ED X302G - Designing Developmentally Appropriate, Culturally Sustaining Early Childhood Curriculum for Indigenous Mixtec Children and Families in California

Course Description

This class is designed to examine foundational theories and best practices associated with developing early childhood curriculum and activities for children aged birth through 5 years, particularly for bilingual and trilingual language learners in Mixtec and other indigenous Mexican communities in California. A major goal of the course is to provide students who will become teachers themselves or who will provide parent-child workshops to the Mixtec community with knowledge of best practices for supporting young children’s development with lesson planning that is developmentally appropriate while maintaining Mixtec children’s language and culture.

Learner Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Describe children’s social, linguistic, emotional, and cognitive development in order to plan age-appropriate routines, activities, and learning experiences for children aged birth through 5 years (especially focusing on birth through 3 years);
2. Compare and contrast different perspectives on curriculum practices associated with supporting young children’s development and learning;
3. Describe socialization practices of indigenous Mixtec families in California;
4. Understand observation, assessment, and curriculum planning utilizing developmentally-appropriate and culturally-sustaining practices.