The featured video of the week for Hamilton County Schools is Colleen Ryan’s selection as the Toyota Family Teacher of the Year. Toyota’s partner the National Center For Families Learning (NCFL) produced the video featuring the Rivermont Elementary kindergarten teacher. Toyota and NCFL surprised Ms.
Ryan with the announcement in front of a student assembly at Rivermont.
Toyota and NCFL selected Ms. Ryan for her work in the community on the mobile classroom called “The Passage,” which is a retired school bus painted red and filled with learning activities for children and families. Ms. Ryan and her partner Brittany Harris, an academic coach in Hamilton County Schools, started the classroom on wheels program to help children and families outside of the regular school day. The mobile learning experience works with children and their parents on the bus. “The Passage” offers 20-minute lessons in math, science, and literacy. Parents and students build a notebook full of strategies, games, and resources that can be used later to help children study.
Toyota will recognize Ms. Ryan at the annual NCFL Families Learning Conference in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 5. The conference convenes experts from across the nation in education, policy, and family and parent engagement to share information on multigenerational approaches to learning.
The Toyota Family Teacher of the Year award is in its 23rd year of recognizing educators who engage students and their families in education.