Over the years researchers have found the necessity to develop theories of behavior that are specific to family settings. These theories have been developed by people with a variety of areas of emphasis, from family therapists to gerontologists to child development specialists. In this chapter we will briefly discuss six such theories: Bioecological Model, Family Systems, Functionalism, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Psychological Perspectives.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Theories That Help Us Understand Families
Chapter 2: How Children Learn and Understand Their World
Chapter 3: What is Culture and Why is it Important?
Chapter 4: How Does Gender Influence Children, Families and Communities?
Chapter 5: What is a Family?
Chapter 6: A Closer Look at Parenting
Chapter 7: Building Trusting Collaborative Relationships with Families
Chapter 8: Welcoming & Supporting Families
Chapter 9: Creating Positive Goal-Oriented Relationships with Strengths-Based Attitudes and Relationship-Based Practices

The purpose of this text is to provide students with an introduction to the field of Instructional Design and building upon skills that will help the novice designer become more effective in their professional career. This text will go beyond theory to discuss such topics as recommended skillsets and traits for designers, the importance of cultivating strong communication and leadership skills and how to incorporate emotional intelligence into your wheelhouse of professional skills. In addition, tips on the management of projects as well as the instructional design process will be discussed. In an effort to broaden the concept of the instructional design profession, you will find sections devoted to instructional design in various professional venues, (i.e., consulting, educational {higher education and K-12}).

In the educational realm of instructional design, one current topic among designers is how to incorporate openly licensed material into instructional texts. We will provide a section on open educational resources and licensing to assist you in becoming knowledgeable on best practices and dealing with cutting edge initiatives in the educational world.

Effective instructional designers should be able to speak comfortably in public in various venues whether it is a business meeting, training a small group of individuals, or, presenting at a large conference. For an instructional designer, it is important to hone these leadership skills and prepare yourself for the inevitable public speaking situation. This text will provide information on how to improve upon your public speaking skills.

This book received the 2018 AECT Outstanding Book Award!

"What is this field?" "Where have we come from as a discipline, and where are we going?" "What do I want to study?" These and other questions are typical for new students in the field of Learning and Instructional Design Technology. This textbook is designed to help answer these questions and provide the quickest route to understanding the history and current trends in the field. After surveying classic theories and writings, as well as more recent applications of theory and practice, students will be better prepared to chart their own course and careers within the discipline. This book is designed to support foundations courses common in departments, as well as seminars on current trends and issues.

This book is a compilation of created and remixed resources for use in various courses supporting the care and development of infants and toddlers. This textbook is intended to be pulled apart, remixed, reshared, and redistributed in the form that best meets your individual needs. For this reason, this resource has unique characteristics not typical of other textbooks.
• Each chapter or section is stand-alone. No chapter references another or makes statements such as “as you previously read.” This intentional design choice allows you to remix every section without concern about referencing a section you did not copy over.
• The chapters were created around topics we felt should be stand-alone and therefore had different length requirements. For this reason, you will notice a chapter might be 20 pages or 2.
• Chapters contain multiple sections to remix easily and create new and unique chapters for your individual needs.
• You might find repeat information within sections. Since each section is intended as a stand-alone section, information might be repeated within sections to give context to the subject matter. The beauty of OER is you have permission to delete and add as needed.
• We’ve made every effort to keep the original source with the content, as you remix be aware of the license types on each resource.
To best use a small window of time to complete this resource, we decided to forgo many of the extra “bells and whistles” one might find in traditional textbooks, including call-out boxes with additional resources, robust vignettes, and reflection questions. While we feel this resource contains much of the content needed for multiple infant and toddler courses, we eagerly await each improvement upon this resource the infant and toddler educator community bring forth.

Theories, teaching strategies, and instructional materials pertinent to teaching reading and writing in grades PK-3, with an emphasis on integrating reading, writing, speaking, and listening, as well as integration across content areas while addressing diversity and inclusion.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Book
Introduction
Chapter 1. What is Literacy? Multiple Perspectives on Literacy
Chapter 2. Foundations of Early Literacy
Chapter 3. Phonological Awareness
Chapter 4. Phonics: Breaking the Code to Words
Chapter 5. Supporting Literacy Learning in the Early Childhood Classroom
Chapter 6. Vocabulary
Chapter 7. Fluency and Comprehension
Chapter 8. Writing
Chapter 9. Literacy Instruction for Diverse Learners
Chapter 10. Reading and Writing Across Content Areas – Disciplinary Literacy
Review Statement
About the Authors

Guided by cultural beliefs and principles, families select experiences, convey attitudes, and impart knowledge to their children to prepare them for adulthood. Accordingly, it is important for program staff to learn to collaborate effectively with families. To develop a partnership and to tap into the family as a primary resource, early childhood educators must reach out to, learn about, and develop strong partnerships with families. This process requires openness to learning and an effort to understand the individuality of each family and the diversity of the families from which the children come.

Early childhood is a critical time in development. Many outcomes, both positive and negative, have their beginnings in these years. It is vital that children’s health and safety be protected. High-quality early care and education programs can play a valuable role in improving outcomes
for children.