The information on how to apply for the 2021 Summer Teaching Fellowship is at the bottom of this page. You are strongly encouraged to read through all of the information on this page before proceeding to the application.
Breakthrough provides a unique opportunity for college students (and some exceptional high school students) to learn the foundational skills of teaching and leadership. Several highly respected organizations, including Teach for America, the Harvard School of Education, Boston Teaching Residency, and the Fulbright Overseas English Teaching Assistant program, recommend the Breakthrough program and regularly admit our Teaching Fellow alumni. Even if you are not considering a career in education, the Breakthrough experience teaches you how to teach and train people, an invaluable skill in any profession.
Watch: Five Breakthrough Manchester Teaching Alumni Talk About Their Experience
At Breakthrough Manchester, our Teaching Fellows experience all aspects of teaching, learning and leadership that prepare them for future careers or study in education or other fields. Over the course of the 9-week summer session, Teaching Fellows solo-teach two sections of an academic class, co-teach an extracurricular course, advise several students, serve on a committee and participate in all aspects of building a welcoming and joyful learning community. Teaching Fellows establish meaningful relationships with their middle school students and often make lifelong friends among their colleagues. Teaching Fellows are supported and mentored by Instructional Coaches and staff; you learn by doing, and we teach you how to develop and deliver powerful lessons that activate learning and to use effective strategies to engage and motivate your students.
The Breakthrough Teaching Fellowship at Manchester is like no other experience; both exhausting and exhilarating, the whirlwind summer is full of opportunities for responsibility and personal growth. Having high expectations means a lot of hard work, long days, and always looking for ways to be more effective. It promises to be one of the most challenging and inspiring nine weeks of your life. Which is exactly why the most hard working and talented college students love this opportunity.
“Breakthrough gave me the opportunity to teach in my own classroom, while providing amazing support in an inclusive, warm community. After this summer, I know education is the career for me. My experience showed me what teaching could be. It gave me the chance to work with students and showed me how wonderful it is to watch them succeed academically and get excited about learning. My experience at Breakthrough solidified my theoretical interest in teaching into something very concrete.” — Summer Teaching Fellow
Who We Select
Breakthrough Manchester will select approximately 24 Teaching Fellows for Summer 2021. Our competitive admission process is designed to select highly qualified candidates to participate in our teaching fellow corps. Ideal candidates to Breakthrough are committed to the mission. They believe that hard-working students with limited resources should have the same access to quality education, regardless of low income, race, ethnicity, neighborhood, family structure or zip code. They believe it is their responsibility to use the opportunities they have been given to create opportunities for others. As a result, they are inspired and inspiring. Ideal candidates are also persistent and hard-working, academically successful and ready for new experiences.
The days at Breakthrough are demanding; the hours are long; the work is hard, but the rewards are simply unparalleled!
You do not have to have any teaching experience to teach at Breakthrough and you do not need to be an education major in school. We will teach you how to teach, but you must want to do this work—to be with our students, to work collaboratively with your colleagues, and to grow in an intense, fast-paced, nurturing environment.
Many Teaching Fellows return to Breakthrough Manchester to teach for a second summer; some return for several years. Experienced Breakthrough teachers may also choose to apply for different roles within Breakthrough Manchester, including Operations Coordinator and Dean of Students. If you have experience teaching in a Breakthrough summer and wish to be considered for one of these non-teaching roles, please contact Deb McLoud, Executive Director, at dmcloud@derryfield.org.
All applicants must be at least 17 years old and currently enrolled in an accredited high school or undergraduate college program.
How We Train and Support You
The eight-day pre-summer training and orientation is especially designed for pre-professional teachers. We use the best research and educational practices to give you the strategies and resources you will need to be successful in your classroom.
Breakthrough will train you in a research-based, data-driven common model of instruction for effective lesson planning, instructional strategies, and classroom management. You will learn how to develop measurable objectives, teach to multiple modalities in small cycles or chunks, overtly engage 100% of the students with the objective every three to five minutes, gradually release responsibility through carefully scaffolded practice, and establish rules, routines, and high standards for classroom behavior. The training provides aligned templates and curricula. You will learn and regularly engage in collaborative lesson study, developing habits of data-driven instruction in your academic department, which functions as a highly effective professional learning community. You will also learn how to conference with parents and assess student learning.
Beyond your pre-summer training, a professional Instructional Coach works with you all summer observing your classes, providing you with feedback, and helping you coordinate your curriculum. You will also have the support of other teachers in your department and ongoing professional development throughout the summer. You do not need to have any prior experience teaching or taking classes in education. In fact, we encourage students who are pursuing non-teaching careers to apply.
What You Will Teach
You will teach two sections of one core academic class in literature, math, science, or writing, using a professionally developed curriculum designed to help you produce significant gains in the six weeks you have your students. In each of your classes, you have an average of 8-10 students. Your responsibilities extend beyond this one class, however. Teaching Fellows are also advisers for three to five students, co-teach an extracurricular class, serve on a faculty committee, and take on numerous other formal and informal roles throughout the summer. Breakthrough Manchester serves students entering grades seven through nine; if you have particular interest in any of these grade levels, be sure to indicate that in your interview.
“I had an amazing summer at Breakthrough! The program has helped me to grow as a confident leader in the community, and I have acquired many valuable skills as a teacher and team member. I will always remember my experience this summer.” — Jon, Connecticut College graduate and summer Teaching Fellow
“The most rewarding part of the summer for me was seeing how much my students grew over the summer and hearing/seeing how we have changed their lives. These students have opened my eyes and my heart to a whole new perspective of how truly amazing each and every student is.” — Kaitlin, Southern New Hampshire University student and 2018 summer Teaching Fellow
Time Commitment
The Breakthrough commitment on campus is five days per week, Monday through Friday. Weekends are your own, although you may need to spend time planning and preparing for the next week.
- Orientation: June 09-18, 2021
- Program: June 21-July 30, 2021
- Celebration: July 31, 2021
- Wrap Up Week: August 02-05, 2021
Applicants who are selected for leadership positions will arrive earlier in June for additional training, preparation and team-building.
Officially, the faculty day runs from 7:30 a.m. to about 5:30 p.m. (in-person program) and 8:30 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m (virtual program). However, you will often find that working hours are longer, and commitments outside the program will be very difficult to maintain. Past Teaching Fellows describe the experience as intense, all-consuming and inspiring. We strongly recommend that you do not try to maintain a weekend or evening job during the nine weeks of Breakthrough.
Will Breakthrough Summer 2021 be online or in-person? Breakthrough Manchester is currently considering an in-person program, a virtual summer program, and a hybrid model. We will make a final decision in accordance with state and city health and safety guidelines and will notify everyone as soon as that decision is finalized.
Homestays
Out-of-town Teaching Fellows are a vital part of the Breakthrough Manchester community. Housing is provided for these teachers by local community members who open a room in their home. Each homestay situation varies slightly based on the host family’s summer schedule and living arrangement, and we work hard to match teachers and homestay families to create a positive experience for all. In past years, out-of-town teachers have had overwhelmingly positive experiences in their homestays and often stay in touch with their homestay families long after the summer ends.
If you are an out-of-town Teaching Fellow and are able to bring a car with you for the summer, this can be enormously helpful, though it is not required. Your local colleagues will help by providing carpools to and from Breakthrough and to social activities on weekends.
Living Allowance Stipend & Supplemental Income
You will receive a base living allowance stipend of $1,500, which will be distributed weekly throughout the course of the residency. Returning Teaching Fellows earn an additional $100 for each year they return, and some leadership positions come with additional stipend enhancements.
In addition, all teachers may apply for up to $2,000 extra through the Breakthrough Manchester Elkin Teaching Fellowship. These need-based awards can be used toward paying educational expenses or aiding in the cost of travel to and from Manchester for out-of-town applicants.
All Teaching Fellows (18+) may also be eligible for a $1,200 Education Award through AmeriCorps. The Education Award may be used to pay college expenses and/or pay down college loans.
We highly recommend that you look into additional funding or academic credit opportunities through your school or a local community organization. Many colleges and universities will supplement or underwrite summer internship earnings, especially for students eligible for work study. Some teachers have also been able to earn college credit for their Breakthrough internship. Let us know how we can help you arrange this.
Why Teach in Manchester, New Hampshire?
Established in 1991, Breakthrough Manchester is the third oldest Breakthrough site in the nation. Our longevity is a testament to the strength of the program and its ability to empower young people to take ownership over their educational opportunities. Breakthrough Manchester works to connect Teaching Fellows to pipeline partner schools and organizations such as MATCH Charter Public School, Excel Academy Charter Public School, Boston Teacher Residency, Uncommon Schools, the Urban Teaching Center, Teach For America, and Fulbright, among others. Finally, your weekends are your own and can be spent exploring the natural beauty and proximity of New Hampshire’s White Mountains, the Lakes Region, the beach and Boston, all of which are only an hour’s drive away.
Deciding to Apply
The application to teach in summer 2021 is now open. The Early Action deadline is January 14, 2021 while the Regular application deadline is February 25, 2021. Applying Early Action is highly recommended; at Breakthrough Manchester we typically select 60-80% of our teaching Fellows from the Early Action pool. If you are interested in applying to teach at Breakthrough Manchester this summer, these are the steps you need to follow:
Step 1: The online application is managed by the national Breakthrough Collaborative. To complete the application, you will need the following materials (you will be able to save the application and do not need to complete it in one sitting):
- The name and email address of a teacher, adviser, supervisor or another professional who can complete a recommendation for you
- A resume that summarizes your paid and unpaid extracurricular, work, volunteer, and leadership experiences
- A transcript from your school (a screenshot or electronic version is fine and an official copy is not required)
- Thoughtful responses to three short-answer questions (please proofread carefully; spelling and grammar matter)
- Your preferences for three sites to which you wish to apply. Be sure to select Manchester if you wish to teach with us this summer. The order of your three choices is important because your highest priority site will have first dibs on you as a candidate; most sites give priority to applicants who rank their site higher, and sites receive your application in the order you list them.
- Your preferences for the academic subjects you wish to teach. Be careful not to narrow your preferences too much; a preferred site may not have a slot available in that department.
Ready to Apply? Go to the Breakthrough Collaborative application page. The link to the online application is there, along with an overview of program dates, stipends and housing information for each Breakthrough site and an FAQ section on the application process.
Step 2: First Round of Admissions: If your online application is selected for our first round of admissions, you will be asked to submit a short video of you teaching a mock lesson.
Step 3: Second Round of Admissions: Based on your mock teaching video, if you are selected for our second round of admissions, we will then schedule a follow-up, one-on-one phone or in-person interview with a Breakthrough Manchester staff member.
Step 4: Selected applicants will receive notification by the end of January (Early Action) or by mid April. We maintain a small waitpool in case an accepted applicant turns down an offer, in addition to the National waitpool.
If your first site declines to offer you a position, your application will automatically advance for consideration by your second choice site. Please note that the application process is competitive and not all applicants are guaranteed admission at any site.
