Alissa Amato is many things at Cardozo High School. She is a social studies teacher, a law teacher, and the advisor for the Moot Court. The subject she teaches the most at Cardozo is law. 

From organizing trips so people in the law program can learn new things about the criminal justice system to making her students learn new things in her class, Ms. Amato works hard at giving the students a full education on law and ethics. The class is very informative and gives students a new perspective on all things law. 

Ms. Amato’s interest in law started when she was just a kid. “I liked talking, arguing, reasoning, trying to think rationally, trying to win a case or argument. I was always interested from when I was a kid,” she shared.

When asked how she also got her interest in teaching, she replied, “Teaching was something I was always interested in also as a kid. I would play school all the time and I would be the teacher.”

“Also I liked learning different things and I loved college, law school, etc. My family would always joke that I’m a permanent student. All my teachers made teaching look easy so I thought it would be easy too but it’s not. definitely can be a hard job,” she explained.

Ms. Amato wants her students to learn so many things from her class like trial skills, advocacy skills, trying to do what’s right, and standing up for something right and just. She also shared that she wants her students to understand that not everything is perfect in society, people make mistakes, people deserve second chances, and to treat people better.

“Treating people better will make society better,” she said.

Ms. Amato plans to stay teaching law at Cardozo until she is ready to retire. And then, she will be “going on a cruise around the world!”