Teach. Lead. Grow.
Spend your summer gaining hands-on teaching experience while helping Twin Cities students thrive.
Quick Facts about The Program
$5,000
Living Stipend
9 Weeks
Summer Commitment
1000+hours
Professional Traning
What is a Teaching Fellow?
Breakthrough runs on a near-peer model: high school and college students teach middle and high school students.
Teach two sections of a six-week core course
Design and teach your own four-week elective
Plan every lesson with an Instructional Coach
Lead a College group where students build habits and confidence
Support students in Tutorial and at daily All School Meeting, Friday Events, and YO Time
Show up for families at Back to Breakthrough, Family Conferences, and the Family Celebration
What will you gain?
Are you eligible to apply?
Be a high school junior or senior, or a college student or recent graduate.
You can apply through the summer immediately following your college graduation.Be excited about learning and sharing your knowledge.
Bring a strong interest in the subjects you study and enthusiasm for working with middle school students.Be curious about teaching.
You don't need to be an education major or have teaching experience as long as you have interest in exploring teaching as a career.Be ready to grow and commit.
Fellows should be dependable, open to feedback and self-reflection, and fully committed to the program.Care about making a difference.
Be motivated to support students and committed to respecting people across racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds.Please note: Applicants should not already hold a teaching license.
How to apply?
01 Do the Research
Sign up for our mailing list for updates and reminders!
Review the entire “Teaching Fellowship” section of this website.
Learn more about the fellowship at the Breakthrough Collaborative website (see link below).
If you have questions that have not been answered through the website, please contact us at teach@breakthroughtwincities.org.
02 Complete the online application
Select Breakthrough Twin Cities as your #1 site preference on the national Breakthrough Collaborative site.
03 Submit recommendation and transcript
You provide a reference’s contact information; the recommendation is completed electronically. An unofficial electronic transcript is due before the interview.
04 Complete the remote interview
Behavioral questions and a team exercise, approximately 90 minutes on Google Meet
Do you think breakthrough is for you?
The application is hosted on the national Breakthrough Collaborative site, and you’ll create an account there. You’ll leave breakthroughtwincities.org when you continue.
When will you hear back from us?
Interviews are on a rolling basis, so decision timing follows the national calendar rather than your submission date.
Explore More
What will you be teaching?
What does summer program look like?
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Breakthrough Twin Cities has three sites in the Twin Cities:
· Mounds Park Academy – 2051 Larpenteur Ave E, Saint Paul, MN 55109
· Saint Paul Central High School – 275 Lexington Pkwy N, Saint Paul, MN 55104
· Chaska High School – 545 Pioneer Trail, Chaska, MN 55318
The summer and school-year program will take place at their respective host schools. Teaching Fellows will indicate their site preferences during the interview process.
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We have a limited amount of housing available for our applicants. To ensure that you have the best chance of securing housing, we highly encourage you to apply during the early action period. Those who apply early can have up to 75% of housing costs covered. If you apply during the regular action period, we will subsidize the cost up to 65% based on your financial need. If applying during the regular action period, we cannot guarantee housing availability.
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At the beginning of every summer, we help faculty members arrange carpools. There are also reasonable Metro Transit options for our St. Paul sites (lightrail, bus routes). In the past, all of our teachers have been able to arrange necessary transportation. While we strive to assist our Teaching Fellows in coordinating transportation, it is important to note that BTC is not responsible for securing transportation.
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No. Teaching at Breakthrough is a lifestyle, not a job. In order to ensure the quality of instruction for our students and for you to grow as a teacher, you need to dedicate all of your energy to your work here and cannot have concurrent job or school responsibilities.
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At Breakthrough Twin Cities the staff and instructional coaches work prior to the summer to prepare objectives for each core course area to ensure that our students receive rigorous instruction. We have curriculum available in all four core subjects (math, science, literature, and writing). Content and activities in lesson plans must be adapted by the Teaching Fellow with the help of their Instructional Coach, and creativity is highly encouraged!
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In the online application you have an opportunity to list which core subjects you are “excited”, “able to” and “not willing” to teach. Our Selection Committee considers these preferences in combination with the needs of the program and offers positions accordingly.
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Yes. You must be an undergraduate at the time that you apply. The summer following your graduation from an undergraduate institution is your final summer of eligibility to teach at Breakthrough.
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We ask returners to use the same national application as new teachers, but from the perspective of embracing new challenges with a growth mindset and innovating on the excellence from your previous summer(s). Use the essay questions to express how you would be excited to build off of the lessons you previously learned as a Teaching Fellow. You will be asked to provide a reference, and you should list an active BTC Program Staff member (we will access your evaluation from last summer). The interview process will consist of a phone interview with BTC Staff. We will also take your last exit interview into consideration.