Iona University

Freshman Year & Sophomore Fall
You’ll start with introductory Education classes like EDU 201 & EDU 202, and take psychology courses based on the age group you want to teach. This time is also for completing general core classes and getting comfortable with Iona’s campus and community.

Sophomore Spring
This is when you officially declare your Education major with your advisor. You’ll create an NYS TEACH account to track your certification progress and complete required fingerprinting. You’ll also start EDU 250 – Introduction to Fieldwork, which includes 100 hours of supervised school experience, plus some NYS-required workshops. Along with EDU 250, you’ll take two to three other education classes.

Junior Year
You’ll take four to six education courses (about three credits each) and your content-area classes. In EDU 350 – Field Experience II, you’ll do more hands-on fieldwork in a classroom, working closely with a certified teacher and your professor. You’ll also finish your final NYS-required workshops during this course.

Senior Year
Student teaching is your chance to apply everything you’ve learned by teaching in a real classroom. You’ll plan lessons, manage the classroom and assess students—all under a mentor teacher’s guidance. Because student teaching is a full-time commitment, you’ll work with your advisor to choose which semester to do it. During your other semester, you’ll finish any remaining education and content-area courses.

At Iona, you’ll start hands-on fieldwork within your first two years, giving you experience in different classrooms to help you learn how to plan lessons and manage a classroom.

When you get to student teaching, you’ll apply those skills by leading a classroom and creating effective lessons—all with support from the Senior Director of Clinical Experiences, your education faculty supervisor and your mentor teacher.

You’ll learn in a supportive environment and graduate ready to be an exceptional educator and a leader for today’s classrooms. You’ll gain the strategies, knowledge and teaching skills you need to become a New York State certified teacher and inspire a love of learning in your students.

While earning your Bachelor’s in Education, you’ll develop the skills and experience to teach children and teens in a variety of settings. You’ll focus on a specific age group—early childhood, childhood or adolescent—to build your expertise.

From day one at Iona, you’ll be guided by faculty who bring years of experience in classrooms and leadership roles. They’ll mentor you, supervise your fieldwork and help you with your career. Iona’s strong partnerships with local schools ensure you'll get real-time feedback and guidance from experienced teachers. This two-layer support from both the university and the field ensures you’ll graduate confident, well-prepared and ready to lead your own classroom.

Iona’s educator preparation programs are proudly accredited by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP), reflecting a deep commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. Guided by AAQEP’s rigorous standards, Iona uses data, research and feedback from students, alumni and local partners to enhance every aspect of their education programs.