Over the past two years our school has been extremely fortunate to have Murray Gadd working with our entire staff to support them in the teaching of writing. He has been an inspiration for all teaching staff including; Learning Assistants, English Language Assistants and Student teachers.
He offers practical ideas to truly engage children in writing. Murray is extremely knowledgeable and models for teachers on how to connect with children of all levels ensuring they are motivated and engaged in the writing process. With the PD focus on writing we noticed student voice in our reports showed a common trend with many students commenting on how much they were now enjoying writing.
With Murray’s guidance both staff and students were able to clearly identify their next learning steps and set achievable yet challenging goals.
During staff PLC’s, Murray made these sessions interactive and full of practical ideas for teachers to implement in their classrooms. We have seen accelerated student achievement results over this time.
Murray also ran a parent evening and the feedback from this was outstanding.
“We have had ongoing challenges with developing our son’s writing over the past couple of years. Although doing well in other areas, he was completely disengaged and unmotivated when it came to writing. We had tried various solutions at home to try and resolve his resistance to writing. I was very interested when I saw the opportunity to attend a writing session run through Baverstock Oaks with Murray Gadd to assist parents with their children’s writing. I went in with an open mind hoping to acquire information and tips to assist us with his writing at home.
The session was fabulous, it was easy to follow, simple steps were broken down and we were offered effective solutions to utilise at home. As a parent, it was like a lightbulb moment with how easy some of the solutions were and how we had actually been overcomplicating the process trying to improve our son’s writing. We have since implemented a number of the suggested ideas and the outcomes have been quite remarkable. My son is now fully engaged, we have fun, interactive writing sessions together and he actually wants to write. He even tries to beat me to the end of the page, when previously it was a challenge to get him to write one line.
The difference has been extraordinary and I am so thrilled that I attended this session. Murray Gadd provided the opportunity to make a substantial difference to not only my son’s writing but also his attitude towards writing.”
As a principal it is important to have facilitators who inspire and motivate staff and Murray’s down to earth and friendly manner makes him a must have facilitator in your school. After his PD sessions I always wished I was back in the classroom to implement his ideas!