One of the main goals of this course is to learn about various cultures and backgrounds, and special issues families are faced with as well as strategies that can assist candidates in supporting the diversity and uniqueness of all families. Candidates use this understanding to create respectful, reciprocal relationships that support and empower families.
The purpose of this assignment is for candidates to know about, understand, and value the diversity of families, children, and the contexts in which they live. Using a set of guided questions, candidates will conduct an in-person interview with the family of a child between the ages of birth and eight. This family can be a friend, relative (outside of your immediate family), neighbor, or family in your early childhood classroom environment. The family must have a child who is enrolled in an early childhood program. Candidates should consider the selection of a family whose background is different from their own in terms of culture, language, socioeconomics, etc. After the interview, candidates will prepare a Family Profile using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and the family interview questions provided as a guide.
Candidates will visit and interview a community agency/specialist and collect a variety of resources to support the family interviewed. Candidates will develop/collect community resources (in their community/area) based on the child and family needs, challenges, and concerns of the family interviewed. Candidates will reflect on the process of learning more about and supporting the engagement of the child and family and provide evidence of understanding the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct. Finally, candidates will participate in collaborative discussions with their peers to share information about the resources they have found to support families with diverse structures.
