1. Children and Families in a Diverse Society Families in Our Classrooms Developmental Characteristics of Young Children in a Diverse Society Dr. Francisco J. Brizuela

2. What is Family? Traditional Beliefs Mom, Dad, and the children Non-Traditional Single parent, friends, same-sex parents, etc

3. Who is in your family? Our children are always happy and proud to respond these questions. Are we ready to understand and accept their responses? My family is comprised of… I think my family is traditional/nontraditional because… What makes my family unique is..

4. Functions and Roles of the Family Our society needs families Families play a very important role in societies Myth: Troubled youth always come for dysfunctional families Successful youth only come from well-structured, traditional families Brizuela, 2011

5. Family Roles Provide love and nurturance to their members Keep people together Meet the basic need of their members Provide role models for their younger members Support each other Model problem-solving skills to their members Establish a sense of cultural diversity Model how to live in a social group Robles and Beck, 2010

6. Family Models Robles and Neck, 2010

7. Problems Facing the American Families Homeless families Unemployment Immigrant Status Educational systems Diversity Other

8. Early Childhood Development It is an integrated and coherent process experience by all individuals (Robles and Beck, 2010) We must be capable of providing our children with developmentally appropriate learning experiences The learning experiences must be meaningful and relevant to your students’ own ethnic, cultural, religious backgrounds

9. Key Elements of Developmentally and Culturally Appropriate PracticesRobles & Beck, 2010 Universal Development Patterns Individual Development Social and Cultural Experiences

10. How do Our Children Socialize? Robles & Beck, 2010

11. Cited References Robles de Melendez, W and Beck, V. (2010). Teaching young children in multicultural classrooms: Issues, concepts, and strategies. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning