There are two more rounds after her current round that she would have to win to get the top prize. Winners are picked by votes online. The grand prize winner is expected to be announced around May 31.
“I like competing because I’m doing it with my students,” Shannon said. “So, they always have them up on their laptop and they get excited. Like we check every day and like they go home and vote with their parents.”
Shannon said she is on her fifth year of teaching at Kiser Elementary, a rarity in Dayton, which has a high teacher turnover rate. Kiser Elementary is in northeast Dayton in the Old North Dayton neighborhood.
“I’ve truly just fallen in love with the student culture there,” she said. “Like in my class this year, I have nine languages and 11 countries represented.”
She has taught fourth grade for most of those years and had one year when she taught first grade.
Now, Shannon wants to continue her education and get a master’s degree so she can become a principal. She said she originally didn’t want to be a principal, but as she found out how principals could help students with additional resources, she decided to apply to get her master’s degree.
“I really just really want to work more closely with behaviors and resources and families and stuff,” Shannon said.
Becoming a teacher was also something she thought she wouldn’t do as a kid. She said she struggled in school, but that experience led her to education and making sure her students are having fun.
“My biggest goal was to make learning fun and for them to enjoy it and to realize why it’s so important,” Shannon said. “You can still have so much fun in education.”
Shannon applied to Western Governors University and has been accepted, but said she is worried about the cost. The $25,000 prize would go towards getting her master’s degree and help her pay some medical bills from recently having a baby, she said.
Shannon’s web page is americasfavteacher.org/2025/mallory-shannon.
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