Student Diversity: Classroom Strategies to Meet the Learning Needs of All Students. 2nd ed.

Every classroom community is shaped by learners from a wide range of backgrounds and interests. Addressing the individual needs of these learners and ensuring that they are achieving their full potential can be challenging. This book commences with the founded postulation that teachers should share effective educational practices. True to form, the authors present a multiplicity of strategies that can be used to educate the diverse groups of students that are found in every classroom.

The authors begin with a description of the importance of making the classroom culture one of acceptance and collaboration between peers. They provide clear direction on how to create the classroom community to meet the needs of all students. The Non-Categorical Model is introduced, which proposes one resource teacher be assigned to specific classrooms for delineated blocks of time. The ensuing chapters reinforce literacy concepts based on this model. Various uses and benefits of assessments, as well as the selection of appropriate instructional strategies, are reinforced through narratives, templates, blank worksheets, and samples of student work. The authors then proceed to designate chapters to the development of a writing program and deem this to be the unifying factor that links to all that is done in the classroom. Narrative writing, literature circles, poetry, and novel studies are explored, and the book ends with cross-curricular literacy connections. All strategies are proposed from a mindset of inclusion and the Non-Categorical Model.

While this is a very interesting read, the strategies presented target junior and intermediate grade levels. Inclusion is, however, important for students who are entering the school system as they begin an important phase of their psychosocial development. In addition, while the Non-Categorical Model appears to be highly effective to the respect of individual differences, not all schools have resource teachers or the financial means to support the model. As such, alternate methods to sustain inclusion would have enriched the text. Nevertheless, the samples of student work coupled with the practical examples of inclusion in action make this a very useful resource for teachers who are preoccupied with differentiating their classrooms to respect student diversity.