Major requirements include:

Content Knowledge/Academic

Elementary teacher candidates major in Education Studies: Elementary Education. Elementary teacher candidates complete core (general education) requirements, major content courses, and elective courses. Elementary education majors are encouraged to minor in STEM, ESOL, or a content department minor such as Spanish, English, or History. The STEM minor is coordinated by the Physics Department.

In addition to courses, candidates complete clinical and assessment requirements. Assessment requirements include both internal (NHTCAP) and external (Praxis or equivalent) measures. Candidates must successfully pass Praxis Core Academic Skills Test, Foundations of Reading, and Praxis II (multi-subject tests) or equivalent exams such as MTELs. Refer to the Testing Requirements for Certification Instruction Packet for details of testing requirements and due dates for tests.

Clinical Practice (Field Experiences)

The Teacher Education Program at Saint Anselm College has adopted a clinical practice model. Teacher education candidates have multiple and diverse clinical placements across settings and grade levels. Candidates will complete a clinical experience in one of each of the following grade groupings: K-2, 3-4, and 5-6. Candidates will also experience a variety of school settings (e.g. urban, suburban, and Catholic schools).

During each clinical experience, students take an active, participatory role in an assigned classroom. The clinical placements are embedded in education courses with correlating assigned projects and experiences intended to connect theoretical foundation with practical application. Prior to their clinical capstone experience, students will have completed multiple experiences and more than 100 hours in classrooms. 

Elementary Education Required Courses

During advising meetings, an individualized plan of study will be developed for each student. Refer to the plan of study for the timing of the courses. In addition to core requirements, the following content and major courses are required:

• CH/PS 100 ST: Integrated Science (Education) (before ED 390)
• MA 110 Concepts of Math (before ED380)
• PY 199 Child Development (before ED 322)
• HI 199 Origins of World Power (before ED 390)
• ED 240 - Principles of Teaching and Learning (clinical)
• ED 250 - Integrating Arts and Creativity in the Elementary Classroom
• ED 322 - Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity in Education (clinical)
• ED 340 - Curriculum and Assessment in Teaching
• EN 355 - Introduction to General Linguistics
• ED 375 - Literary Methods (clinical)
• ED 360 - Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners in the K-12 Classroom (service learning)
• ED 380 - Theory and Methods of Teaching Elementary Mathematics
• ED 390 - Methods of Teaching Elementary Social Studies and Science
• ED 430 - Elementary Reading and Mathematics Seminar (clinical)
• ED 432 - Clinical Capstone: Supervised Student Teaching (counts as 3 courses) (capstone clinical)
• ED 490 - Clinical Capstone Seminar: NHTCAP (2 credits)

Course Sequence Outline

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year