced her perspective of teaching.

“She was the coolest, most fun teacher. She was just real with you, sarcastic and she was so great. Then I started noticing that a lot of high school teachers are this way,” Ryan said.

With a few other options of high schools to choose from, Ryan explains the reason why she chose to teach at PHS.

“I chose PHS because one, it is a high school and two, it is the proudest high school I would have to say. It is a great high school and I heard awesome things about the math teachers here. So I was like, oh this looks like a good place to go,” Ryan said.

High school is the place where Ryan feels the most at home while teaching.

            “Junior high is hard because there is so much going on in junior high. In high school, you get here and the kids have a personality. That is what makes it so great. Every kid is their own person,” Ryan said.

Ryan then shared a fact about herself that she has not revealed to students until now.

“I love to dance and I have not told my kids that. I told them that I like basketball, which is true I love basketball. However I also love to dance, any style and any time. I am all about dance,” Ryan said.

Ryan also expressed a preferred style of dance.

“I like hip-hop. Hip-hop is fun but being older now, hip-hop is not an option as much so I am a zumba girl. I do zumba and it is a blast,” Ryan said.

Basic Bio of Amanda Ryan:

Teaching background: Ryan’s mother is an elementary school teacher and Ryan has been involved with little kids her entire life. Oftentimes, Ryan would volunteer to help with the elementary school children.

Subject of teaching: Algebra II and Pre-AP Algebra II

High school attended: Rogers

Outside interests and activities: Basketball, dance, hip hop, zumba