Course approved by University Studies Sub-Committee. A2C2 action pending.

 

Winona State University
College of Education
Education 120 Parenting
Spring Semester, 2001

 

Instructor: Dr. Celeste Matthews

Office: 136 Gildemeister

Office Hours: Tuesday, Thursday 9:30 to 12:00, Wednesday 1:00 to 3:00

Tel: 457-5875

E-mail: cmatthews@winona.edu

 

Textbook : Parent-Child Relations by Jerry Bigner, Merrill Press (purchase is optional) Textbook is on reserve in the library.

 

Course Description: An introduction to parenting, the diverse family, developmental interactions of adults and children, strategies of parenting and contemporary issues of parenting.

 

Course Objectives: To provide the student with an overview of the developmental needs of children ages 0 – 18 and how adults can facilitate and support this development in the context of family Topics include, in addition to developmental stages; the nature of parent-child relations, diversity in the family cultural perspectives on families, family systems theory, developmental theories to understand families, strategies of parenting at each age level, and contemporary issues involving family breakdown.

 

University Studies: This course meets the requirements for the category of Contemporary Citizenship under the heading C. Unity and Diversity.

#1 The student will use critical thinking to analyze contemporary issues surrounding the family in contemporary society.

#2 The student will demonstrate oral and written communication skills by essay writing, case study, book report, project work and group presentations.

#3 Students will identify, find and use tools of information science related to contemporary issues in parenting.

#4 Students will demonstrate the ability to work in groups with project work.

#5 Students will identify principles and applications of personal and civic responsibility.

#6 Students will understand personal responsibility for lifestyle choices on healthy family life and or participate in issues significant to citizenship in contemporary society.

#7. Students will understand the need to exercise responsibility for the expression of their ideas.

 

Due Dates for assignments are typed in bold.

Course Outline:

Week One – Chapter 1 and 2, The family in society

1/9 Class overview

1/11 In class quick write – My dream family (Categories#1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7)

Week Two – Top 10 lists and Family Systems Theory Chap 3

1/16 Essay #1 My family of origin due (Categories #1, #2, #3, #5, # 7)

 

1/18 Chose your case study family

 

 

Week Three - Relationships – Harville Hendrix

1/23

1/25 Essay #2 is due…reflections based on Zukov’s Soul Stories Section three and your quick write on dream families (Categories, #1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7)

 

Week Four – Relationships – Harville Hendrix

1/30 Relationships

2/1 Relationship

2/1 Essay #3 due Interview with foreign student on their families (Categories #1, #2, #2, #5, #7)

Week Five – Relationships – McGraw and others

2/6 – Relationships

2/8 Essay #4 due Discuss any unconscious patterns of behavior, which have become conscious as a result of the relationship lectures. (Categories #1, #2, #5, #6, #7)

Week Six – Chapter 4 Developmental Frameworks

2/13 No class due to Assessment Day

2/15

Week Seven – Chapters 5 Guidance/Leadership in the Family

2/20

2/22 Essay #5 due Discuss the hows and whys of the changing parenting styles of your parents as they got older. Refer to the material in the text to inform your discussion. (Categories #1, # 2, #3, #5, #7)

Week Eight – Chapters 6 and 7 (Category #5)

2/27 Parenting Infants

3/1 Parenting Infants

Week Nine – Spring Break – Case Study interviews due on 3/13

 

Week Ten – Chapter 8 (Category #5)

3/13 –Parenting the Preschool child

3/15 – Parenting the Preschool child

 

3/15 Essay #6 due Discuss the pros and cons of staying at home with a child birth to age 4. (Categories #1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7)

Week 11 – Chapters 9 and 10 (Category #5)

3/20 Parenting the elementary child

3/22 Video – Middle school children

Week 12 – Project work (Category 4)

3/27 Project work

3/29 Form groups – Essay #7 due Compare the challenges of raising middle childhood children and adolescent (Categories #1,# 2,# 3, #5, #6, #7)

 

Week Thirteen – Project work- out of class (Categories #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7)

4/3

4/5

Week Fourteen – Project work presentations (Categories #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7)

4/10

4/12

Week Fifteen – More Presentations (Categories #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7)

4/17

4/19 Case Studies Due (Categories #1, #2, #5, #6, #7)

Week Sixteen – Case Studies

4/24 Case study discussions

4/26 Case study discussions

 

Final Exam week – Book report Due (Categories #1, #2, #3, #5, #7)

 

 

Assignments:

I lecture with material integrated from a lot of sources so you are expected to be in class. Roll will be taken on a random basis and during the weeks of presentations every day. Even with perfect marks, if you miss more than three classes, your grade will go down to the next level. If you miss more than 6 unexcused classes you will not pass the class. The reason for that is there is no book out there which integrates all this parenting information and participation with your peers is an important part of learning.

Assignments are due on the dates listed above. Exceptions need to be cleared with me.

Graded assignments include:

Book Report 10 points (Review of video Lorenzo’s Oil may

be substituted)

Case Study – 20 points

Project Work – 40 points

Essays – 7 at 3 points each

Professionalism/Attendance « parenting points » – 9 points

Grading Scale : 93 – 100 is an A, etc.

 

Rubric for grading essays

½ point for grammar

½ point for spelling

1 point for organization

1 point for original content

Guidelines for book report

    1. select any nonfiction book dealing with an aspect of family life published within the past 5 years.
    2. Book report has three parts (maximum 5 pages)
      1. Your name, title underlined, author, date of report
      2. Description of book – your goal is to explain the scope of the book
      3. Personal impression – your goal is to discuss what you will take with you after reading this book. This part is personal and in more depth
    3. Grading rubric - 4 points for grammar, 6 points for content

Project guidelines

    1. Question can be changed as you go along
    2. Four in a group
    3. Decide how to best represent your knowledge. There is no best way. There is only "your" way.
    4. Each group will have 15 to 20 minutes to present. Your whole class will evaluate the presentation. Numbers will be drawn to establish order of presentation.
    5. Each group hands in a single report telling the question, the place the answers were investigated and a brief description of the findings. Group score tabulated from class evaluations should appear on this paper in top corner.
    6. Your peers will grade you. There are two evaluations. One from your team members and one from the rest of the class. Both will be used to assign a final grade. See the attached scoring rubric for more details on how the points are assigned.

Case Study

    1. Select a family that is a different culture (broadly defined) from your own.
    2. Interview your family three different times on a variety of questions that you design.
    3. Discuss your family in terms of the textbook material and lecture material
    4. Write up the case study at the end of the semester and share the last week of class in lieu of an exam. If necessary, we may have to extend sharing into exam week.

5 points for scope of questions

5 points for grammar

5 points for integrating text book material

5 points for organization