Hanlon begins new career as a Middle School STEAM teacher, integrating former career experience in architecture and urban planning
Ryan Hanlon has had a varied career. Growing up, he says, he was more of the "art student," and in college he trained as an architect. Fresh out of architecture school at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he worked for years as an urban planner for Harvard University. He then got a Master of Architecture at the University of Texas, and moved to Chicago to work on international buildings, designing iconic, sustainable skyscrapers in Boston, Chicago, Dubai, and China. Then, he says, things moved in a completely different direction.
"My decision to become a teacher was like a constant knock at the door," says Hanlon. "I love sharing ideas and discoveries, and I love listening to what others discover. I am a constant learner." In architecture, he says he learned various new technologies to stay current and evolve, and found joy in tackling problems.
Also, during his time in Chicago, while obtaining his architecture license, he became a one-on-one math tutor. He tutored for 5 years, mostly with one math-shy student, with whom he remains in touch. It was this experience, he says, wherein the teacher became the student, learning what his next step should be. Hanlon is emphatic that, in his decision to become a teacher, he is not a "career changer," but has, he says, simply "evolved to utilize my skills and experience in a middle school setting."
Enrolling in Lesley's M.Ed. in Middle School Mathematics program seemed like a natural fit: through working in architecture alongside some of the best living architects, such as James Goettsch, Lucien Lagrange, Smith & Gill, and Alejandro Stochetti, he says, "I was able to see STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics] through a disciplinary lens."
Shortly before graduating, Hanlon had the honor of receiving an award from the Massachusetts Educational Recruiting Consortium (MERC), which "acknowledges the professional aspirations of an outstanding educator, counselor, and/or administrator as well as provides assistance to the new professional."
True to his plan, he got a teaching job. He started in 2016 at Swampscott Middle School, in a school system he describes as "a wonderfully progressive school district by the sea." He is a math enrichment teacher and STEAM specialist, teaching 7th and 8th grade students who need more time to develop their core math competencies.
He teaches robotics and recently developed a class based on developing students' spatial and digital skills simultaneously. "The class, 3D Modeling and Prototypes, will engage students in measuring, 3D Modeling, 3D Printing, and then comparing, analyzing, and assessing reasons for similarities and differences. I plan to use the great honor of being a MERC award and scholarship recipient to expand technology and 21st Century skill-building in my classroom. I have many goals and ideas on how to use technology to improve both enrichment and STEAM curricula."