College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University

Throughout your four years in the program, you’ll take a mix of foundational courses and classes specific to your teaching license.

• Year one: You’ll start with an introduction to education course and complete a 35-hour teacher shadowing experience in your subject area.
• Year two: You’ll take foundational courses in educational psychology and human development, along with a 35-hour hands-on field experience.
• Year three: This year focuses on content-area teaching methods, combined with field experiences and other major classes.
• Year four: After finishing all your major and education courses, you’ll spend 16 weeks doing full-time student teaching to put everything you’ve learned into practice.

As a future teacher at CSB and SJU, you’ll start getting real classroom experience right away—with a teacher shadow in your first year.

Each year after that, you’ll continue building your skills through hands-on field experiences designed to help you grow in teaching and classroom management.

By the time you begin student teaching, you’ll have completed over 100 hours in real classrooms.

Your student teaching semester includes 16 weeks of in-person teaching in one or two school settings, giving you the experience and confidence to lead your own classroom.

At CSB and SJU, the Education Department helps you learn how to support all students by focusing on fairness, access and being a strong voice for your future learners.

It starts with a course called Teaching in a Diverse World and continues with classes that prepare you to work with students who have disabilities, are multilingual learners, or come from a variety of backgrounds. As you move into upper-level courses, you’ll also explore the ethical and professional responsibilities of being a teacher.

Along with your classes, you’ll get real experience in different school settings—observing and working with students who have a range of learning needs, experiences and perspectives.

During student teaching, you won’t be on your own. You’ll be supported every step of the way.

A university supervisor will meet with you at least twice a month to observe your teaching, offer feedback and provide mentorship and coaching.

You’ll also be guided by the Director of Student Teaching through seminars, classroom visits and one-on-one check-ins whenever you need extra support.

Plus, you’ll have access to experienced faculty and local teachers who are dedicated to helping you grow and succeed in your teaching journey.

The CSB and SJU Education Department maintains close partnerships with a local partner school and district to ensure the program stays connected to current classroom practices. Regular meetings with administrators and teacher leaders help keep the department informed about the latest trends, challenges and needs in education.

Feedback from these partners plays an important role in shaping the program. It helps guide updates to coursework, improvements to clinical experiences and opportunities for professional development, strengthening both the teacher preparation program and its school partnerships.