Teacher Talk with Kayleigh Patinella

Teacher+Talk+with+Kayleigh+Patinella

By Kayla Sweeney

In this teacher talk we are going to be talking to Kayleigh Patinella. Patinella is an English teacher here at Huntley High School. She teaches English 2 and English 3 blended. This is her second year teaching here at hhs. 

Patinella was born in Naperville Illinois and went to Prairie Ridge High School. For college, she went to the University of Illinois. She enjoys teaching here at HHS because of the blended program, her awesome students, and her coworkers. 

Patinella says her coworkers are very uplifting and makes it easy to collaborate with them. She says “they are more than coworkers they are friends.”
Some of her future goals are to get her masters degree and to be an instructional coach. An instructional coach is someone who helps in the professional development of teachers. 

Patinella’s largest adversity in her career was when she got out of college she did not get a job right away. 

“It was difficult to get rejected but I persevered and kept moving,” Patinella said.

 Her dad was there for her during this time and throughout her entire life. He is Patinella’s biggest inspiration because “he is the most selfless person I know.” 

She says he has always been there for her and her sister no matter what. Patinella is very close with her sister; they talk every day and stay close despite their distance. 

I have had Patinella as a teacher and you can really tell she cares about her students education and about them personally. She takes the time to get to know her students. Her passion for teaching is strong from the detailed haiku calendar to the fun activities we get to do in class. 

Patinella makes learning fun and organized while still learning so much and doing a lot of beneficial work. Patinella also is very resourceful and helpful if you go to her with a question she will give you all the tools you need to get an answer to your question. 

Patinella is an awesome teacher at HHS and I am excited to see where her career takes her. That is it for this teacher talk!