Featured Teacher: Ryan Brown

Our Featured Teacher is Ryan Brown!

Where do you teach?

Queen of Peace Catholic Academy (QPCA)

What grade/age do you teach?

PK-8

How long have you been a teacher?

13 years

What subject do you teach?

Physical Education

Why were you inspired to teach?

My love for coaching baseball, and other youth sports, led me into teaching. Along with teaching physical education, I am also the head baseball coach at St. Francis Catholic Academy. I’ve spent the last 13 years coaching baseball for middle and high school, and this upcoming season will actually be my first season as a high school head coach. I’m super excited about it.

What is your favorite part of the school day?

My favorite part of the school day is when I get to see my son Jeb at school. His 1st grade class comes to me twice a week for P.E., and I also sometimes visit his class when they are at recess. I also enjoy sitting with him and his class at our weekly school mass. I’m super lucky to be able to teach at the school my kids attend. My daughter Emily will be joining us next year when she starts Pre-K at QPCA.

Do you have a favorite assignment/ project that you typically assign your students?

I’m super fortunate to be able to teach many of the same sports that I personally enjoy playing, and at QPCA we host a pretty awesome disc golf unit in my P.E. class. Between the school, and my own personal collection, we have a total of 7 baskets to make a temporary disc golf course on our school campus. I actually enjoy designing the course just as much as I do playing on it. We have a lot of parent volunteers that come in for this unit specifically because everyone loves it so much. Every now and then, I’ll make a really long shot and the kids will go wild. It makes me feel like a pro for five seconds.

How do you wind down from a long day of teaching?

Typically, I go straight to the baseball field after teaching. After that, though, I like to go home and wind down with my wife and kids, and enjoy a few laughs together.

What hobbies do you enjoy?

I love to play disc golf, go hunting, spend time with family and friends, and watch Gator sports. My favorite pro teams are the Atlanta Braves and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

When I was forced to do video classes during the COVID-19 pandemic — the positive feedback that I received about my videos from the students and parents let me know they were being entertained. I loved it. Every week I was excited to make the next video assignment. The series of videos all came to fruition when in my final video I became crowned as the mythical new #1 ranked P.E. Teacher in the State of Florida by FLOPECA (Florida P.E. Coaches Association). They gave me a championship belt and everything! That video is still available on YouTube. Go check it out!

If you were a superhero, who would you be?

I couldn’t come up with a legitimate answer for this one, so I asked my kids. My daughter Emily said I was Captain America, and my son Jeb said I was Spiderman. I also took an online quiz to see what superhero I would be, and it said Wonder Woman, lol.

What is your favorite book?

“The Natural” by Bernard Malamud; it’s a story about Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy.

1. Make a game out of it. It works all the time with my kids.
2. Every kid is different, and you have to adapt and find each kid’s individual strengths and reinforce them.
3. Teach with passion and energy and let the kids see how much you enjoy what you’re teaching them, and they will match your energy.

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