Elon University

Teacher candidates spend their first year taking courses that satisfy both the Core Curriculum requirements and content focused courses for their teacher education program.

All candidates take their first Education course, either Education and Society course or Sociology of Education, depending on their certification area. An associated 30 hour integrated field experience in a local school enables students to analyze and interpret how some of the topics under study play out in our local community. *This experience usually occurs in the first year, but can also be taken sophomore year (must be taken to gain acceptance to the teacher education program). 

Teacher candidates typically apply to the teacher education program at the end of their first year. 

Teacher candidates spend their second year taking courses that satisfy both the Core Curriculum requirements and content focused courses for their certification area. Coursework required for all students focuses on Educational Technology and Educational Psychology.

If teacher candidates have not already, they apply to the teacher education program during their second year. Additionally, some candidates study abroad during their sophomore year.
 

Teacher candidates take 12-18 hours of content pedagogy courses during each semester of their junior year. Coursework required for all candidates focuses on teaching students with different needs, lesson planning and design, and classroom management. Some programs require 1- 2  methods courses during this year that includes a 75-90 hour practicum in a local school, which offers opportunities to apply concepts and skills related to pedagogy in their course content area. 

During this year, candidates begin to study for teacher licensure exams required by the state, and also work towards University Core requirements. Many candidates study abroad during their junior year.

Most of the final year consists of student teaching and content pedagogy courses. 

All candidates take 1-2 methods courses and complete a 75-90 hour practicum in a local school, which offers opportunities to apply concepts and skills related to pedagogy in their course content area. Candidates continue in this same placement for their full time student teaching experience. Additional coursework required for all candidates focus on Educational Assessment, as well as a Leadership and Collaboration capstone seminar. 

Additional education courses are taken based on certification area. 

Our teacher candidates have the opportunity to partner with clinical teachers in local schools and community agencies through a variety of experiences. Elon Teacher Candidates participate in a variety of clinical experiences throughout their program in different school settings. Most education classes have a correlated clinical experience and these experiences are continuous and build on each other. Early clinical experiences may include tutoring, observing, classroom assistance, small group instruction and informal assessment, allowing a candidate to continually connect their learning to what is experienced in the classroom. The capstone student teaching year-long experience provides Elon Teacher Candidates with extended opportunities at the beginning, middle and end of school, while working in partnership with their clinical teachers to perfect their skills and abilities as a beginning teacher.

The Teacher Education Program at Elon University prepares teachers to be effective practitioners who are engaged learners, ethical leaders, globally aware citizens, and advocates for fairness and excellence. Elon Teacher Candidates are provided opportunities to become effective practitioners through coursework assessment and continued and varied clinical experiences.

The Office of Education Outreach fosters collaboration with our school partners to secure placements with experienced teachers who are designated as highly successful and willing to work with teacher education candidates in a supervisory role. Through collaboration with these school districts, our candidates are placed in a multitude of classrooms. Many of our adjunct faculty members are also highly experienced teachers. All of these teachers are trained in the supervision process and provide excellent constructive feedback to our teacher candidates.

Elon's Teacher Education Program has earned national accreditation by demonstrating excellence in the areas of content and pedagogy, clinical partnerships and practice, candidate recruitment, progression and support, program impact and quality assurance and continuous improvement from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

The Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education at Elon University offers unique study abroad opportunities in New Zealand and Italy.

• In New Zealand, students can spend a semester at the University of Otago in Dunedin, gaining classroom experience and a global perspective on education. 
• In Italy, students can study in Florence at Accademia Europea di Firenze, Elon’s partner organization, for three months and complete a teaching practicum in Naples for one month.

Elon has consistently earned recognition for making study abroad experiences accessible to all students, regularly ranking as a top institution for study abroad by the Institute of International Education and U.S. News.