EDUCATING EVERYBODY’S CHILDREN;
DIVERSE TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR DIVERSE LEARNERS

Robert W. Cole, Editor
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2008

Educating Everybody’s Children; Diverse Teaching Strategies For Diverse Learners is a book of immense value in terms of content but is also recommended for its user friendly layout.  The approach is bold and refreshing and in essence states that in the year 2008 we know what works in education and what doesn’t and it is high time we all live up to this knowledge!  Good teaching works and it works for all children, and concepts of effective learning cut across content areas.  Pedagogic approaches that work are inclusive, interactive, interdisciplinary, realistic and most important they focus on how children learn as opposed to how the curriculum works.

What I like about the book is the clarity with which several principles and axioms of education are presented in every individual chapter, followed by excellent suggested teaching strategies which are shown by cutting-edge research to be effective and enduring.  Every chapter also includes some actual classroom examples.  This clever and inviting design of the book is aimed at promoting reflection, discussion and action among educators regardless of their respective specialty. 

Perhaps my favorite feature of the book is the incredible listing of resources and bibliography which appear at the end of every single chapter.  Each chapter, a comprehensive unit on its own, offers readers the option of either studying the book in its entirety (which I highly recommend) or, alternatively, undertaking one chapter/topic at a time.  Thus for example educators could decide to delve into the subject matter of “achievement in reading” or “mathematics education” or “achievement in writing”, etc. As noted every subject matter is presented with its educational principles, teaching strategies, examples from classrooms and extraordinary lists for further readings.

This revised and expanded 2nd edition is highly recommended for any educator who is committed to good teaching, teaching that is engaging and relevant and addresses the needs of all students.

 

Yael Seliger