English teacher Camilla Moody did not plan to go into teaching. She went to college to become a journalist, but got married and had children right out of school, so she stayed home with her first child. 

“I was a stay-at-home mom,” Moody said. “I had a friend who needed an ESL teacher at Ivy Tech College teaching adults, and I was not working, so I said, ‘I will help you out and teach one class.’”

The class she helped with was at night, and Moody fell in love with teaching but especially with teaching English as a second language

“I loved it so much I decided to go back to school to get my teaching license and then I got my license and started teaching in high school,” Moody said.  

That was 23 years ago. Lucky for LN, Moody stayed in the profession and this year was recognized as LN’s teacher of the year. 

“I was not expecting it,” Moody said. “It feels really rewarding to be recognized. It feels good that other people are recognizing the hard work I put in.” 

Being teacher of the year was something that Moody says she was able to experience due to her colleagues  being such a great support system. Social Studies teacher Chelsey McClelland nominated her for the award. 

“With a growing ML (multilingual learner) population here at Lawrence North I feel like she has provided me with techniques and strategies I need to be a better teacher for all my students,” McClelland said. 

Twelve years ago, Moody came to LN to work with multilingual learners. These students either are learning English as a new language or grew up in the US knowing two or more languages.  

Like most teachers, even Moody runs out of time every now and then. 

“The most challenging thing about my job is finding the time to do everything, it’s challenging because in the nine months of the school year there are a lot of lessons and paperwork , It’s just hard to find time.” 

Even though teaching is a time-consuming job, Moody loves it. 

“What I like most about my job is working with students. It feels good watching students and I like learning from each other. Just watching students succeed is rewarding,” she said.