Ryan Burns is a 2019-20 Teach Plus Rhode Island Policy Fellow. Ryan teaches English at Smithfield High School in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and in the English and Educational Studies Departments at Rhode Island College. He and his students in the Gender/Sexuality Alliance are committed to combating homophobia and transphobia in school and were recently awarded funding for LGBTQ+ inclusive programming. Ryan is also a Rhode Island Writing Project Teacher Consultant and mentors preservice and beginning teachers. His co-authored work has appeared in Educators Queering Academia: Critical Memoirs (2016) and Acts of Resistance: Subversive Teaching in the English Language Arts Classroom (2020). Ryan graduated from Rhode Island College with his BA in Secondary English Education and MA in English, earned his MEd and certification in Educational Leadership from American College of Education, and is completing his EdD in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education from Indiana University.
