Junior Laurin Mendelsohn takes a deep breath as she walks into a fourth grade classroom for the second time not knowing what this year will have in store for her.

Mendelsohn joined the Ready Set Teach program available for juniors and seniors at Ben Barber. The program allows high school students to “shadow” an elementary or intermediate school teacher to get the feel of being an educator. Mendelsohn’s former teachers inspired her to want to become a teacher herself.

“I like it,” Mendelsohn said. “Instead of sitting in a classroom for three hours and learning how to teach, kids are getting to ask you questions and you are getting to learn while still teaching them.”

When high school was not on A/B scheduling, the program only lasted a semester. Now, the students get to go to their designated school every other day and stay for about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

“I like starting the day off with kids,” Mendelsohn said. “I wish I had more time with the kids because for right now I only have them for math and science. I would love to know what they’re learning in english and history.”

Mendelsohn spends the first 30 minutes of her B scheduled days with just the teacher to observe how she starts her day, and then the students come in around 8:00 a.m.

“My favorite part of the day with the kids is when they are starting to do math,” Mendelsohn said. “I love seeing their faces when they finally understand the question. I also love to help them if they have any questions.”

Mendelsohn chose to help out with a fourth grade class at Mary Jo Sheppard Elementary School. She wants to be a math teacher for sixth through ninth graders. She likes the older kids because she believes the more they have to learn, the more she can impact them.

“I like watching kids develop,” Mendelsohn said. “That’s why I chose fourth grade because they are really learning the hard things like multiplication and division. I like the older kids because they learn more than the younger kids do.”

Ready Set Teach proves be a very helpful program for high school students that want to pursue a career in education. Colleges offers the same program but won’t be offered until junior or senior year. Joining the program in high school allows students to decide if they want to go down this career path earlier than usual.

“If you want to be a teacher I think this is a good way for you to learn,” Mendelsohn said. “I think you’re waiting too long if you decide to do this in college because you could decide after two years of college that you actually don’t want to be a teacher, then those years go to waste. I really recommend taking Ready Set Teach.”