Making Her Way Up: New Foreign Language Teacher Joins NHS

By Shylah Hansen, Staff Writer

Mrs. Scannell, formally known as Ms. DeMorais, is one of the new Foreign Language teachers here at Norwood High School, having moved from her previous position at Coakley Middle Middle School. Along with English, she speaks Spanish and Portuguese. She currently teaches college prep and honors Spanish for all grades, and could not be happier with her job; she loves teaching and says she “love[s] being around kids.” 

Mrs. Scannell’s reason why she moved up to the high school, was that she “wanted to try it out and see if [she] would like teaching at the high school.” As it’s only been two weeks so far, she doesn’t know whether she enjoys it here better than the middle school. 

Although she is a new teacher at the high school, she doesn’t forget her past where she had taught at two other schools: Foxborough and Coakley Middle School. Mrs. Scannell expresses that the difference between teaching at the high school compared to the middle school is that the “kids are more accountable for their words” and are “more serious.” 

The high school is much bigger than either of the middle schools, but Mrs. Scannell doesn’t disregard the fact that she does miss teaching at the middle schools, as well as the staff and the friends she’s made at her time there. 

Mrs. Scannell is not completely new to teaching, and she reveals from her own experiences that teaching has not changed much since her start in 2016. Before becoming a teacher, Mrs. Scannell used to be a paralegal, as she describes as the person who “does all the work for the lawyer.” Although, she definitely enjoys her job now more than what it used to be, and she recommends becoming a teacher because she describes teaching as “a meaningful job” and that she’s “excited to go to work everyday.”

Mrs. Scannell has set goals for herself as a teacher for her first year here: “To make sure the kids are learning and make sure [she’s] doing [her] job to the best of [her] ability” while also being able to “make a difference in kids’ lives.” 

Mrs. Scannell briefly explained that her teaching philosophy is to “make sure I’m making a difference in the world everyday.”

Additional information about Mrs. Scannell is that she attended Walpole High School and Southern New Hampshire University and her favorite place to visit is Brazil because,as Mrs. Scannell recalls, “it reminds me of my childhood.”