ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICE PROGRAMS:
The Department of Human Service Programs (DHSP) creates and coordinates services that enhance the quality of life for Cambridge residents. Driven by the needs of residents, DHSP’s extensive services and programs touch almost every sector in the city: from newborns to senior citizens, from school-aged children to homeless families, from non-profit organizations to local employers.
ABOUT THE ROLE:
The Afterschool Assistant Teacher will, in partnership with the Head Teacher and Teacher, provide out of school time programing that promotes children’s social-emotional learning as well as enhance their school-day learning in a safe, nurturing, and inclusive environment.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Actively engaging with the children as a caring and respectful adult, facilitating their play, responding with sensitivity to their needs, helping them to remember and observe the limits of the program.
Assist the Head Teacher and Teacher with the overall supervision of the classroom, be aware of the environment and alert to situations that may result in conflicts between children and/or those which may be unsafe.
Participate in the development of curriculum plans, as schedule permits.
Assist in conducting activities in curriculum areas such as art, music, sports, science, and games.
Share responsibility for snack preparation and clean up.
Supervise children’s outdoor play and assist in the supervision of field trips.
Participate in weekly staff meetings with the Head Teacher and Teacher.
Provide care of children during parent meetings (held 2-3 times a year).
Pick up children at bus stops or classrooms (depending on need).
Participate in ongoing program quality improvement efforts, including classroom observations, debriefs of observations, action planning, participation in a peer learning community and other professional development trainings.
Maintain a neat classroom environment, including daily cleaning of classroom (sweeping, vacuuming, mopping of spills, etc. and periodic major clean-up). Help to build in children’s regular participation in the clean-up and maintenance of the classroom into the program structure.
Be available for extended hours during early release days, school vacation weeks and other afterschool full day programing.
Actively engaging in and supporting the Department’s Race and Equity Initiative.
May perform other duties as assigned.
Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Applicant must successfully pass the EEC background record check process, which includes a CORI, SORI, DCF check, and fingerprinting.
Education and Experience
Be at least 18 years of age.
First Aid and CPR certification preferred or must complete training within 6 months of hire date.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Have an interest and ability to work with children.
The City of Cambridge's workforce, like the community it serves, is diverse. Applicants must have the ability to work and interact effectively with individuals and groups with a variety of identities, cultures, backgrounds, and ideologies.
Preferred qualifications:
Additional training and experience preferred.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS, WORKING CONDITIONS, WORK FLEXIBILITY AND ACCOMODATIONS:
Be agile in their movements; moving quickly from sitting on the floor to standing, to kneeling so as to be at the child’s eye level. Employees may have to run after children, both in play and to respond to an emergency.
Be able to hear children who speak in a soft voice or mumble words when distressed.
Be able to use their hands and arms to move, reach, handle, and manipulate objects in the classroom. This includes moving furniture once a year when room is re-organized.
Be able to occasionally lift and/or move a child.
Vision abilities are required for the supervision of children.
The noise level in work environment is moderately to very loud. The work environment includes classroom and outdoor playgrounds and occasional field trips.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS:
Please upload the following documents to complete your application:
Resume
Cover Letter
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, a nexus of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Notably, Cambridge is home to two internationally prominent universities, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. According to a 2008 census estimate the city population was 105,594. It is the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. Cambridge is one of the two county seats of Middlesex County (Lowell is the other).
The site for what would become Cambridge was chosen in December 1630, because it was located safely up river from Boston Harbor, which made it easily defensible from attacks by enemy ships. The first houses were built in the spring of 1631. The settlement was initially referred to as "the newe towne". Official Massachusetts records show the name capitalized as Newe Towne by 1632. Located at the first convenient Charles River crossing west of Boston, Newe Towne was one of a number of towns (including Boston, Dorchester, Watertown, and Weymouth) founded by the 700 original Puritan colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony under governor John Winthrop. The original village site is in the heart of today's Harvard Square. The marketplace where farmers brought in crops from surrounding towns to sell survives today as the small park at the corner of John F. Kennedy (J.F.K.) and Winthrop Streets, then at the edge of a salt marsh, since filled.
