Headshot of Ms. Smith

Shanelle Smith

High School Math Teacher

Bachelor's Degree, Ball State University; Master's Degree, Teaching, University of Louisville; currently pursuing Education Specialist degree, Southern Illinois University

Shanelle Smith began teaching at Iowa Connections Academy in 2023. The online school allows her to work with a broad range of students every day. “I enjoy being able to talk with students from all areas of Iowa,” she says, each of whom has different interests, each of whom learns in a different way. She welcomes the responsibility of figuring out the best way for “students to grow within the comfort of their [own] environment.”

Seeing That Lightbulb Come on

Ms. Smith’s professional path has been clear to her as long as she can remember. “I have always known I wanted to be a teacher,” she says, “from a very young age.” She also understands why: “There is something magical about being able to help guide someone in their learning,” she says. Her favorite moment is when a challenging concept begins to make sense for a student, when she gets “to see that lightbulb come on.”

Preparing Students for a Digital World

Iowa Connections Academy offers students unique opportunities to learn and to engage with each other, opportunities that aren’t typically part of the traditional brick-and-mortar curriculum. “The world we live in is all digital,” Ms. Smith says. “Being able to work in a digital world and interact with people online in a professional and safe manner is going to be more and more important.”

In her honors math class, Ms. Smith asks students “to develop their own project by asking AI to connect our math standard with something they are interested in.” It’s an example of how the flexible curriculum at Iowa Connections is perfectly suited to a world that is evolving more rapidly than ever before. 

“I already have had two students who expressed how this has changed their perspective,” Ms. Smith explains proudly. “Math can relate to their interests, and they are excited by that.”

There is something magical about being able to help guide someone in their learning.

— Ms. Smith