Summerbridge serves 30 volunteer tutors during the year and 25 teachers and volunteer teaching assistants during the summer by providing them with supervised hands-on teaching experience. Day School Summerbridge offers young people a tangible teaching experience in a progressive academic setting, where the program structure is designed to support their development as teachers. Teachers attend training sessions and receive feedback about their work. Many of the young teachers are Summerbridge graduates themselves, whose own life stories mirror those of their students. They are powerful role models who demonstrate that academic success is possible despite adversity.

Summer Teachers

We have 15 spots available for the summer paid-intern teaching positions and four spots available for the professional mentor teaching positions. These positions are open to high school, college, and graduate students from all over the country. Teachers are provided with a supervised hands-on teaching experience. Teachers are expected to attend training sessions and to read, research, and collaborate as they create their own curriculum. Once the six-week summer program begins, our dedicated teachers work approximately 50 hours a week, collaborating on activities with others, working on their lesson plans, and meeting with students and parents. Each week, teachers plan a special event for the students, such as Career Day, Culture Fest, and Olympics.

Professional veteran teachers mentor these new teachers and provide daily feedback as well as workshops on topics such as cross-cultural awareness and classroom management. Our teachers are enthusiastic about what motivates them to learn and they transform this love of learning into innovative, engaging and relevant curricula for the students. The teachers benefit from the leadership experience of teaching in a classroom, increase their understanding of diversity and student issues, and gain exposure to the field of education as a potential career. Teachers are paid a small stipend that covers their living expenses.

We are currently recruiting paid intern teachers and professional mentor teachers for our summer program.

For more information or to apply as a professional mentor, please contact Christine Ranney or at 415-568-3660. Professional mentor teachers are required to have at least two years teaching experience.

Current college students can apply for paid intern positions online through the Breakthrough Collaborative.

School Year Volunteer Tutors

Tutoring and enrichment is offered Monday through Wednesday. Students are required to attend enrichment classes or tutoring at least once a week. In the tutoring sessions, students read novels and write essays, analyze poetry, solve algebraic equations and word problems, study how to conduct research and write a report, and learn how to prepare for a test. The sessions are highly structured meetings with a tutor who knows the students and works with them on a consistent basis.

Summerbridge trains and supervises approximately 30 tutors during the school year. Our volunteers come from the seventh and eighth grade classes of San Francisco Day School, local high schools and colleges, and organizations in San Francisco. Every year a number of Summerbridge and SFDS alumni return to teach. Our volunteers are required to attend a formal training session and meet regularly with the administration.