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Elementary Education

Major

Classroom Experience Starts Your Freshman Year

Elementary Education majors at Taylor are shaped to become more than teachers. They begin as passionate leaders who hope to pass on their excitement for learning to the next generation and complete the Education program as experienced mentors, confident and encouraging educators, and creative lesson planners.

Our students gain in-classroom experiences from the beginning of their freshman years, assisting teachers at local elementary schools and teaching lessons. The more time they spend learning in local elementary school classrooms, the more confidently they can walk into their own classrooms as qualified teachers after graduation.

Every Elementary Education student spends a full semester during their senior years teaching domestically or abroad. The semester is split between two placements in different schools, teaching different grade levels. The Elementary Education major leads to an Elementary Generalist License, allowing graduates to teach any subject in grades K-6.

Get on track for these careers

  • K-12 Teacher
  • Preschool Teacher
  • School Librarian
  • School Administrator 

Practicums and Student Teaching Timeline

Taylor University’s Elementary Education program prepares students in areas of instruction, subject matter, and classroom management, but the best training comes from being in Elementary classrooms. In fact, you’ll start in the classroom your freshman year. That’s just one of the many unique qualities that make Taylor one of the best colleges for Elementary Education majors.

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Freshman Year

You are assigned to a local school and begin working with students and teachers, observing classes and assisting teachers with everyday tasks.

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Sophomore Year

Continue assisting in classrooms and gaining more responsibilities, including teaching more lessons and lesson planning. Education students can spend three weeks during sophomore or junior J-Term in a teaching practicum in Indiana, the Philippines, or Belize.

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Junior Year

You’ll take Junior Methods Practicum (JuMP), alternating between taking campus courses and student teaching in two locally assigned schools, gaining experience in lower and upper elementary classroom.

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Senior Year

All Education majors are placed as full-time student teachers for one semester, split between two placements in Grant, Blackford, and/or Delaware County schools; Indianapolis and Fort Wayne schools; or abroad in international, Christian, or secular schools.

Student smiling and holding a backpack in Larita Boren Campus Center
Launching into Your Classroom

Education majors spend a full semester of their senior year teaching real students locally or internationally. Each Education student teaches at two different schools, preparing you to manage your own classroom after graduation.

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International Teaching Experience

Nearly 2/3 of Education majors travel abroad during their time at Taylor to gain international teaching experience. Past January Term trips have gone to the Philippines, Belize, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, and Northern Ireland. These trips fulfill the Diversity in the Classroom course requirement, providing excellent experience in teaching internationally. Talk to your advisor about the many Study Abroad opportunities at Taylor.

Student Teach Abroad
Professor reading a children's book to a class
Education Scholarships

Alspaugh-Hodson Family Scholarship: must be an Indiana resident and full-time student majoring in Education, eligible for need-based aid, and have a personal relationship with Christ
Halbrook Freedom Scholarship: for students interested in entrepreneurship, education, media, and government, who grasp the essentiality of, and strive to uphold, the enduring principles of the United States of America
Art Scholarship: for declared Art or Art Education majors Learn more about scholarships for Education majors.

Becca Gerig
Class of 2018
"Taylor truly prepared me professionally, emotionally, and personally by providing me with rich experiences and relationships. The Elementary Education department is intentional to get students into classrooms as quickly as possible, and the instruction the professors provide is so applicable that it’s able to be applied into the classroom placements. Taylor University is a major reason I have felt so confident in my teaching career, and I’m so thankful for each and every part of it."

Elementary Education Curriculum & Degree Options

Students interested in course descriptions and academic policies can check out our Undergraduate Catalog.

Liberal Arts Foundational Core

A Taylor liberal arts education will prepare you to live and work in a fast-changing world. It also goes a step further: laying a strong spiritual foundation that cultivates wisdom. You’ll become a well-versed individual, equipped with critical thinking skills, a lifelong love of learning, and an appreciation for God’s creation.

View Foundational Core Curriculum.

A professor talking to a table of students learning math
A teacher looking down at a child playing on the floor

Enhancing Your Education Degree

All Elementary Education students must complete a concentration through at least one of the following means:

  • A concentration in mathematics, language arts, modern language, music, science, social studies, or visual arts
  • Teaching English to Students of Other Languages (TESOL) minor, licensure, or certificate
  • Special Education licensure
  • Junior High/Middle School licensure in language arts, mathematics, science, or social studies
  • An approved minor in Biology, Chemistry, Economics, English, Geography, History, Mathematics, Applied Music, Music Composition, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, or Spanish

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