Meet Cara Moothart!
School: St. Nicholas of Tolentine
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Grade level: 2
Subject(s) taught: Self-contained classroom-Religion, Reading, Spelling, Social Studies, Science, Math, Art
Why you joined ENL: I joined ENL because I realized that I needed the ENL certification in order to truly serve the needs of my students. Since over 95% of the students in my classroom are learning English as a second language, I wanted to be able to utilize more appropriate instructional strategies to help them learn better. I know that my students can bring about change in our world and I wanted to be able to provide them with the language tools that they need to do this.
What you found to be most useful/fun/challenging, etc.. in going through the program: While the 2 weeks studying at Notre Dame over the summer were very intense and academically demanding, it was incredible to learn from the diverse teaching experiences of the rest of my classmates in the program. Though we are now spread across the country and very busy at our own schools, I have really appreciated being able to rely on such a dedicated network of teachers to test my ideas and ask for instructional advice through our weekly discussions.
The ENL program not only has helped me to become a better teacher to all of my students, it has challenged me to define my goals professionally and seek out leadership opportunities within my school and archdiocese. I have since become an active member in the National Association for Bilingual Education and look forward to helping the Catholic school system develop more dual language schools to serve the needs of our immigrant students.
