Dr Conrad Hughes, Director of Education, International School of Geneva, Switzerland

Email: 26 October 2014

On behalf of Campus des Nations, I would like to thank you for the marvellous keynote lecture and workshops on gifted education, differentiation and creativity that you delivered for our teachers on the 17th of October.

It was an honour for us to listen to you and work with you on such important themes. The challenge now is for us to ensure that we build on the first steps you have taken with us and to monitor the development of genuinely collaborative, forward-looking and learner-centred practice.

We will all look back on the day with a sense of inspiration and magic. Your larger-than-life presence, powerful oratory and innovative approach to learning made all of us reflect deeply on our purpose as educators.

St. Francis Xavier College, Melbourne

Online survey feedback: May 2016

I now have clear pathways which will enable me to differentiate my teaching in class of very mixed abilities.

I will use an adapted version of the formative assessment feedback with leaders at my campus to reflect on their leadership of particular areas. I hope to reference the ideas, language, when dealing with staff and students in a range of situations.

Gives me more confidence to extend upper end students.

It has encouraged me to provide further differentiation in the classroom and it was also a presentation that provided examples and specific methods of how I can practically use differentiation in the classroom.

Your enthusiasm is infectious – keep up the good work Manoj. Your passion for this subject is fantastic.

This workshop and continuation will allow me to step up my teaching and learning pedagogy to where I see my future going in teaching.

Trelene Luecke, Teacher at St. Francis Xavier College, Melbourne

LinkedIn: 7 August 2015

Good afternoon Manoj, I wanted to let you know how much you have inspired my teaching. I have significantly changed my teaching style in my Year 9 Maths classes. My classroom environment has changed and I have set up students into ability groups. They are supporting each others learning, and working much more to their own pace and needs. I hope when I am finally doing some summative assessment that I will also see some improvements. I often refer to the notes that you provided during your 2 PD sessions at St Francis Xavier College. Thank you. Trelene Luecke

Laetitia Cross, Deputy Principal, North Sydney Demonstration School
Email: 14 July 2015

The tapestry of Manoj’s experience and knowledge in designing and delivering learning through the tenets of differentiation enables potential in all students, especially high performance learners, and this is evident in every aspect of his work. His workshops delivered with passion and enthusiasm, and the detail of his robust wealth of resources designed in clever, theory based but practical ways are the most useful references and tools I’ve used in education. His knowledge, skills and approach encompass everything from initial evaluation to inform and shape planning, to the establishment of policy, procedures and practices from a systemic to classroom level to initiate, enable and empower educators to deliver programs and initiatives to engage learners in conceptual, critical and creative thinking across the curriculum. He is one of the most inspiring, dedicated and knowledgeable educators you will work with.

Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children (VAGTC) Conference, Melbourne, Victoria
July 2015 – Online survey feedback

• Manoj’s presentations were very informative, provided practical suggestions and were delivered in a highly engaging way.
• Manoj’s session was VERY practical.
• Manoj’s keynote and sessions were excellent.
• Manoj was enthusiastic and importantly relevant and practical.
• Manoj allowed me to scaffold our next steps as a school with our gifted ed program and differentiation more generally.
• Manoj – Oceans of Excellence – was excellent and informative.
• Manoj was excellent. Lots of relevant planning and ideas for being in the classroom and fantastic examples. So enthusiastic. I would love to have him teach at our school.

Professor Mark Runco, E. Paul Torrance Professor of Creativity Studies at the University of Georgia, Athens

Comment posted on 7 October 2014

What a nice, succinct, useful essay [“Unleashing Creativity among Gifted Students”]. Nicely done.

Professor Martin Hayden, Head School of Education, Southern Cross University
Email: 17 August 2013

Your contribution to our thinking about a number of issues was extremely valuable. We have, for example, been struggling to define a way in which we could conceptualise and operationalise a community of practice that involves our school communities in ways that are more meaningful than simply sending out students to schools for practicum placements. You gave us a great deal to think about in this regard.

We were also most appreciative of your views about developing Master of Education program. Steps have already been taken to implement changes along the lines you suggested.

G.A.T.E International Conference 2013, Sydney
May 2013 – Online survey feedback on my keynote address

“Profound in the conceptualisation, the research and understandings being so embedded in the classroom with real students.”

 “Thought provoking, coherent, clear and insightful. Brilliant! As a teacher practitioner I was inspired and challenged. His personal anecdotes of teaching at James Ruse helped illustrate the message of promoting higher order thinking.”

 “Manoj has real examples from ‘real’ school settings, which I valued during his keynote. He provided practical ways to bring about increased student creativity.”

 “The application of creativity is an essential part of the Australian curriculum. The address was highly relevant, and the research was outstanding. The materials presented would be useful for modelling excellence in programming.”

Dr. Michael Davies, Headmaster, Trinity Grammar School, Kew, Victoria

Hand-written note: 16 April 2016

Rachel George, Head of Campus, Geelong Grammar School (Toorak Campus), Melbourne

Email: 26 January 2016

Yesterday was a great day for our teachers. You provided us with many worthwhile, practical and research-sound theories, models and strategies.

We will have much to discuss and build on and our students will benefit from the teachers’ new knowledge and deeper understandings.

Thank you for being so generous in sharing your wisdom with us. It was a pleasure to meet and learn from you.

Dr Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Smith Professor Emerita, College of William and Mary, Virginia, USA
Email: 18 September 2013

I very much enjoyed reading your article [“Leading differentiated high performance learning”] and think your charts are great. I like the way you have introduced the research-based aspects of school innovation and change first as what must leaders must be accountable for and then focused on the features of differentiating curriculum and instruction at the classroom level, a task to be undertaken by teachers. You have also integrated the research from general education with that from gifted in a way that works.

Boronia Park Public School, Hunters Hill, Sydney
March 2015 – Online survey feedback

“The workshop was excellent and I know that the teachers were inspired by your presentation and the information that you gave them. You paced the day well and have provided us with a great starting point for revitalising our approach to GATs education. Thank you.”

“Thank you so much for a great day. I think that we’ll be able to use many of the ideas you shared in a practical way within our stages and across the school. I feel that the ‘differentiation’ strategies were very practical and I will be able to use these straight away to modify my units of work. Blooming the outcomes will help me straight away. What a fantastic and simple change to make that will help address differentiation so easily. Looking at how to create and modify tasks is another simple and practical way I can modify my units of work. I know my staff already commented about these to me. We’ll be looking at our units next term and making changes easily to adapt our units to teach to the top and then adapt down. A reminder to teach whole-part-whole was great as was clarifying how and when to use pre-assessment. As we have a whole school assessment timeline we’ll easily be able to add whole unit pre-assessment to the end of one term for the unit that begins in the following term. Then we can truly be programming from where students are. I liked the ILP that included learning support and gifted students on one sheet. Perfect timing as we look into our learning support team and how to operate it more efficiently, including how to make sure that everyone is aware of the students in our school that are at both ends of the spectrum and how we can best support them. The workshop on creativity had many practical examples I know that I’ll be able to use straight away. I particularly liked the ‘scamper’ model.”

Liverpool Primary Public Schools, Sydney
August 2014 – Online survey feedback

“I thoroughly enjoyed the session. As a school leader it was beneficial to have part of the session devoted to leading differentiation across the school. Having a large group of staff from across our COS also helped to send a clear message that this is the expectation for all students to have their learning differentiated and not just an idea for one school. A very clear and engaging message.”

“As a member of the school executive, the ideas around differentiation will frame my coaching conversations with the teachers I support.”

“There were clear links from theory to practice and very practical suggestions on how to implement the strategies.”

“It was an insightful and entertaining workshop. Manoj was a very professional, knowledgeable, and engaging presenter. Thank you.”

Parramatta Primary Public Schools, Sydney
July 2014 – Online survey feedback

The workshop was very motivating, but more importantly I feel it has provided some answers that I have been searching for. Firstly, it showed me how to create extended outcomes / content. Secondly, it has given me an idea on how to improve our student performance in English. Our school and many others seem to struggle with developing higher order thinking skills (NAPLAN results always highlight the inability to infer). I now have a feeling that by linking concepts of learning through differentiated programs will give students the ability to think in a deeper and more meaningful manner.