About Me
I’m a 4th grade teacher at The Park School in Brookline, MA. I grew up on a small farm in 
Hopkinton, NH where I spent much of my time climbing trees, riding horses, playing in the barn, or skiing at Pats Peak. After Bowdoin College and five summers working with horses and children on a ranch in Montana, I found my way to Bank Street College of Education (where I wrote my thesis designing a recycling program that can be downloaded here) and then to Park where I’m in my eighth year as a homeroom teacher.
I’m concerned about the environment and am committed to doing what I can to help. I also want help teachers understand our role in shaping the next generation in a way that addresses these problems. We teachers need to redefine “citizenship” to include taking care of our community by protecting the natural world. This is a broader definition of “citizenship” than currently used in most schools. I search for and flesh out hands-on environmental projects for kids to take part in to help nature and to know they can make a real difference in the world. Projects like this Catalog Canceling Challenge, recycling, composting, and others empower children and allow them to be part of the answer. This is satisfying and comforting to them.
I’m new to making websites (this is my first), but have been making internet videos for several years. These videos can be found at www.TedWells.tv. I helped organize and film Step It Up Boston in April of 2007 and do occasional video work for the Boston Climate Action Network. I also write for The Huffington Post GREEN Page. But mostly I teach math, language arts, and social studies (we study Ancient Greece) with 9- and 10-year-olds. Teaching is what I love most.
I find inspiration from Al Gore, Bill McKibben, and David Orr, and from relatives going back three generations working to help the environment. I constantly draw on the technological know-how, green wisdom, and good spelling of my wife, Anna Wells. Our dog Penny is my closest connection to nature and one of my best friends!
Most of all, I stay up late tinkering with videos, lesson plans, and this website for my students, and for all children, as they will be inheriting this warming world from us. I want to do my small part protect it for them. I’m especially driven to help the environment for Coley, my eleven-month-old son.
If you have questions email CatalogCancelingChallenge@gmail.com, and thanks for considering this project.
- Ted Wells, Jamaica Plain, MA