The course sequence at DTR is carefully designed for residents to gain the knowledge and skills appropriate for beginning teachers, while completing the 10 course sequence in a 14-month period. 

Course Scope & Sequence (subject to change)

SED 521: Models of Teaching
EDCI 514: Management and Curriculum Development for Diverse Learners
EDCI 595: Classroom Action Research (graduate thesis)
EDCI 523: Internship (clinical apprenticeship)
SED 513: Curriculum (elementary/secondary)
EDCI 517: Reading and Learning in Content Area 
EDCI 559: Diversity and Equity in Education Instruction 
SED 510: Assessment
EDCI 515: Effective Teaching in Diverse Environments

Classroom management is essential for success in the classroom; having an understanding of management styles and the relation to instruction will assist in a successful beginning of the year. An understanding of the models of teaching and curriculum are crucial for beginning teachers when planning lessons. A focus on action research will insure they are prepared for data-based decision making and conducting inquiry projects during the academic year. Classrooms include students from a wide range of backgrounds; preparing residents early in their experience helps them support and engage all learners effectively. After having mastered some basics of content-specific pedagogy, introducing ideas such as content literacy will be less daunting for the residents. Following the year-long residency, Effective Teaching will be capstone courses that allow for in-depth reflection on the year as well as planning for the upcoming school year.

DTR residents are chosen because they demonstrate that they can be reflective about their practice and are open to being coached, which can be the single most important characteristic a residency looks for during the selection process. The year-long residency is a rigorous training program that values practice alongside content and theory, where future practitioners can apply what they learn by working alongside an experienced professional in the field. This ensures that new teachers are better prepared to teach in partner district schools. 

To ensure that all students, regardless of zip code, are provided with a high quality of education, DTR serves as a strategic response to local urban school districts’ need to recruit, prepare, and retain effective classroom teachers. DTR is a district-based teacher education program that pairs master’s level education content with a rigorous full-year classroom apprenticeship, which places participants with trained mentor teachers in urban classrooms.

DTR is unique both in its training methods and in its pursuit to train teachers to become effective, specifically for the challenging, resource scarce environments of an urban school district.

In the Fall, residents are paired with a mentor teacher with whom they will spend four days a week with throughout the entirety of the school year. Each mentor teacher that residents work under is vetted through a highly selective application process. Student achievement data of the prospective mentor teacher is also analyzed (whenever possible). This robust selection process ensures that resident teachers are paired with not only a highly effective mentor teacher, but with an individual who has the desire to continuously grow and develop their own practice as a teacher leader/mentor/coach.

DTR is one of 24 programs nationally selected to be part of the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR), Next Generation Network (NGN). NCTR holds our program accountable by setting strict quality standards, providing opportunities for collaboration with other programs across the country and evaluating network partners annually on standard performance metrics. Our collaboration with Texas A&M University – Commerce, as well as with the National Center for Teacher Residencies, provides our program with a critical evaluation framework and feedback loop. This ensures that our efforts to prepare highly effective teachers for North Texas are continuously evolving and improving.