Andy Shin
Executive Director, Breakthrough San Francisco
The onset of June means Breakthrough’s summer program is just ten days off. We begin with a week-long orientation, designed to familiarize our teachers with lesson planning, classroom management, and other essential skills. We want to maximize their success with our fifth and sixth graders; we also want to encourage them to see education as a potential career path. During Orientation Week, they meet in academic departments (math, literature, writing, science, and social studies) to flesh out their six-week plans; they also build a sense of community that will come in useful during the long days to follow.
Our twenty teachers range in age from 18 to 22 and attend top-tier colleges across the country, including UC Berkeley, Brown, and Wesleyan; 60% are of color. Studies show that American classrooms will need an enormous supply of teachers in years to come – especially high academic performers and people of color.
Among them is SFDS alum Michael Duryee-Browner (Class of 2003), who recently wrapped up his junior year at Emory. A history major, he will be teaching literature this summer. “I have been extraordinarily lucky to have attended private school my whole life; I have not had to deal with most of the academic disadvantages many students in the United States face today,” he wrote in his teaching application. “However, I can do what all of my favorite teachers have done in the past, and that is to inspire. All subjects, from deep space exploration to Shel Silverstein’s poetry, fascinate me.”
Also on staff are 11 Volunteer Teaching Assistants, who will build relationships with students, provide homework help, decorate the school, serve breakfast and lunch, and co-teach afternoon elective classes. They include three SFDS alumni (all Class of 2007) who first got involved with Breakthrough as tutors during grades seven and eight: Juliet Charnas, Karim Dudum, and Kiara Molina.
