It is my absolute pleasure to have known Michael Minas for eight years now. He is a highly capable person and teacher with that innate ability to have a positive influence on others. Michael is passionate about effective maths teaching and knows what that sort of teaching looks and feels like. He is well on his way to sharing his expertise and skills more widely and I’m going to enjoy watching him do it.
Rob Vingerhoets, Educational Consultant
The most engaging professional learning I’ve encountered in my career! Michael’s approachable manner and inspiring, practical method created a buzz amongst the staff, who left informed and equipped to generate a love of maths in their classroom.
Jeremy, Ivanhoe Primary School
In the last two years, Michael has completed numerous whole staff professional learning sessions as well as working closely with our maths team to empower them to lead the teaching and planning of mathematics. These sessions are highly engaging and staff leave excited to teach maths the following day. His knowledge and enthusiasm towards ensuring that staff have a greater understanding of how to teach maths, as well as his knowledge of how students learn is a great asset for our school.
Chris Berry (Learning Specialist), Hampton Primary School
As someone who’s strength is not in numeracy, Michael made me feel extremely comfortable and safe. He shared and taught me practical teaching strategies, content knowledge and lesson structures that I now incorporate into my daily program. I can wholeheartedly say I thoroughly enjoyed working alongside Michael.
Sarah Evans (Classroom Teacher), Ardeer South Primary School
Michael brings teaching ideas to life, successfully collaborating with teams through the many professional development opportunities we have participated in over a two year period. He engages in a friendly and welcoming manner with all staff and students. His commitment to offering opportunities for all to embrace the wonder of maths, with a personal focus on empowering girls in this area of the curriculum, is infectious.
Crissy Samaras (Leading Teacher), Williamstown North Primary School
Michael inspires growth, progress and change by supporting schools and their teachers to enhance the way we approach the teaching and learning of Numeracy. His philosophies and guidance equip teachers to facilitate an environment of student engagement with a love of Mathematics and also their learning in a broader sense. As a result of Michael's support, my colleagues and I have changed the way we plan, teach and assess our learning program- not just Maths! I am now more confident that I cater for a range of abilities and interests in my classroom, which has ultimately led to better individual outcomes.
Chris Brock (Classroom Teacher), Moonee Ponds West Primary School
This year we have been extremely lucky to have the expertise and knowledge of Michael Minas working with our staff. We are a brand new school and needed a Numeracy expert to assist in leading our teaching and learning in this area. We were so happy to have Michael do this. He has started great foundations for our children and staff to love maths using a problem solving, inquiry approach. Michael is supportive, empathetic, and understanding to staff. He leads by example, working together to develop great teaching. I couldn’t recommend Michael highly enough.
Ian Wren (Principal), Dohertys Creek College
My son loved being taught by Michael. He always made maths fun, at the same time as having high expectations about his students’ efforts and outcomes. He challenged my son to persist in trying new approaches and strategies for problem-solving. He was able to make maths engaging and meaningful for the students in his class. His innovative approach to problem-solving was equally successful in the more junior year levels – my foundation-aged daughter enjoyed his visits as a guest teacher and was able to solve quite complex equations due to Michael’s real-world applications.
Lee (Parent)
I found Michael to be totally engaging. Difficult to find a mathematician with a sense of humour in my experience. He took everyone on a journey with great activities and experiences and enough interactivity to ensure we all stayed on point through the day. He invited questions and commentary and was happy to share his experiences of teaching in ways that we could all relate to.
Mark Kent (Principal), Ivanhoe Primary School)
I was able to work with Michael Minas as part of a maths coaching programme within our school. He was extremely well-researched and knowledgeable, both about the content being taught as well as effective ways to teach and communicate concepts to students. He was also able to give me valuable insight into my own teaching in a supportive and practical way. I finished up with some immediate steps to improve my practice as well as some long-term goals to guide planning and teaching in the future.
Lisa McLachlan (Classroom Teacher), Pascoe Vale South Primary School
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Michael for 9 months, during which time he has worked with teachers of all year levels (P-6) to further develop their professional knowledge. I am very appreciative that I have the opportunity to be mentored by someone who is extremely knowledgeable and passionate. Michael is continuing to support me in many areas of Maths consulting, from writing an action plan, to giving feedback to reluctant participants, all of which is invaluable.
Aimee Fleming (Leading Teacher), St. Albans North Primary School
My confidence improved considerably after gaining transferrable teaching skills modelled by Michael. He structured lessons around my personal goals and provided me with continual targeted feedback, which I have now implemented to enhance my own practice.
Louise McNabb (Classroom Teacher), Australian International School- Sharjah, UAE
I attended Michael's presentation on Problem Solving at the AAMT Conference and absolutely loved it. I got great new ideas that I can implement straight away to make my maths lessons more engaging for all students. His passion for teaching and wealth of knowledge made the session really enjoyable.
Kate Petchell (Mathematics & Science Coordinator), Dowerin District High School
I would highly recommend Michael as our staff immediately found him to be very engaging, thorough and knowledgeable. Michael gave us great strategies, open-ended tasks and problem solving skills that we could apply in our Maths lessons on a daily basis to further promote critical thinking amongst our students.
Theo Kokkalis (Maths Coordinator), Clarinda Primary School
Michael's coaching has increased my skills and confidence when teaching maths. His ideas were fresh, engaging and most importantly fun for the kids. His presence in the class was unobtrusive, professional and his advice supportive and constructive. All kids should have the opportunity to learn maths this way.
Emma Mallia-McKenzie, Our Lady of Mt Carmel Primary School Sunbury
Michael is an extremely passionate teacher who makes learning fun and challenging for all students. He has endless ideas to share and was a really engaging presenter.
Adele Freeman, Moonee Ponds West Primary School