By: Ella Thomas and Jessica Chow, staff writers
Teaching high school students was not part of Ms. Moffett’s plan. She began her masters program in 1997 with hopes of later getting her PHD so she could become a Literature professor but she noticed her undergraduate classes she was assigned did not have basic writing skills. She was passionate about fixing this issue therefore she left her masters program and began the process of getting her teaching credential.
While she was getting her teaching credential in 1999 Ms. Moffett was assigned as a student teacher to Galileo. During this time there was a need for part time teachers, and her master teacher suggested she apply. She taught three English 1 classes at the start, but has taught every level of English except for AP English. She also designed a composition class while at Galileo, with the help of another teacher, because she felt the early curriculum only focused on literature. This class focused on writing, but has now been removed because writing is now included in the curriculum.
Even though she is known as an English teacher, Ms. Moffett also previously taught AVID. But because she felt she was teaching too many subjects, she ended up dropping her section of AVID to focus on her English classes.
Along with teaching English classes, Ms. Moffett is also the English teacher for the Health Academy pathway. In 2004, Former Vice Principal Ms. Pesek suggested for her to become the Health Academy English teacher, because Mr. McDowell needed a partner teacher. Ms. Moffett only agreed to partner with Mr. McDowell after she went on a trip to China with him during spring break and the they became friends.
Although she has been working at Galileo for 20 years, she did take a gap year at the end of 2018 to teach at a different school. She moved to a different district because after being at Galileo for her entire teaching career, she thought she was becoming stagnant. However, being at the other school made her realize how much she loved and missed Galileo, particularly the school’s diversity.
Over her years at Galileo, Ms. Moffett has enjoyed being exposed to different religions, races, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc. She loves how community driven this school is, like how there is Song and Yell and the Multicultural Assembly.
The relationships she has created at Galileo has been one of Ms. Moffett’s favorite things about being a teacher. Ms. Moffett says, “Even if I am teaching the same thing, students always show me something new and make me think things that I didn’t think of before.”
