Opinions

I take my hat off to teachers. You (we) are not appreciated enough, thanked enough, supported enough or championed enough. I myself come from a long line of great teachers. I also married one and gave birth to one. So if you’re a teacher reading this, three cheers for you, your dedication, your tiredness and your achievements, daily, and over the life of every child you teach. Thank you for doing fabulous things with my books. This photo came from Michelle Delaney, at Glen Forrest Primary in Perth, Western Australia, 2013.

And thanks to the wonderful teacher in the US who sent this letter, among many others.

This section of the website contains a few of my major presentations and articles over the years. Click on the title to read them. Some are ancient but I’ve included them because their message remains as potent as ever, such as ‘The Folly of Jolly Old Phonics’ which became a chapter in Reading Magic.

• Donald Graves Memorial speech
• Like Mud, Not Fireworks
• If I Were Queen Of The World
• Politics, Literature And Green Shoes
• Notes From The Battlefield
• In The Teaching Olympics, Who Wins Gold?
• Learning From Learning
• The Folly of Jolly Old Phonics

Here are the three books of most interest to teachers: