Hana Wanas and Israa Malhouni also contributed to this article.
Paul Doucette, a new history teacher, is returning to Malden High School.
Doucette originally worked at MHS in 2017. He left to teach history to 7th graders in his hometown of Saugus, MA. He has brought a sense of enthusiasm and passion to the history department in the past couple of months.
When Doucette was first hired at Malden High, he worked with students experiencing behavioral challenges. Doucette believes that despite the challenges it was all worth it to be able to help students. “What inspires me is just being able to even help one child have a better day…it keeps me going every day,” he said.
“He did great work when he was here, impressed a lot of people…the students absolutely loved him,” expressed Chris Mastrangelo, Malden High School’s principal.
While the gap between 7th graders and 9th graders is not much, Doucette seems to believe that there is a big difference in the maturity levels. Compared to his time teaching middle schoolers, he feels that teaching freshmen has provided a better experience for him. “I feel very lucky. I feel very fortunate because even my worst day here so far has been so much better than some of the days that I could have had at the middle school level,” he said.
Doucette has shown his desire to be able to connect with students and be a safe space for them. “When I see other students and how they view some of the teachers that they’ve had, it’s someone that they’re so excited to see. They really made an impact on their lives. I’m hoping by this year, I could be on that level and have made some sort of impact in any of my student’s lives, and that would kind of make me feel like this year was a success,” Doucette expressed.
It appears that Doucette has already started becoming successful in this goal. “He’s very willing to assist students wherever they are…he’ll go that extra mile here to ensure that every student can access the material and succeed. He’s already built many connections with students who go to him for everything,” said Kurtis Scheer, the lead history teacher.
Mr. Finnegan, a fellow history teacher and long-time friend of Doucette’s, also believes that Doucette has been a great teacher and support for students. “I think he’s a great teacher for freshmen because he’s so patient, kind, caring, and understanding,” said Finnegan.
“He’s always able to make some sort of connection with students and he’s really good at getting students interested in the content he’s covering in class,” Finnegan concluded.
