Mrs. Shanley

Mrs. Shanley, to me, is one of the most influential, kind, and motivating staff members here at Kenmore West. I believe that even though she seems tucked away in her little fourth-floor corner, her work should not go unrecognized. Mrs. Shanley has been teaching for twelve years, three of which were here in our Ken West special ed department, teaching English. She says she loves teaching special education classes because she appreciates their small class sizes and can build deeper connections with her students due to this. Before coming to West, she also taught for nine years at Cheektowaga Central High School, where she coached their JV volleyball team for six of those years.

Mrs. Shanley graduated from City Honors High School with an IB diploma! She later graduated from the University of Rochester with an English degree.  She says that coming out of college, she completely winged it. She made a bet to herself that if she got into graduate school, she would continue down the teaching path, and otherwise she would move back to Australia, where she studied abroad during her Junior year. I’m personally very thankful that everything worked out the way it did because I'm not sure what I would do without her. 

Mrs. Shanley says that she believes good attributes of a teacher are empathy, reliability, approachability, and being there for kids, socially, academically, physically, and emotionally. In my experience, Mrs. Shanley possesses all of these qualities and beyond. Her amusing sense of humor and pure positivity are a few of my favorites. However, in addition to being a fantastic teacher, Mrs. Shanley, or Coach Ally, as I know her better by, is also an amazing volleyball coach.. 

Coach Ally has been assistant coaching the Varsity Girls Volleyball team here at West for the last two years. Her true passion and love for the sport really shines through while she is coaching.  She brings a great energy to the court. She says that volleyball has been a part of her life since she was eleven and she really enjoys seeing the joy in other young people playing. Her coaching is motivating, and everything she does is so inspiring. She always has something uplifting or positive to say and is always the first to give me a high-five when coming off the court. She understands and has the perfect balance of giving corrections and helping us become the best that we can be without only focusing on negatives. Most of my favorite memories are from practices when Coach Ally took the lead or the mini-conversations on the sideline during a game. I appreciate her for everything she does in the classroom and in the gym, and I can’t wait for one more season and school year with Mrs. Shanley. So, thank you, Coach Ally, for all that you do!