Through the University of Kentucky and their partnership with the YMCA’s PowerScholars program, I have been given the opportunity to participate in a Summer Student Teaching program. This has given me the ability to expedite my graduation process allowing me to graduate in August and walk in the May 2024 Graduation ceremony. I am so excited to do this for so many reasons. Through PowerScholars, which is an intense summer program for kids below the 40th percentile in their reading and math scores, I will be able to solidify how I want to engage in my reading and math teaching, while also letting my creativity flow through less strict regulations on curriculum. The content will be steered more toward each child’s needs helping them to flourish in the skills that they might need more help on. I also choose this track because it will allow me to start the year with my own class in August, allowing me to build foundations with my students from the beginning making for a success year.

I believe that summer student teaching will give me better perspective than my peers when it comes to having my own classroom. All summer I will be practicing ways to differentiate lessons for kids that have not mastered a concept yet, rather than working with a mixed group of kids where differentiation is not always the priority. I will also have the opportunity to plan and carry out lessons with every grade, giving me practice in so many different content areas making me more confident in any grade I am placed. Through my first summer student teaching placement I will be with 1st Grade at Lansdowne Elementary through the end of their school year. Because I am staying until the end I will get to experience MAP testing, and get the opportunity to go over those scores with my CT, which no other student teachers get to experience. I will be able to look at how they are scored, how to decipher them, and what my CT does with those scores in the last month of school.

I have heard stories about how successful this program is and I cannot wait to see how much my students grow this summer through PowerScholars.