Author Archives: Dianne Murphy

Originally posted on thinkingreadingwritings:
Dear Education We’ve had a long relationship and one that I, at least, was deeply committed to. We both cared deeply about helping every child to become literate – at least I thought you did too.…

Originally posted on thinkingreadingwritings:
January is named after Janus, the god of doors, who looks both backwards and forwards. As always at this time of year, it is a time to reflect on the previous year as we revise and…

Originally posted on thinkingreadingwritings:
There are 377 books in the 41 series below – something for everyone! One of the great pleasures of teaching is to connect students with books, and a sound strategy for keeping them reading is to…

Originally posted on thinkingreadingwritings:
Choosing an effective intervention may not be as difficult as you think. For school leaders looking for evidence on the effectiveness of literacy interventions, the go-to source is Professor Greg Brooks’ What works for children and…

Originally posted on thinkingreadingwritings:
To know if an intervention is effective, we need to know who it helps most.  Schools are rightly making more of an effort to evaluate the evidence for interventions before investing in them. This is a…

Originally posted on thinkingreadingwritings:
It takes a movement to conquer illiteracy. It was a tough decision.  Would I stay in my school, with my programme and my team, and enjoy seeing students succeed where they had previously failed? Or would…

Originally posted on thinkingreadingwritings:
Good systems need good people to deliver them. To have real impact, an intervention must have two things: an effective programme, and an effective teacher. No matter how good the programme is, its power to effect…