Afterschool Assistant Teacher

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.