Is teaching your passion? During your first year — usually your first semester — as a Hastings College Teacher Education major, you’ll dive into local classrooms to observe and work with individual students and small groups. Classroom time and experience grows each semester so by graduation you’ll be ready to tackle your own classroom of eager students.

Expertise in Teaching

Teacher Education CAEP Accreditation logoHastings College is fully accredited and offers degrees in Elementary Education, Secondary Education and Special Education, as well as a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree. Add in 20 endorsement areas, from art to world language and physical education to music, and you’ll have a solid resume focused on areas you love.

Building classroom experience

By your junior year at Hastings, you’ll work under the guidance of master teachers, creating and teaching lessons and gaining confidence in your knowledge and classroom management skills. If you’re majoring in Elementary Education, your junior year includes immersion in a local elementary school, working daily in a classroom.

In your senior year, you’ll complete student teaching and work to develop a high quality credential package. You’ll be ready to interview for your exciting first teaching position!

At every step in your path you’ll appreciate the stepping stones of teaching, counseling, inspiring, supporting and guiding from our engaged faculty. It’s an experience that’s true to Hastings College and you won’t find it anywhere else.

See your future at Hastings

See for yourself how we tailor your education to your talents and your goals. Schedule a visit and we’ll demonstrate how Hastings will inspire you to reach your potential, or if you’re a high school senior, apply today.

Go Further with a Hastings education

Thanks to our small class sizes (most have fewer than 20 students!), and a student-to-faculty ratio of 15:1, you’ll work closely with faculty and your advisor to complete your degree in four years. In fact, most students who graduate from Hastings do so in four years!

Our block-style semester structure means you’ll take just one or two classes at a time — which really lets you focus more intently on each class. It also lets faculty devote more time to every student because they’re only teaching one or two classes in a block!

Growing your knowledge

As an education major you’ll examine education from many angles as you gain experience with students of different abilities and backgrounds. You’ll participate in education forums to learn best practices. You’ll collaborate with agencies, community and college groups, schools and businesses to complete a service project to raise awareness on a pressing issue within the community.

Opportunities also exist to study in diverse settings locally, nationally and internationally. And our annual January Term trip to Mississippi touches the hearts of many of our future teachers — and the students we go to serve.

Love science? Join current elementary education majors who support science clubs in local elementary schools!

All the extras aren't extra

Performance icon

Maximize scholarships — Yes, you’ll get an academic scholarship. But you’ll also get an additional “plus one” scholarship from the group, team or area you’re part of. It’s a great way to pay for school, but also find “your people.”

Icon of a book

Books included — Afraid of a $400 textbook? No more! We’ve eliminated the high cost of text books by working with our bookstore to provide all required textbooks. This will save you $1,000 or more each year.

Icon of an iPad and Pencil

iPad  + Apple Pencil — We’ll set you up with an iPad and Apple Pencil — and help you learn how to incorporate these tools into your studies. From digital notes to pictures of lab setups, you’ll discover creative ways to use this technology!

Find scholarships for education majors

Your high school achievements can both fuel and fund your success at Hastings. We offer a range of generous and renewable academic scholarships based on your GPA. Plus, we offer talent scholarships for everything from speech (forensics) to the arts to athletics. The result? Every student receives at least $12,000 in scholarships (but most receive more!).

Landing that job

Hastings College graduates teach all over the country and around the world! Public, private and parochial schools. Small schools. Suburban schools. City schools. From classroom teachers to administrators, from coaches to speech and language pathologists.

You’ll find current Hastings College teacher candidates and recent graduates in

  • Omaha, Nebraska, and dozens of other Nebraska schools
  • Denver, Colorado, and dozens of other Colorado schools
  • Jackson, Mississippi
  • England
  • China
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • New York City

Faculty

DarciKarr
Dr. Darci Karr
Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Certification Officer and Chair of the Department

Teaching Success

Alissa_Buck_21_fw

Buck follows inspiration to teach music

“Alright class, can I have you sing these notes for me?” Hastings College music education major Allisa Buck asks high school students in a music classroom at Harvard Public School in Harvard,…
Cheryl

Alumna launches alternative protein business

Cheryl Powers ‘87 raises livestock that is like no other. Instead of grazing on verdant pastures, her six-legged creatures slither and crawl over each other in plastic trays, munching on wheat bran…
Students on a street in Paris

Video: Students talk about their study abroad experience

Hastings College students McKinzi Johnson, a biochemistry and music education major from Colorado Springs, Colorado; Michaela Bailey, an elementary education major from Highlands Ranch, Colorado; and Vinny Schmidt, a biology major from…