This beginning course examines the involvement of families and communities from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds in early childhood programs. Ways to establish collaborative relationships with families in early childhood settings are discussed. Families’ goals and desires for their children will be supported through culturally responsive strategies. This is a three credit hour course.

This course fulfills one of the New Mexico Junior College's education requirements for a vocational certificate in Early Childhood Education and/or Associate in Arts degree with an emphasis in early childhood education. Please note that if a student intends to transfer to another institution, it is the student’s responsibility to verify the transferability of this course with the receiving school or institution.

Required:

Families and Educators as Partners, 2nd edition, by Rockwell, Andre, and Hawley (1-4283-1828-3)

Suggested:
None.

You can buy your books online at the NMJC Bookstore.

Students attending New Mexico Junior College will be evaluated according to the following grading scale:

						90 - 100%	=	A
						80 -  89%	=	B
						70 -  79%	=	C
						60 -  69%	=	D
					 	 0 -  59%	=	F

Grading Distribution
Test 1 (chapters 1-3) - 100
Test 2 (chapters 4-5) - 100
Test 3 (chapters 6-9) - 100
Final Exam (chapters 10-12) - 100
Parent Involvement Statement - 50
Parent Interest Questionnaire and Survey - 100
(communication assessment activity)
Newsletter – 100
Bulletin Board – 100
Educational Plan for parents – 100
Final Project – 100
Discussion Board (10 points each for 15 weeks) - 150
Total - 1100 points

Retrieving Grades from T-BirdWeb Portal
Go to the New Mexico Junior College T-BirdWeb Portal login page. Please enter your User Identification Number (ID), which is your Banner ID, and your Personal Identification Number (PIN). When finished, click Login.

Tips for Success in Online Courses:
1. Log in to class regularly.
2. Pay attention.
3. Take notes.
4. Keep up with readings and assignments.
5. Ask questions when you do not understand something.
6. Utilize your professor’s office hours and e-mail.
7. Read the text.
8. Adhere to the deadlines posted in the course outline.

Students taking this course should understand various types of family stress, the dynamics of family systems, and community relationships in order to encourage family involvement and community collaboration. This course fulfills one of the New Mexico Junior College's education requirements for a vocational certificate in Early Childhood Education and/or Associate in Arts degree with an emphasis in early childhood education.

The student should be able to:

• Seek and maintain a collaborative relationship with parents, guardians, families, community agencies, and other professionals to meet the needs of each child.

• Create and maintain a safe and welcoming environment for families and community members.

• Establish frequent contact with parents and guardians through a variety of communication strategies, including communication in the home language of each child to provide ongoing, relevant information to families about child growth, development, and learning.

• Demonstrate knowledge of and respect for variations across cultures, in terms of family strengths, expectations, values, and childrearing practices.

• Demonstrate understanding of the complexity and dynamics of family systems.

• Demonstrate understanding of the effects of family stress on the behavior of children and other family members.

• Demonstrate the ability to incorporate the families’ desires/goals for their children into classroom and/or intervention strategies.

• Develop partnerships with family members to promote early literacy in the home.

• Involve families and community members in contributing to the learning environment.

• Establish partnerships with community members in promoting literacy.

• Demonstrate ability to communicate to families the program’s policies, procedures, and those procedural safeguards that are mandated by state and federal regulations.

Student Requirements
If you have not already received login information for Canvas/T-BirdWeb Portal/E-mail, you will need to contact the Enrollment Management office at (575) 492-2546.

Check first-time login page for instructions at www.nmjc.edu/distancelearning/coursescourseschedules/canvasinstructions.aspx.

Canvas Assistance

• Review the Canvas Student Orientation.
• Call the Canvas helpdesk at (575) 399-2199 to gain an understanding of the software environment for your class.

You must have access, on a regular basis, to a computer that supports the Canvas minimum specifications and has an active connection to the Internet. See the minimum computer specification requirements at www.nmjc.edu/distancelearning/coursescourseschedules/Canvasinstructions.aspx.

Students will be held responsible for the information on these pages.

Academic Honesty
Each student is expected to maintain the highest standards of honesty and integrity in online academic and professional matters. The College reserves the right to take disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal, against any student who is found guilty of academic dishonesty or otherwise fails to meet these standards. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, dishonesty in quizzes, tests, or assignments; claiming credit for work not done or done by others; and nondisclosure or misrepresentation in filling out applications or other College records. Cheating or gaining illegal information for any type of graded work is considered dishonest and will be dealt with accordingly.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Information
Any student requiring special accommodations should contact the Special Needs Student Services Coordinator at (575) 492-2576 or by e-mail at krueda@nmjc.edu.

Attendance Policy and Participation Expectations
It is expected that you regularly log into class at least three times weekly and check your Canvas mail to ensure you have not missed any changes/updates. Students are expected to complete discussions/quizzes/tests/ assignments before deadlines expire.

Canvas Help
If you experience difficulty with Canvas you may reach the Canvas Helpdesk at canvashelpdesk@nmjc.edu, or by calling the 24 hour helpdesk phone at (575) 399-2199.

Netiquette
The professor is responsible for monitoring and evaluating student conduct and student behavior within the Canvas course. By registering for this class, the student is assumed to have entered into an agreement with New Mexico Junior College and the professor to log into the class regularly and to behave in an appropriate manner at all times. Disruptive behavior may result in the student being removed from the class and dropped for the semester. For comprehensive information on the common rules of netiquette and other online issues, please review the NMJC Online Student Handbook.

Online Learning Environment
By participating in an online class, you undertake responsibility for your own progress and time management.

• Pay attention to deadlines and do not forget them (keep a calendar if it helps).
• Carefully read and understand all assignments.
• Complete assignments according to posted instructions and notes. Do not just glance at an assignment before attempting to complete it (this is likely to result in a poor grade).
• Questions may be posed for clarification in the class discussion area or by sending an e-mail to your instructor.

Plagiarism
Offering the work of another as one’s own, without proper acknowledgment, is plagiarism; therefore, any student who fails to give credit for quotations or essentially identical expression of material taken from books, encyclopedias, magazines and other reference works, or from the themes, reports, or other writings of a fellow student, is guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism violates the academic honesty policy and is considered cheating.

Tutoring Assistance
Free tutoring services are available to all NMJC students through Brainfuse and the Learning Resource Center located in Mansur Hall room 121.

Withdrawal Policy
The instructor has the right to drop any student who has failed to log on to Canvas for two weeks or more, but it is not guaranteed that the instructor will drop you. If the student chooses to stop attending a class, he/she should withdraw from the class by accessing your student account in the T-Bird Web Portal at www.nmjc.edu, or submitting the required paperwork to the Registrar’s Office by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 20, 2012. Failure to withdraw yourself from a course by this date may result in your receiving an “F” in the course. All students are encouraged to discuss their class status with the professor prior to withdrawing from the class.