EDU 3360 - FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND SCHOOLRELATIONSHIPS IN INDIGENOUS COMNTY

credits: 1.0
Family, community, and school (F-C-S) partnerships are essential to the academic success of all students and even more important to the overall well-being of the whole-child. This course will investigate ways to create F-C-S relationships, rather than partnerships, as they will be rooted in Indigenous epistemologies and perspectives of community and education to promote the holistic well-being of the students, families, and community. Historical and contemporary contexts will be reviewed to understand the complexities of such partnerships between Indigenous peoples and U.S. Education. Indigenous philosophies of community and education will be applied to create models of F-C-S relationships. The students in the course will participate in projects based in Indigenous communities. Some travel to communities will be required. Objectives: A) Analyze strategies of U.S. education to disrupt Indigenous students’ relationships with their families and communities; B) Describe the complexity and insufficiency of current mainstream F-C-S partnerships within the current context of Indigenous communities; C) Identify, explain, and apply Indigenous epistemologies and philosophies of community and education to models for F-C-S relationships for schools that serve Indigenous communities; D) Present-Implement models to Indigenous communities. Method of Instruction: Classroom lecture, discussion, videos, speakers, community-based learning experiences (service learning projects). Method of Evaluation: Written assignments (article critique, explanation of historical effects on F-C-S partnerships); Indigenous philosophy of education and community; Family, Community, School Relationships model and rationale and presentation; community projects.