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Course ePortfolio

Family Literacy

This course focuses on involving parents of young children in the development of early literacy skills from local, national, and international perspectives. When parents begin to speak early with their children, read to and with them, and create a literacy rich environment, children develop better literacy skills.  These literacy skills translate into school readiness and academic success later in life. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills all begin early in life and can be facilitated by literacy experiences in the home. The mastery of these skills depends upon the functions of literacy and the interrelatedness between culture and literacy. Family literacy programs play a large role into the development of literacy skills for certain cultural groups.  A collaborative exploration of family literacy in other countries will provide a multi- cultural awareness of how to assist at-risk children, especially from immigrant families, in establishing early literacy skills necessary to enter formal schooling.

Date Added to MERLOT:
January 11, 2019
Created by:
Daniela Fenu Foerch
License:
creative-commonscreative-commons by
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Pedagogical Approach

This course is designed to be facilitated either fully online or through a blended modality. It can be easily converted to a face to face course by making resources available to students during class time. 

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Explain the need and reasons for literacy education for children and parents.
  • Describe effective family literacy programs.
  • Explain effective strategies for parents/guardians to foster their children literacy skills in the home.
  • Describe early literacy and math development within the home.
  • Examine and explain cultural issues especially those for Hispanic, African American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, and migrant populations compared to other countries.
  • Understand the commonalities and differences of family literacy across cultures and families in the world.
  • Demonstrate an awareness of how the interrelatedness of culture and structure impact family literacy programs at local, global, and international levels.
  • Develop a multi- perspective analysis of diverse family literacy programs that are practiced in local, national, and international arenas.
  • Engage with others in a small group to explore problems associated with a specific local or international family literacy program and create a solution to at least one of the problems discovered.

Assessment

This course is designed to encourage active learner engagemnet and participation. Therefore, each module will conclude with at least one assignment asking to students to reflect and apply acquired knowlege. For a list of assignments per module, click here.

Other Information

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Course Resources