I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Diverse Children and Family Relations

2. Course Prefix & Number:
CDEV 1114

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

4. Course Description:

This course covers the relationship between the caregiver/teacher, child, family, and community. Students will explore teaching and environmental strategies that promote understanding and supporting diverse cultural and family structures. Students will examine cultural diversity/dynamics, bias, sensitivity, theory, and the importance of the context of family, culture and society as it relates to learning and child development.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

No placement tests required

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

Diverse Children and Family Relations (3 cr), ELECT member colleges

 

2. Transfer - regional institutions with which this course has a written articulation agreement:

Early Childhood Education Transfer Pathway A.S.

 

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

Early Childhood Education Transfer Pathway A.S.
Early Childhood Education A.A.S.
Early Childhood Education Diploma

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate oral communication skills	Participate in and complete small group discussions concerning course topics.
Apply abstract ideas to concrete situations	Analyze and relate the importance of taking into account the context of family, culture and society on our understanding of children’s development and behavior.
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments	Analyze and describe own culture, personal values and bias to be sensitive to differences in family structures, social and cultural backgrounds.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Examine teaching and environmental strategies that promote a child’s and family’s sense of belonging and family connectedness (TECE 3.A.5);
• Analyze and relate the importance of taking into account the context of family, culture and society on our understanding of children’s development and behavior (3.A.6);
• Examine diverse family structures and effective strategies for working with all families;
• Research and evaluate teaching and environmental strategies used to establish and maintain positive, collaborative relationships with families;
• Examine diverse family structures to promote the ability to respect families’ choices and goals for their children and effectively communicate with families about curriculum and their child’s progress;
• Assess own culture, personal values and bias to be sensitive to differences in family structures, social and cultural backgrounds (3.J.2);
• Explore theories of families and dynamics, roles and relationships within families and between families and communities (3.J.3);
• Explore how to support families in assessing educational options and in making decisions related to child development and parenting (3.J.4);
• Research family-oriented services within local communities to be better able to link families with resources based on priorities and concerns (TECE 3.J.5);
• Research and examine how children differ in their approaches to learning and how to create instructional opportunities that are adapted to children with diverse backgrounds and exceptionalities;
• Examine and recognize how to deal with dehumanizing biases, discrimination, prejudices, and institutional and personal racism and sexism (SEP 3.D); and
• Examine and describe how children’s learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents, and prior learning, as well as language, culture, family, and community values (SEP 3.E).

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Living in Diversity: The Intricate Nature of Our Society
• The United States—A Nation of Contrasts        
• School—The Place of Diversity and Action
• How Did We Become a Diverse Society?
• A Nation of Immigrants
2. Growing Cultural Diversity
• The United States: A Kaleidoscope of People
• Current Immigration Debate  
• Call for Action           
• Standards Portfolio
3. The Nature of Culture, the Nature of People
• Culture, the Magic Web of Life        
• The Need for Guideposts: What Culture Does for Human Beings
• We All Have a Culture
• Looking at Life Through Our Cultures
• Cultural Dimensions
• Discovering the Cultures of Children
• Culture Establishes Patterns of Life
• Culture as Main Influence in People’s Lives
• A Sense of Identity: Being a Part of the Group       
• A Myriad of Cultural Identities: The Essence of Cultural Diversity
• Cultural Diversity Factors
• Cultural Diversity Defines the “American Way”
• Talking about Race and Ethnicity
• What Is Ethnicity?
• Race: A Controversial Concept
• A New Demographic, Multicultural People
• Prejudice and Racism: The Plagues of the Past and the Present
• The Classroom as a Culture of Peace
• Overcoming Unfairness and Discrimination
• Stereotypes
• Legislative Landmarks
• Equity in Educational Services for All Children
• Stability and Change: The Rhythm of Culture
• Taking Action: Supporting Cultures in Our Classrooms
4. Families in Our Classrooms: Many Ways, Many Voices
• Families—A Constant in Our Changing Society           
• What Is a Family?
• Diversity—The Ever-Present Characteristic of Families
• Defining the Family: What the Literature Says
• Children Define the Family
• What Are the Functions and Roles of the Family? 
• Culture and the Family
• A Child Is Born
• Family Rituals
• More Than Just a Name         
• Diversity in Child-Rearing Practices 
• Changes in the Family Structure
• Who Are the Members of a Family?
• When Did the Family Begin to Change?
• Culture Influences Family Membership
• A Diversity of Family Configurations
• Traditional Family
• Single-Parent Families
• Grandparent Families—A Trend in Today’s Family Configurations
• Extended and Kinship Families
• Gay and Lesbian Families
• Families Facing Challenges
• Successful Families
• The Family—The Most Important Part of Our Lives
• Classroom, the Mirror of the Children’s Families   
• Families—The Essence of Social and Cultural Life
5. Who Is the Child? Developmental Characteristics of Young Children in a Diverse Society
• Looking at a Child’s Development: The Process of Becoming
• What Is Development
• Universal Characteristics of Child Development  
• Individuality: How We Become Who We Are
• Inherited Traits
• Prenatal Environment
• Home Environment
• Cultural Development
• Views about Development
• Children Are Born Ready to Learn
• The Influence of Culture and the Environment
• The Importance of a Child’s Environment
• “Funds of Knowledge”          
• Socialization: Learning to Be with Others, Learning to Be Ourselves
• Socialization Happens All around Us
• The Role of Media in Socialization
• Learning to See the Individual in Ourselves
• The Formation of Identity in Early Childhood
• Formation of Cultural and Ethnic Identity
• Additional Factors That Influence Identity Formation
• Discovering That You Are Not Like Me
• Learning to Recognize Differences
• Perception of Gender Differences
• Gender in the Classroom
• Awareness of Physical Differences
• Racal Awareness
• Developing a Concept of Ourselves as Part of an Ethnic Group
• Children’s Perceptions of Disabilities
• What Brain Research Tells Us
• Brain Research and Social Justice
6. Tracing the Beginnings of Multicultural Education
• Equality for Every Child       
• Early Efforts Toward Equality in Education       
• Pioneers of Equality and Social Justice for Children
• Maria Montessori’s School for the Poor
• Maestro Cordero’s School for the Poor
• Sarah Winnemucca: A Champion for the Rights of Native Americans
• Booker T. Washington: A New Beginning for African Americans
• Mary McLeod Bethune’s Legacy
• Hull House: The Work of Jane Addams
• Miles Cary and the Poston School at the Relocation Camps            
• Legacy of the Past
• Beginning of Multicultural Education       
• Struggle for Equality and Civil Rights
• Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
• The Birth of Multicultural Education
• War on Poverty Raises Awareness About Children
• Efforts Toward Equal Services for Children
• A Head Start for US Children
• Head Start and Children with Special Needs
• An Early Head Start: Services for the Very Young
• Services for Young Children with Disabilities     
• Equality for Children in the Global Community
• Multicultural Education in the Global Context
• The Global Quest for the Rights of Children
• UNICEF, United Nations Children's (originally International Children's Emergency) Fund: The Protector of World’s Children: The Protector of World’s Children
• Helping Hands: The Agenda for Sustainable Development
7. Approaches to Multicultural Education: From Frameworks to Action
• Getting to Work         
• Exploring Curriculum Approaches and Models
• Establishing Definitions
• The Meaning of Curriculum
• Developmentally Appropriate Early Childhood Multicultural Curriculum     
• Models of Multicultural Education
• Banks’s Levels of Integration of Multicultural Content
• The Sleeter and Grant Typology for Multicultural Education
• Early Childhood Multicultural Approaches
• The Antibias Approach
• Antibias/Multicultural Education
• The Head Start Multicultural Framework
• Social Justice Framework
• Teaching Framework for Multicultural Education
8. Classrooms, Where Words Become Action
• Curriculum Planning in the Multicultural Classroom
• Traits of an Effective Multicultural Early Childhood Educator
• Becoming a Good Multicultural Early Childhood Educator 
• Where Do We Start?
• The Needs Assessment: Gaining a True Perspective of Appropriate Teaching Practices
• Assessing Practices from the Perspective of the Children’s Experiences
• Learning about the Children’s Environment
• Gathering Information about Children with Special Needs
• Assessing Children’s Language Diversity        
• Focusing on the Children’s Needs
• Evaluating Curricular Practices
• Using Your Own Multicultural Assessment Instrument
• Identifying “Things That Happen” in the Classroom
• The Classroom Environment: What the Child Sees
• Using the Findings to Plan Curricular Experiences
• What Is Curriculum Content in Early Childhood Education?
• Factors to Consider When Choosing a Curriculum
• Toward Multicultural Teaching: Where You Are and Where You Want to Be
• Curriculum Process in Early Childhood Education
• Standards for Teaching in Diverse Classrooms
• Standards for Culturally Responsive Pedagogical Practices
• Challenging Curriculum: Integrating Academic Standards
• Making Decisions for Multicultural Teaching
• Infusing Diversity in the Content
• Avoiding Infusion of Trivial and Stereotypical Content
• What If My Classroom Is “Monocultural”?
• Presence of Diversity in a Monocultural Classroom
• Building Experiences That Promote Respect and Appreciation for Diversity     
• Putting Things Together
9. Language Diversity in the Classroom: Working with Young Dual Language Learners
• The Landscape of Language Diversity
• A Nation of Many Languages
• Language Diversity in the Classroom
• Linguistic Diversity: Another Descriptor of Multiculturalism
• Terms That Describe Dual Language Speakers          
• Who Is the Dual Language Learner?
• Dual English Language Learners, a Very Diverse Group
• Language Learning during the Early Years        
• Learning More Than One Language
• Developmental Benefits of Learning a Second Language
• Second Language Acquisition
• Stages of Second Language Acquisition
• Recognizing the Home Language as a Child’s Right
• Implementing Developmentally Appropriate Practices to Meet the Needs of Young Dual Language LearnerChildren
• Knowing a Child Who Is a Dual Language Learner
• Creating a Welcoming Literacy Learning Environment for Dual Language Learners
• Planning Learning Experiences
• Adapting Classroom Experiences to Language Learning
• Using Appropriate Assessment
• Collaboration with Families
• Enhancing the Teachers’ Knowledge Base
10. Activities and Resources for Multicultural Teaching: A World of Possibilities!
• The Many Environments of a Classroom
• The Physical Environment
• The Cognitive Environment
• The Social–Emotional Environment
• The Creative Environment     
• Organizing the Classroom to Make the Best Use of Teaching Environments
• A Flexible Space Where Objects Are Carefully Arranged
• The Interest Areas
• Classroom Arrangement
• Instructional Materials
• Guidelines for a Multicultural Classroom Environment
• Learning Materials
• Art as a Source of Awareness about Diversity
• The Literary Area
• Music and Movement Experiences
• Games and Play: The Medium of All Cultures   
• Ideas into Action—Designing Classroom Activities
• What Are Our Goals?
• Planning for Multiple-Perspective Learning
• A Framework for Planning: The Cycle of Teaching and Learning
• Using the Cycle of Teaching and Learning: An Example
• Sources for Planning the Content and the Experiences
• Creating Your Own Curriculum Using Thematic Teaching
• Selecting Topics for Teaching
• Planning a Culturally Appropriate Curriculum
• Suggestions for Culturally Appropriate Planning
• Helpful Planning Sources
11. A World of Resources: Engaging Families, Friends, and the Community
• Working Together: The Essence of a Child’s Success 
• Changing Communities, Changing Realities
• Defining Family Engagement
  • A Definition of Family Involvement
  • Overcoming Barriers to Successful Family Involvement
  • Collaboration, an Important Goal of Education for Diversity  
  • What Does Collaboration Mean?
    • Consider the Community as Your Partner
    • Family: A Source of Knowledge about the Child
      • A Positive Approach toward Children’s Families
      • Building Trust with Families
      • Developing a Philosophy about Families
      • Learning More about the Families in Our Classrooms
      • Recording What We Know about Families: The Family Folder
      • The School, the Neighborhood, and the Community
      • Building Knowledge about the Community
      • Using What We Know about Families
      • Planning Successful Family Involvement Activities
      • Communication: A Tool for Positive Relationships
      • Sharing Ideas in Writing
      • Classroom News
      • Planning Meetings and Conversations
      • Using Modern Technology to Enhance Communication
      • Ideas for Planning Activities with Families and the Community
      • Curriculum Activities
      • Supporting and Involving Families in School
      • Counting on the Community as a Resource
      • What Lies Ahead?