Breakthrough Manchester School Year Teaching Internship 

What is Breakthrough Manchester’s School Year Program?

Breakthrough Manchester will select 13 high school juniors and seniors to serve as teachers, tutors, and mentors to our seventh and eighth-grade students during this school year.  Students selected for this opportunity provide support to our Breakthrough middle schoolers by teaching 50-minute classes and providing in-person tutoring on five specific “Super Saturdays,” as well as mentoring through monthly check-ins with students.  

Supported by professional staff, school year interns reinforce a love of learning with our Breakthrough seventh and eighth graders through Super Saturdays in November-April.  School year interns will tutor and mentor students individually.  

Check out the impact Breakthrough Teaching Internships/Fellowships have had!

The WHY

The Saturday sessions keep our middle school Breakthrough students connected with each other and keep them focused on the ultimate goal of attending college.  

For high school students who apply, the Breakthrough school-year internship can be an extraordinary opportunity to learn and practice the basic skills of teaching, public speaking, collaborative lesson planning and mentoring younger students. The leadership experience is unparalleled.  You will learn by doing.  We teach you and support you, but you will have a high degree of responsibility and autonomy. 

Teaching and mentoring at Breakthrough can be a life-changing experience for high school students, and it looks great on a college application, too!

Who We Select

Breakthrough Manchester will select approximately 13 teacher interns for the 2023-2024 school year!!

All applicants must be a junior or senior in high school and have a reliable device and internet connection on training days and Super Saturdays (please connect with BTM if this is an issue).

We look for applicants who demonstrate responsibility, academic diligence, a sense of fun, and a positive attitude.  

You do not need to have any prior experience teaching or tutoring, but you do need to like working with other people. In fact, we encourage any motivated junior or senior to apply, regardless of what they intend to study in college.  

The process is competitive; not everyone who applies will be accepted as teachers and mentors in the program.. 

Time Commitment

Breakthrough represents a significant commitment.  The application and selection process requires an online application, transcript, teacher recommendation, and a group interview/mock teaching exercise.

Applicants who are accepted attend several general training and preparation sessions first and then will devote approximately 50 hours to topic-specific training, practice, and direct work with students between November and April.  

Attendance is required at all trainings and scheduled Saturday sessions.  We do recognize that most high school students have busy schedules during the year, and we ask that you and your family make a good faith effort to plan ahead and make yourself as available as possible.  Specific deadlines and dates for the application process, training sessions, and Super Saturdays are listed below for the 2023-2024 school year.

Application and Selection Timeline

• September 6 – The School-Year Teaching Intern application goes live.
• October 2 – The School Year Teaching Intern application must be submitted online by 11:59 pm. All transcripts must be submitted by this date.
• October 6 – All applicants will be notified of their status by the end of the day and selected applicants will advance to the group interview.
• October 11 – Selected applicants will participate in the required group interview from 5:00-8:00 pm at The Derryfield School. The group interview includes participation in a group activity and the presentation of a 5-minute mock lesson.  More information will be provided to selected applicants in advance.
• October 19 – All applicants are notified of acceptance decisions.  See below for specific training and session dates. (Note: As part of the application process, all prospective teachers will be asked about their availability for all required dates through April.)

Orientation and Training

All selected teachers, notified of their selection on October 19, will attend three required training and orientation sessions.

• Session 1: Thursday, October 26 – 5:00-7:15 pm
• Session 2: Saturday, October 29 – 9:00-1:00 pm
• Session 3: Wednesday, November 01 – 5:00-7:15 pm

These trainings will provide you with essential teaching and classroom management techniques, introduce you to the culture of Breakthrough, orient you to a typical Super Saturday day, and connect you with the students you will teach, tutor, and mentor between November and April.

Trainings and Super Saturday dates (students attend Super Saturdays 10:00~1:15pm):

• Training for  SS #1 – Wednesday, November 1, 5:00-7:15 pm
• Super Saturday #1 – November 4, 9:00-2:30pm
• Training for  SS #2 – Wednesday, December 06 1, 5:00-7:15 pm
• Super Saturday #2 – December 09, 9:00-2:30pm
• Training for  SS #3 – Wednesday, January 31, 5:00-7:15 pm
• Super Saturday #3 – February 03, 9:00-2:30pm
• Training for  SS #4 – Wednesday, March 06, 5:00-7:15 pm
• Super Saturday #4 – March 09, 9:00-2:30pm
• Training for  SS #5 – Monday, April 15, 5:00-7:15 pm
• Super Saturday #5 – April 20, 9:00-2:30pm

Deciding to Apply

If you are interested in applying to teach at Breakthrough Manchester during the school year, these are the steps you need to follow:

1. Carefully read all of the material above, noting all dates and deadlines.
2. Complete the online application. While the application is not long, the content and quality of your written responses will be evaluated.  The online application will ask you to complete sections as either a NEW or RETURNING (Summer or School-Year) Breakthrough teacher.
3. Request a copy of your school transcript (Request for Academic Transcript 2023/24) from your school’s registrar or School Counselor and have it sent to the Breakthrough office, either via email to Caroline Wilson at cwilson@derryfield.org or via mail to 2108 River Road, Manchester, NH 03104.
4. Alert the person that you used as a reference in your application that an email will be sent to them from Caroline Wilson. This email may go to their inbox or their spam folder, so they should check both.
5. Prepare for and attend a Group Interview. During this Group Interview, you will be asked to prepare and teach a 5 minute lesson!
6. Applicants will receive notification of their final admission status via email by October 19. We maintain a small wait pool in case an accepted applicant turns down an offer.

Please note that the application process is competitive and not all applicants are guaranteed admission.