Writers’ Room Program Assistant at John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science

Poets & Writers, Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 40,000; Full time

Job summary

An established nonprofit organization seeks a passionate Writers’ Room Program Assistant to support students in their writing journey. This role offers an exciting opportunity to engage with students in grades 7-12, fostering their social-emotional development while enhancing their writing skills. You will collaborate with teachers, lead creative writing workshops, and provide one-on-one tutoring, all within a supportive and inclusive environment. If you are committed to empowering youth through writing and education, this position is perfect for you. Join us in making a difference in the lives of students and helping them amplify their voices.

Benefits

Flexible Work from Home Options

Generous Paid Time Off

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Vision Insurance

Paid Sabbaticals

Parental Leave

Professional Development Opportunities

Two-week Winter Break

Summer Fridays

Qualifications

• Experience teaching/tutoring writing to students grades 7-12 in an urban setting.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficiency in organizational, time management, and project management skills.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a writing tutor to students in grades 7-12 seeking support with writing assignments.
• Develop and lead programming, including workshops and creative writing clubs.
• Assist with data collection, analysis, and results-sharing associated with the Writers’ Room.

Skills

Teaching/Tutoring Writing

Communication Skills

Organizational Skills

Project Management

Time Management

Adaptability

Social Emotional Learning

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

Google Apps

Salesforce

InDesign

Photoshop

Illustrator

Job description

Writers’ Room Program Assistant at John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science

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Writers’ Room Program Assistant at John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science

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About The Opportunity

826 Boston seeks a dynamic, communicative, and flexible individual to serve as the Writers’ Room Program Assistant at John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. We are seeking a candidate who can ensure reliable, robust support for students while also building on the current strengths of the O’Bryant Writers’ Room Team, including engaging students in meaningful writing opportunities, supporting students’ social-emotional development, partnering with teachers to enhance the writing instruction in their classrooms, and curating meaningful creative writing and leadership opportunities for students.

About The Opportunity

826 Boston seeks a dynamic, communicative, and flexible individual to serve as the Writers’ Room Program Assistant at John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. We are seeking a candidate who can ensure reliable, robust support for students while also building on the current strengths of the O’Bryant Writers’ Room Team, including engaging students in meaningful writing opportunities, supporting students’ social-emotional development, partnering with teachers to enhance the writing instruction in their classrooms, and curating meaningful creative writing and leadership opportunities for students.

The John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, also known as the O’B, is a 7th-12th grade school in Roxbury with more than 1,500 students. It is one of three college preparatory public exam schools in Boston, which means that students must pass an admissions test or meet specific criteria to be admitted. The O’B was the site of the first 826 Boston Writers’ Room, which opened in 2013.

Mission

826 Boston is a nonprofit writing, tutoring, and publishing organization where students in grades K-12 and beyond can share their stories, amplify their voices, and develop as leaders in school and in life.

Responsibilities

The Writers’ Room Program Assistant will work 40 hours a week. Regular in-person hours are required. Applicants must be residing in Massachusetts and able to commute to the in-person location listed below, before the role starts.

• In-Person Hours: Monday through Thursday: 7:30 AM - 3:30 PM
• In-Person Location: John D. O’Bryant High School of Mathematics and Science, 55 Malcolm X Blvd, Roxbury, MA 02120
• Remote Hours: Most Fridays. There are required all-team meetings, professional development, and tasks to complete on virtual Fridays.
• Occasional departmental and organizational meetings will take place on Fridays at our Tutoring Center located at 3035 Washington Street, Roxbury, MA 02119.
  

Programmatic Support

• Serve as a writing tutor to students in grades 7-12 seeking support with writing assignments for class visits across all content areas (humanities and STEM); example assignments and publications include short-form writing assignments, research papers, and college essays
• Develop and lead 826 Boston-created programming, which can include stand-alone workshops, creative writing clubs, etc. Example programming includes our school-wide literary magazine, student newspaper, and middle school creative writing club
• Develop instructional resources and student-facing materials to support students in building their technical writing skills for STEM subject areas
• Support students’ writing development through one-on-one conferences, small-group collaboration, and whole-class instruction leading reading and writing workshops
• Support students in social emotional learning and to process life experiences through writing
• Support with coordination of external partners for workshops, club visits, class visits, etc.
• Create & update changing wall programming including advocacy boards, contests, and opportunities
• Develop a monthly newsletter that summarizes the program’s progress and notable highlights
• Assist with Writers’ Room volunteer coordination, including managing email communication and tracking attendance; support tutoring sessions and co-lead pre-brief and debrief conversations
• Assist with data collection, analysis, and results-sharing associated with the Writers’ Room, including tracking student visits and hours, administering annual writing assessment, distributing student and teacher feedback surveys, and participating in biannual team-wide reports
• Support publishing project design cycle, from creating the manuscript through to the book release party
• Co-lead Student Editorial Board for each publication project, ensuring students have the opportunity to inform book content, cover and interior design, and title selection
• Communicate project progress to staff supervisor and seek counsel when help is needed to execute goals
  
  

Additional Responsibilities

• Support organization-wide summer programming
• Provide support at a select outreach and fundraising events, including nights and weekends on rare occasions
• Support Writers’ Room Manager with administrative tasks and the upkeep and beautification of the Writers' Room, as needed
  
  

Qualifications

The ideal candidate is a team player with a steadfast commitment to improving the quality of K-12 education, including adopting antiracist/anti-oppressive approaches, with a desire to work in a collaborative and inclusive culture, and a passion for youth empowerment through writing and publishing.

826 Boston recognizes that impostor syndrome and the confidence gap might prevent some applicants from applying. Few candidates will have all of the relevant experience listed below, but 826 Boston is committed to assessing candidates with transferable skills and a willingness to be trained for this role.

Skills And Experiences

• Experience teaching/tutoring writing to students grades 7-12 in an urban setting
• Ability to adapt to various working and management styles
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Proficiency in organizational, time management, project management, and resource management skills
• Experience with and/or willingness to learn Google Apps, Salesforce and InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, or similar design tools
• Experience with and/or willingness to learn high school-level STEM concept tutoring practices
• Ability to give and receive feedback with humility, regulation, and tact
• Ability to employ innovative, creative, and student-centered thinking for creating engaging programming environments
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering community, building a strong sense of team, and embracing values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging
• Knowledge of and fluency with social and racial justice, intersectionality, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ history, and historic/current systems of oppression
• Experience with classroom management preferred, but not required
• Proficiency in Spanish, Haitian Creole, or Cape Verdean Creole preferred, but not required
• Familiarity with the BPS system, particularly the schools in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain, preferred, but not required
  
  

Salary and Benefits

826 Boston offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience in a similar position with the potential for an annual performance-based bonus. The salary for this position is $40,000 for 40 hours per week.

We offer competitive salaries and benefits and are committed to equity, trust, and transparency in compensation. Basing compensation on someone’s ability to negotiate or their prior salary can lead to inequities and bias in how people are paid, particularly for groups experiencing historical oppression. Therefore, we do not ask for prior pay history from our candidates and our offer-making process is negotiation-free for salaries and benefits. We determine the best possible salary offer based on relevant experience and extent to which candidates demonstrate the competencies for the role during the entire hiring process. New hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary between the range minimum and the salary range midpoint depending on qualifications, internal equity, and the budgeted amount for the role.

We offer a comprehensive benefits plan including flexible work from home options, generous paid time off (including 15 PTO days, accrued sick leave, 13 paid holidays, 6 Summer Fridays, and an organization wide two-week winter break); health, dental, and vision insurance (826 Boston covers 80% of premiums), parental leave, paid sabbaticals, and more.

This is an exempt, full-time, 40-hour per week position that reports to the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science Writers’ Room Manager. The ideal start date for this position is August 4, 2025.

826 Boston Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement

At 826 Boston, we honor and actively work toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across our organization. We are committed to centering the voices of the students who we serve, to creating inclusive spaces, and to incorporating feedback from our community into our decision-making processes. Our DEI lens is always evolving through the courageous conversations in which we participate and the relationships that we build through our work and service. We strengthen our cultural competency through experience, training, and feedback, which informs the development of all new organizational practices and goals and the evaluation of all existing procedures.

826 Boston is dedicated to providing a platform for student advocacy through writing and publishing opportunities. In our work and mission, we are committed to dismantling white supremacy culture by recognizing that we are complicit in systems of racism and oppression. We will work to hold ourselves accountable in addressing these harmful structures and behaviors.

About Us

826 Boston is part of a national network of youth writing centers, co-founded by the award-winning author Dave Eggers and educator Nínive Calegari, that were named in GOOD Magazine’s “30 Places We Want to Work.” Since opening in 2007, 826 Boston has delivered its free youth writing and tutoring programs to more than 29,000 students and has been recognized by The Boston Globe as one of the best places in the city to volunteer. 826 Boston’s youth writers have published their work in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and in numerous award-winning 826 Boston books, including A Place for Me in the World, which was hailed as a “triumph of middle school education” by The Boston Globe. In 2013, the 826 National network garnered the prestigious American Literacy Prize awarded by the Library of Congress.

Accommodations

826 Boston provides reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities at every stage of the application process. Disclosing a disability or requesting a need for accommodations is a separate process from admissions and will have absolutely no bearing on a candidate’s application status. 826 Boston will make every effort to meet your request, but specific requests are not guaranteed. If you need to request an accommodation, please contact Catherine Gomez at [e-mail].

How to Apply

Please click here to apply through our online portal. Please include why you are interested in 826 Boston and how your experience has prepared you for this position in your cover letter. The priority application deadline for this position is May 9, 2025. After that date, applications will be considered on a rolling basis. It is in your best interest to apply as soon as possible.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state and/or local law.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Entry level

Employment type

• Employment type

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Job function

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• Industries

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