Mrs. Tiffany Chenault has four jobs: wife, mother of three, educator, and future published author. She has been working on a novel for three years.

Born and raised in Fort Smith, Mrs. Chenault also lived and went to school in Van Buren, Mountainburg, and Alma. After graduating from UAFS with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, Mrs. Chenault taught 6th grade all subjects for one year at Euper Lane Elementary School.

Her family first inspired Mrs. Chenault to become a teacher.

“I have always loved learning, and school was my safe haven as a child, so getting paid to be at school all day sounded like heaven! Mrs. Chenault said. “My family kept telling me to become a teacher, but I resisted at first, ‘Me? A teacher? No way!’ but I eventually gave in, and HERE I AM!”

The students always finding a way to make her laugh, even on her worst days, is what Mrs. Chenault likes the best about being here.

“They keep me coming to school every day,” Mrs. Chenault said. “The little phrases they say are so funny! The students have so much personality. For example, anytime I do something they don’t like, they say ‘Mrs. Chenault, you did us wrong!’”

Mrs. Chenault’s biggest challenge as a 6th grade Language Arts teacher has been the adjustment of going from 30 to 150 students per day.

“Keeping students engaged in reading is also hard because most of them haven’t developed a love for reading and writing yet,” Mrs. Chenault said.

A goal Mrs. Chenault has for her students is to leave her classroom reading more than they were when they came in.

“I took advice from Mrs. Grubbs and I have my students read the first 15 minutes of class,” Mrs. Chenault said. “We have also done several book tastings where students get a chance to read books they wouldn’t normally gravitate toward. Most of the time they like them!”

Outside of school, Mrs. Chenault enjoys listening to all kinds of music and spending time with her family.

“Lately I have been actually listening to audible more often than music,” Mrs. Chenault said. “I LOVE listening to young adult fantasy books! My current read is Finale, the 3rd book of the Caraval series. I have also been binge-watching: Supernatural and Chicago Med. With my family, we like to play video games, board games, or card games and also love to get out and explore by hiking, fishing, and going to see zoos and aquariums.”