Being an English teacher and having two dogs is a huge hassle, but Shauna Shiff can handle it! On top of that, she also is a mother of two boys. Shiff is an English teacher and this is her first year at FHS.
Shiff has been teaching since 2015, first as a substitute, then as an instructional assistant and now as an English teacher. Shiff states her students are the reason she continues teaching, saying, “Teaching is really fun when you see the light bulb moment when kids [understand] … for example I teach my kids how to use a semicolon and it’s so cute to see all these essays coming in and semicolons in them.” After ending her middle school teaching career at Marshall Middle School she now works as an English teacher at FHS.
Other than teaching, she has many hobbies! Shiff said, “ I have [two] dogs and I love to play with my puppy I just got this summer … I also have two boys so I help them and I love to go hiking and I bake a lot!” Shiff grew up in a small town so she naturally had to become close with her teachers, her favorites being her 5th and 7th grade teachers. “…they were just the best because they made you feel like you were an individual and belonged,” Shiff said.
Teaching is a difficult profession, and many kids look up to their teachers for inspiration. However, Shiff said “ I don’t think people understand how much work is put into it and it can be demoralizing when you put all this care into preparing something really neat and you think your [students] are gonna love it, and they’re lackluster, but that’s just the nature of being an adult and being a young adult.”
Lots of students have experienced bad and good days at work or in school, but teachers have those days too… “If I’m having a bad day [yes], but most of the time it’s great… teaching is the best job when it’s going well but if it’s a hard day, it can be very unpleasant.” Teaching is a difficult job that most people don’t see all the work put into, but Shiff doesn’t let that bring her down and is going to try her best to make English fun for all her students!
