For three decades, I have worked in charter public schools – currently at the Community Charter School of Cambridge. What I’ve enjoyed the most about my work is that I’ve had the flexibility to do something a bit different in each of those 30 years.
As I begin my 31st year teaching and eighth at CCSC, I am still having those back-to-school August dreams. Those dreams of anticipation and anxiety are just one of the many parts of the school year cycle that I love. What an amazing job, where every year you go through that same cycle in new ways with new people.
I have taught art and multiage K-2 classrooms, served as an elementary school principal and Title 1 director and now have gone back to art instruction and family engagement work. Throughout this time, I’ve cherished working closely with the families. Though my titles and responsibilities have changed, my goals haven’t. I believe in a school community rooted in love. Building a beautiful school culture centered on community and fostered by a sense of common purpose is not only joyful, but leads to strong outcomes in learning and life. Through my work at charter public schools, I feel fortunate to say I have been part of teams doing that for 30-plus years.
I had an unconventional start to my teaching career. In 1994, the year before the South Shore Charter Public School opened its doors, I was teaching art to middle school boys at what was then the Hynes School on Thompson Island in Boston Harbor. Katy, my spouse, and I learned about the founding of South Shore from friends who were part of the group involved in developing the school. South Shore was a school founded by families, and our two young children, then in kindergarten and first grade, attended from the start. In those early days, we were a shoestring operation and families helped out with everything. After two days, one of the classroom teachers quit and I came in to sub, and in a short time the other teachers recommended I be hired full time.Three decades later, I am still teaching.
One important aspect of my experience at charter public schools has been the emphasis on building a strong sense of cohesion and belonging. Schools are group enterprises, and it takes a whole system of adults to make a place great for students and their families. Developing relationships with families and working alongside them to understand their children in a trusting, collaborative way leads to positive outcomes for their children.
One consistent idea that has been central to the schools I’ve been a part of has been the emphasis on student happiness, not as a bonus but as a foundation for learning. For me the highest goal is to help students feel that they are part of something meaningful right now, in the moment. When students feel seen, heard and connected to their learning, they not only engage, but thrive. While I like to think about everything in terms of the collective rather than my own personal influence, I cherish it when students tell me that they have enjoyed a class or a volunteering experience.
A special aspect of working at the Community Charter School of Cambridge has been partnering with the amazing network of afterschool programs, community organizations and social services here in Cambridge. These community organizations play a powerful role in giving students a sense of belonging and of being part of something larger than themselves. Over the past eight years, I’ve had the privilege of developing a partnership between the school and Food for Free. I love Food For Free, as it works to expand access to healthy food to families through multiple programs and am grateful to the city of Cambridge for supporting it with monthly free markets at several schools.
In addition to hosting a market at CCSC, we’ve had the opportunity to bring student volunteers to markets at the Kennedy-Longfellow School and Fletcher Maynard Academy. The students and I cherish these opportunities to be part of this important program. When we go, it is a joy to watch the elementary school teachers and other adults who knew them in their elementary school years beam with pride to see former students. These interactions are an important reminder that the group enterprise of schools can extend beyond each individual school building and that we are all important pieces of the extended community that nurtures our students’ sense of belonging and agency.
I am proud to have been a part of the charter school movement in Massachusetts since its inception. It has remained not only meaningful work, but genuinely fun. That joy comes from being part of something larger than myself, a collaborative effort among educators, students and families working together toward the shared goals of learning and building a community. I get a feeling of deep satisfaction when seeing middle schoolers grow into high school graduates, and in being trusted by families to play a role in students’ lives. That sense of continuity and connection is a joy.
Being a charter school teacher hasn’t just been my job. It has been a huge part of my life. I still show up every day, still laugh with students, still believe in what we’re doing. And that belief and deep sense of pride is what’s kept me in the profession for three decades. I look forward to my remaining time teaching.
Ted Hirsch
The writer is a recruitment and outreach coordinator and art teacher at the Community Charter School of Cambridge.
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