I enjoyed the hands on experience getting to interact and work alongside lower income middle school students.
What I wish was different
N/A
Advice
I would say to come in with an open mind and be ready for anything.
Be the first to mark this as helpful
Teaching Fellow
June - August 2019 • San Jose, CA
What I liked
I really enjoyed being Teaching Fellow in Summer 2019 at the 9th-grade site. I taught High School Prep (2 classes) and Digital Media Arts: Yearbook (1 class) and my classes had around 10-13 students. Working with the students, program staff and my colleagues was the absolute best part of this job. Breakthrough SV does an amazing job of instilling a strong sense of community, spirit, and support. There were all sorts of different activities including icebreakers, ASM (all school meetings), skits, rallies, spirit competitions, volunteering, community building, and more! I also really enjoyed teaching fellow orientation because it equipped me with the skills and knowledge to apply to my teaching practices. We had a lot of creative freedom when it came to lesson planning and different classroom activities. For my digital media arts elective class, my students worked together to create a yearbook for the summer program. I was able to teach students about creative design thinking, basic introductory photography, and digital design using Canva. As teaching fellows, we collaborated with our departments to support one another. My colleagues are the best and we would always lesson plan together. We also had a lot of energy and would spread positivity to the rest of our summer site staff. One of the greatest things about this experience is that it really helped me to figure out if a career in education is right for me. I am passionate about working to advance the field of education, but I am still exploring which types of positions I would like to pursue in the future. Breakthrough gives aspiring educators, who are high school and college students, hands-on real-world teaching experiences. It is a rigorous position, but a worthwhile and memorable learning experience.
What I wish was different
Something that I wish would have been different is the hours. Most days we were working from 7 am-5 pm, with additional hours to lesson plan beyond that time frame as well. I had many late-night meetings with my department to finish up lesson planning and different classroom activities, but it was worthwhile to be able to support our students. I also wished there was a stronger sense of community across the different summer sites within the teaching fellow cohort community.
Advice
One piece of advice that I would have for students considering this opportunity to make the most of your time as a teaching fellow and build your network. Although 4-6 weeks may seem like a long time, it goes by really fast when you are put in your passion, dedication, energy, and spirit. When you are surrounded by others who also want to make a difference in the field of education, it is really exciting what you can accomplish during your time together. Don't forget to exchange contact information before the end of the program and to reconnect.
2
${count} people found this helpful
Marketing and Development Intern
January - August 2020 • San Jose, CA
What I liked
I learned a variety of things in this position. Everyday had different tasks and I was able to learn to use new tools such as Salesforce
What I wish was different
I wish the pay was higher
Advice
I appreciated being able to work one-on-one with my supervisor and assist her in tasks that allowed me to learn and benefit as well.
1
One person found this helpful
Teaching Fellow
June - August 2020 • San Jose, CA
What I liked
Getting independence to teach my own class was awesome! It was like actually teaching a class. I got to create curriculum, with support and feedback from my peers and coaches.
What I wish was different
Advice
Make sure to take time off! Have a strict schedule where you work, and have time off so that the job doesn't take over your life. That way, you'll have more to give to the students as well!
Be the first to mark this as helpful
Teaching Fellow
June - July 2019 • San Jose, CA
What I liked
- Instructional coach will provide lots of great feedback to help improve your teaching skills
- Strong community with other teaching fellows
- It was like summer camp + summer school combined, lots of fun activities in addition to academic learning
- I had the opportunity to teach my own elective course on culture and food!
- Working with the students and seeing their growth was the best, most memorable part!
What I wish was different
- Meeting deadlines for lesson plans meant staying up late every night even after coming home from a 9-5 work day, so it was always a non-stop grind M-F
Advice
Remember that the feedback your instructional coach gives you is not meant to be critical, but constructive!
1
One person found this helpful
Teaching Fellow
June - July 2019 • San Jose, CA
What I liked
Working with Breakthrough gave me hands-on experience in the field of education.
What I wish was different
I wish that start and end times for special events had been communicated beforehand.
Advice
It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I really recommend that everyone interested in working with young people do it.
Be the first to mark this as helpful
Teaching Fellow
June - August 2019 • San Jose, CA
What I liked
I really liked how much control we had over what activities we used to teach and being a crew leader was really fun. We had a lot of support through out the process.
What I wish was different
I wish the training would have been longer.
Advice
Always have a positive attitude and even though it’s a lot of work don’t be intimidated to ask for help.
Be the first to mark this as helpful
Breakthrough
September 2018 • San Jose, CA
What I liked
Learning about the non-profit world
What I wish was different
Wish there a class of mine didn't set it up. That means internship will end by the end of the semester
Advice
N/A
Be the first to mark this as helpful
Teaching Fellow
June - August 2018 • Santa Cruz, CA
What I liked
In short, the students (rising 7th and 8th graders) are the highlight. Beyond acting as a lead (solo) teacher for 2 core classes and an elective, teaching fellows also co-lead a "crew" of 10 students during extracurricular periods such as brunch, all-school meeting, lunch, and study hall. Getting to know the students alongside teaching them was incredible. One student comes to mind: he was in my "crew" as well as my debate elective, and I noticed that while he was a leader in crew, he was often shy and removed in class. I used my personal relationship with him to encourage him and talk things out, and after the first debate he was shocked by how much fun he had and how supportive everyone was—he even promised to join his school's debate teams. It's stories like this that demonstrate how immersive, hopeful, and inspiring the Breakthrough experience is.
What I wish was different
Breakthrough Silicon Valley does a fantastic job of serving underrepresented students who wouldn't otherwise have access to the sort of resources it provides. Unfortunately, I noticed that most of the teaching fellows (including myself) come from a much higher socioeconomic background. Increasing the stipend amount for teaching fellows could be a good way of ensuring that more teaching fellows of lower socioeconomic backgrounds are interested in applying. This would contribute to BSV's mission of providing helpful experience to high school and college students interested in education and ensure that more of the teaching fellows can speak to the lived experiences of the students.
Advice
Working at Breakthrough Silicon Valley was an extremely rigorous job. Days were 7:30 to 5 and often required extra lesson planning outside of work hours. I encourage anyone interested in working there to focus on using free periods during the day—blocks where you aren't teaching—to sit down and generate as many lesson plans as possible to avoid the stress of grading and writing at home.
