Junior Claire Richardson is currently in the class Ready Set Teach, a newer class offered at Bowie that allows students to be a teacher’s assistant at various elementary schools. The class teaches responsibility and gives real teaching experience to students considering being an educator, and even those who aren’t.

“My teacher is Mrs. Barnes so we go to Baranoff Elementary School and assist there. Our first day going to the school was October 3rd.” Richardson said.

Mrs. Barnes’ Ready Set Teach class leaves as soon as the bell rings announcing 5th period has started. The ride Bowie to Baranoff takes eight minutes, and a school bus takes them to and from.

“When we went to the school we signed in at the front office, and talked with the principal for a little bit.” Richardson said. “Then we went to our assigned classrooms.”

Baranoffs principal, Megan Counihan, welcomed the students on their first day and talked them through the plan for the school year.

“Mrs. Counihan talked to us about the school and what was expected of us.” Richardson said. “And [she talked] about careers in child care. Also about herself and her history with kids.”

Since it was their first day it was mostly introduction based. But they did a small lesson to ease the students into their responsibilities.

“I didn’t have much planned, we didn’t know much about our teachers going into it.” Richardson said. “When I got into my class I read the students a book about a crayon box and how each color is unique. Then they wrote about how they were unique and they continued to color a picture about the story.”

Ready Set Teach is a college credit class that demands a lot of patience, responsibility, and requires the student teacher to be a good role model. To ensure the elementary students are getting the best experience out of the program there are some requirements for Bowie students to ensure the class is full of leaders.

“In order to get into and to stay in the class we have to keep a certain grade in all of our classes and have under a certain number of absences.” Richardson said. “When at the elementary schools we have to dress professionally and keep a professional attitude as well.”

Since this program is so important for both the students going in and the elementary students at Baranoff there is a specific way the program assigns students to classes to accommodate everyone’s needs.

“Each [Ready Set Teach student] wrote an ‘About Me’ paper to submit to the [Baranoff] principal, so she could pair us up with a teacher.” Richardson said. “It said basic information about us, our passions, and what age group of kids we would like to work with. I chose kindergarten through second grade and was assigned to first graders.”

Richardsons explains the schedule for her specific class.

“My class goes to Baranoff every ‘B’ day so every Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Richardson said. “But when it’s a double blocked ‘B’ day on Fridays we don’t go, we stay in class and prep for the next class.”