Two years ago, my school began professional development in writing with Murray Gadd. Our goal was to improve both the quality and confidence of classroom practice and to accelerate learning, particularly for our boys and our target students.
Murray is passionate about literacy. He is also clear and practical. His approach is to develop a high quality and effective writing programme that is highly engaging and motivating for students. His enthusiasm is infectious and inspiring! I left Murray’s professional development sessions with a clear understanding of what effective teachers of writing do, how they develop rich discussions with their learners, as well as next steps in my learning inquiry that were exciting yet realistic to implement in the classroom.
I had once considered writing to be the weakest area of my teaching. However, it is now an area where I feel excited and confident to teach. I also feel that I am better at meeting the diverse needs of my students.
I fully recommend Murray to all teachers and schools that wish to get excited about teaching writing in the classroom.