UTeach-Liberal Arts Course Descriptions

UTL 101 - Introduction to the Teaching Profession
UTL 101 involves one seminar hour per week with a University faculty member, as well as field placement in an elementary school for a minimum ten hours during the semester, under the supervision of a cooperating teacher. An on-campus seminar complements field experience. Seminar topics include basic classroom management, lesson design, assessment, technology, diversity, and special student populations.

UTL 202 - Introduction to Teaching Middle School
UTL 202 involves two seminar hours per week with a University faculty member, as well as field placement in a middle school for a minimum of twenty hours during the semester under the supervision of a cooperating teacher. An on-campus seminar complements field experience. Seminar topics include classroom management, lesson design, assessment, technology, diversity, special student populations, conferencing techniques, and school organization.

UTL 303 - Teaching in the High School
UTL 303 involves three seminar hours per week with a University faculty member, as well as field placement in a high school under the supervision of a cooperating teacher. Students focus on a specific discipline. An on-campus seminar complements the field experience. Seminar topics include standards, curriculum and lesson design and implementation, assessment, teaching strategies, technology, and vertical and horizontal teaming. UTL 303 is taken concurrently with EDC 370S. UTL 303/EDC 370S students engage in a minimum of forty-five hours of teaching and observation as an intern in a high school classroom.

EDC 370S - Advanced Methods
EDC 370S typically meets in a three-hour block per week. The course addresses content, organization, varied teaching practices, materials, and research pertaining to one subject area of the secondary school curriculum. EDC 370S is taken concurrently with UTL 303. UTL 303/EDC 370S students engage in a minimum of forty-five hours of teaching and observation as an intern in a high school classroom.

EDC 350S - Secondary School Teaching, Practicum Seminar
The Practicum Seminar involves 45 hours of class time on the UT-Austin campus. The seminar addresses a myriad of topics related to the novices' fieldwork - effective instructional and motivational strategies, curricular issues, helpful resources, and political and cultural influences on adolescents' learning. EDC 350S is taken concurrently with EDC 650S, the Practicum.

EDC 650S - Secondary School Teaching, Practicum
The Secondary School Teaching Practicum involves twelve weeks of apprentice teaching in a secondary school during the final semester of the UTeach-Liberal Arts Program. EDC 650S is taken concurrently with EDC 350S, the Practicum Seminar.

ALD 322 - Individual Differences (Prerequisite: Psychology 301 or the equivalent)
ALD 322 involves three lecture hours per week, with fieldwork to be arranged. An introduction to individual differences among people through the life span, this course examines areas of exceptionality within the context of typical development - current research trends, theoretical and legal considerations, and practice-related issues, including family involvement, cultural, and linguistic diversity, and educational perspectives. The course also involves orientation to assistive technology.

EDP 363M - Adolescent Development
EDP 363M involves three semester hours per week. The goal of this course is to help students understand the physical, social, and cognitive changes that take place during adolescence, including how these changes may be impacted by variables of gender and culture. Students will explore topics such as peer culture, school violence, body image, identity development, sex, drugs, and the media. An additional goal of this course is to help students reflect upon their own transition from adolescence to adulthood in a meaningful way.

EDC 371 - Adolescent Literacy
EDC 371 approaches adolescent literacy as a multi-faceted set of meaning-making and communicative practices. The course explores the various roles that literacy plays in our own and students' lives, both in and out of school. It explores the development of literacy skills, what it means to read a text, how to incorporate literacy strategies into lessons, how to help struggling readers in class, and how to sequence reading activities. Students will learn and practice some strategies and methods about incorporating various types of adolescent literacies into their teaching. Note: English majors are required to take both UTL 341R and EDC 371. History, LOTE, and Social Studies students are to complete either UTL 341R or EDC 371, not both.

UTL 341R - Overcoming Reading Difficulties
UTL 341R emphasizes practical strategies for teaching reluctant readers, struggling readers, and non-readers in secondary school classrooms. The course integrates current issues regarding reading pedagogy with studies of readers who struggle due to learning disabilities, as well those who struggle for other reasons. The course includes basic reading theory, reading assessment tools, and terminology necessary to understand and teach students with special needs. Students will incorporate theory and pedagogy as they evaluate teaching methodologies and create individual materials for struggling readers. This course must be taken concurrently with UTL 202 or UTL 303/EDC 370S. Note: English majors are required to take both UTL 341R and EDC 371. History, LOTE, and Social Studies students are to complete either UTL 341R or EDC 371, not both.

UTL 320 - Topics in Teaching Liberal Arts
This course addresses various topics related to middle grades, secondary, and all-level teaching certification. Topics may include history, social studies, English language arts, and languages other than English. This course may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.
Topic: High School Social Studies Curriculum - Analysis and Differentiation
This course is for students pursuing History or Social Studies certification. It addresses methods to differentiate between collaborative, grade-level, and Advanced Placement instructional settings in social studies. Course topics include standardized testing, infusion of technology, and inquiry learning as applied to high school world geography, history, and government/economics classes. * This course is not taught on a regular schedule.