What
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 twice-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, December, February, March and April. School year interns will tutor and mentor students individually.
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 2020-2021 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.
Virtual Program
Super Saturdays for the 2020-2021 academic school year will be hosted online. Although we are eager to work with students and teachers in person and on campus, our community’s safety is the top priority. Please keep in mind that Breakthrough extends beyond Manchester and we typically bring in students and teachers from over 10 different schools. Therefore, we will be using virtual platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet in order to connect our students to their teachers and advisors, as well as each other! This decision was not made lightly. In January 2021, we will reevaluate whether or not we need to remain virtual for the March and April Super Saturdays.
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 2020-2021 school year.
Important Dates
Application and Selection Timeline:
- September 1 – The School-Year Teaching Intern application goes live.
- September 30 – The School Year Teaching Intern application must be submitted online, and you must request a transcript from the guidance office/registrar of your current school by this deadline.
- October 2 – All applicants will be notified of their status by the end of the day and selected applicants will advance to the group interview.
- October 7 – Selected applicants will participate in the required group interview from 5:00-8:00 pm on Zoom (link will be provided). An alternate date may be scheduled if an applicant has an unavoidable conflict with this date. 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 14 – 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.)
Initial Orientation and Training Timeline for Selected Applicants:
All selected teachers, notified of their selection on October 14, will attend three required training and orientation sessions.
- Session 1: Wednesday, October 21 – 5:30-7:30 pm
- Session 2: Saturday, October 24 – 9:30-1:00 pm (note that this is an ACT test date)
- Session 3: Wednesday, October 28 – 5:30-7:30 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.
Topic trainings and Super Saturday dates (Students attend 10:00-12:20 on all Super Saturdays):
- Training for SS #1 – Wednesday, November 4, 5:30-7:30 pm
- Super Saturday #1 – November 7, 9:30-1:00 pm
- Training for SS #2 – Wednesday, December 9, 5:30-7:30 pm
- Super Saturday #2 – December 12, 9:30-1:00 pm
- Training for SS #3 – Wednesday, January 29, 5:30-7:30 pm
- Super Saturday #3 – January 30, 9:30-1:00 pm
- Training for SS #4 – Wednesday, March 4, 5:30-7:30 pm
- Super Saturday #4 – March 6, 9:30-1:00 pm
- Training for SS #5 – Wednesday, April 1, 5:30-7:30 pm
- Super Saturday #5 – April 3, 9:30-1:00 pm
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:
- Carefully read all of the material above, noting all dates and deadlines.
- Complete the online application here. As long as you use the same computer, you may complete the application over two or more sessions. 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.
- Request a copy of your school transcript (Request for Academic Transcript 2020) from your school’s registrar or guidance counselor and have it sent to the Breakthrough office, either via email to Chau Ngo (cngo@derryfield.org) or via mail to 2108 River Road, Manchester, NH 03104.
- Alert the person that you used as a reference in your application that an email will be sent to them from Chau Ngo. This email may go to their inbox or their spam folder, so they should check both.
- Prepare for and attend a Group Interview.
- Applicants will receive notification of their final admission status via email by Wednesday, October 14. 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.
