Second grade teacher, Patricia Galli, comes to us from Toronto, Canada. She and her boyfriend of four years moved to West Hollywood last year in search of adventure, and Ms. Galli found herself drawn to the elementary school across the street from her new apartment. Following a whim, the Canadian teacher found her way into Principal Newlin’s office, applied for a teaching job, and wound up as one of our beloved educators almost immediately.
Having been raised by loving and supportive parents who encouraged her always to do what she most loves to do, Ms. Galli adheres to the philosophy that children flourish and thrive when they are learning about what they most love and care for. Because of this, Ms. Galli takes time to get to know each of her students intimately, making sure she knows what is most important to each of them and what they love the most, so that she can incorporate these things into her lesson plans. Her goal is to make her classroom so compelling and relatable to each child that each one is enthusiastic about coming to school each day to learn something new. Fellow second grade teacher Ms. Fann enjoys both working with and learning from Ms. Galli. “Ms. Galli is good at asking her students great questions. She’s a natural at teaching. Her attitude is always positive and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the kids get the best they can get.”
Ms. Galli’s parents were not surprised when she told them she’d decided to become an elementary school teacher. They reminded her that she’d been babysitting practically since she still needed a babysitter herself! After receiving a diploma in Early Childhood Education from Humber College in Toronto, Canada, Ms. Galli attended York University, also in Toronto, and earned an honors degree in Psychology. She later earned her Teaching Certificate from D’Youville College in Buffalo, New York. Ms. Galli has always loved children and feels right at home in her job as a teacher. She is deeply grateful to have the opportunity to work with her students in such a creative, innovative way. She loves the philosophy of LFCSA and is profoundly impressed with the level of devotion and participation she experiences from the parents. In all of her years of teaching, she has never come across a parental body more invested and involved in their children’s education than here at LFCSA. Laughingly, she comments that she has yet to sharpen a pencil in her classroom!
When asked to describe something unique and maybe even a little quirky about herself, Ms. Galli is reluctant at first, insisting that she is just an ordinary person. Yet, after a pause, she remembers the solo backpacking trip to Southeast Asia she made right after college. A lover of elephants, Ms. Galli had heard about an “Elephant Camp.” There she spent two whole weeks living, breathing, eating, and sleeping with the elephants of Thailand before heading on to Italy and France. Someone with that kind of adventurous spirit is just the kind of person we want teaching at our school. Thank you, Ms. Galli, for sharing your love for life so infectiously with our precious children.
