Walking into room 926 you’ll see a class full of students engaging in lively conversation about their current classroom read. And, if you glance at the front you’ll see Ms. Schiff diligently grading hand-written essays.
Currently, in her 11th year at River Dell, Ms. Schiff teaches both 10th grade English level classes, is head coach for the varsity cheerleaders in the fall and winter seasons, and is the class advisor for the class of 2026.
After graduating from New Milford High School and attending Rider University, she began working at Elmwood Park, West Essex Regional High School, Palisades High School, New Milford Middle school and Mahwa High School.
After working at so many different schools and teaching different grade levels, Ms. Schiff agrees that her favorite content to teach is, “the 10th grade content because American literature is my favorite thing to teach and I’m very excited to get to teach it at River Dell!”
Reading and analyzing the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is what she is most excited about teaching in this 10th grade curriculum. If they have time, the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is another project she hopes to embark on with her students.
After teaching English for so many years, Ms. Schiff has remarked that her favorite things about teaching English is getting her students to discuss amongst themselves while being able to piggyback off each other’s ideas and being confident enough to develop their own thoughts and concepts.
Chloe Tsao, a sophomore who has been taking Honors English with Ms. Schiff for two consecutive years, commented that one of the most important lessons she has learnt from her is, “You’re not always going to do well so you have to improve but you have to work for it, so if you want to be better and do better, you have to work for it and that’s really helped me grow and I’m very grateful for her,”
Ms. Schiff also happens to be the junior class advisor and very much enjoys this responsibility. She mentioned that this is a very busy time for them because they have Junior Prom coming up as well as a snow tubing trip and a Medieval Times trip. When asked what she’s enjoyed from her time so far she said, “being able to watch them grow and become more involved within the school is exciting”.
In addition to her responsibilities as one the 10th grade English teachers and junior class advisor, Ms. Schiff is also the head coach for varsity cheerleading team in the fall and winter seasons, which she recently took over this year. She mentions that, “It’s been really nice to start putting my own thumbprints on this program,”
She is very proud of the work that her, the coaches, and her athletes have done from July to February and how much they have grown and achieved through “established and clearer practices.” Especially working on many new and challenging skills have helped them perform very well such as the switch down switch up and the back handspring up.
A big part of being able to work so well as team, can be credited to the coach-athlete relationship between the cheerleaders and Coach Schiff. As she’s put it, “I will always have their backs and support them… my door is always open, if they ever need anything and I hope they know that I’m there and I’ll support them 10,000 percent,”
Maddie Krieger, a current junior on the varsity cheerleading team, who has been with Coach Schiff for three years now also mentioned that, “She’s taught me not to, like, settle and to always want to be the best you can be and she’s very good at motivating us and like giving us confidence and telling us she’s proud of us.”
Her goals for the future of the cheerleading team is to be able to division champions and to stay in the top eight for as many years as possible and to “maintain and/or elevate” from where they currently are.
Ms. Schiff’s 11th and 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Barb Collentine, is the woman she admires the most due to her mentorship and inspiration. Ms. Schiff has stated that she, “changed my world… She opened my eyes to a completely different world of literature and made me want to become a teacher, the best teacher I could be. Like, she’s hands down the most inspirational person.” They still keep in touch to this day and she is someone who Ms. Schiff can always turn to when she needs to.
Outside of River Dell, Ms. Schiff enjoys spending her free time reading and shopping. One of her most recent reads is, Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne, which she highly recommends and recalls it being, “mind blowing and so interesting. It just completely shook my world.”
Ms. Schiff, who is a wonderful member of the River Dell staff, works arduously every day to help transform her students into confident and fearless writers and her cheerleaders into stronger and even more skilled athletes.
