Dan

Dan enjoys seeing students realise how much they’ve learnt while having fun in an incursion. He thrives on making difficult topics understandable and designing interactive activities to make learning as fun as possible. Before starting Linked Incursions, Dan was a primary school teacher in Melbourne and Geelong. His favourite incursion activity is the excitingly unpredictable mock election in Parliament Process and Democracy, Community and Me. In his spare time, Dan enjoys mountain biking, playing guitar, and spending time with his wife, two daughters, and Old English Sheepdog, Betsy.

Ask him about: Working as a ski instructor in the mountains of Austria, Italy, Japan and Australia!

Martina

Martina loves seeing kids get involved and excited about topics they may have previously thought were ‘boring’. Her favourite part of our Immigration Journeys incursion is hearing stories from the kids about their grandparents, great-grandparents, or even further back. A highlight of her extensive classroom teaching experience was running a Maths Olympiad in a primary school. Martina has also taught ESL to people from all over the world and travelled around Victoria with the Stereo Stories band. Outside of work she loves listening to music, travelling, dreaming about travelling, writing, and hanging out with her husband and two kids, who are in grade 2 and 6.

Ask her about: Language, linguistics, and the intricacies of the English language!

Danny

Danny enjoys watching some students switch from disinterest to delight once he starts teaching an incursion. He always has fun in the whole class economy game in our Market Manoeuvres incursion, seeing how students seem to come up with different tactics every time. Outside of the classroom, Danny has appeared as Superman at events, performed as Frankenstein in Monster Rock at Universal Studios Singapore, and stood in for Nicholas Cage in the blockbuster film ‘Ghost Rider’. He enjoys sharing a delicious meal with his fiancée, and taking in the sun at the dog park or beach with his golden retriever X beagle boy, Tuxedo.

Ask him about: Travelling on luxury cruise lines as part of a Motown boy band!  

Alice

Alice believes in the power of learning through doing. As a kinetic learner herself, she thrives on seeing how engaged and excited kids can get when learning in an interactive way. Some of her teaching and performing highlights include travelling around Queensland to present book week performances in schools, teaching music and movement classes in early learning centres, and creating performance pieces with schools for Wakakirri. When she’s not working in schools, she likes singing, dancing, acting, playing animal crossing, going out to brunch, and hanging out at the park or beach with her dog and fiancé.

Ask her about: The time she gave flowers to Queen Elizabeth II!

Katherine

Katherine thrives on watching students become thinkers, collaborators and problem solvers through play-based learning. On top of her 17+ years as a classroom teacher, a career highlight was working with architects to re-design three prep classrooms and developing a popular play-based curriculum for the space. Katherine is always trying to get through her impossibly long lists of books, podcasts and arts and crafts projects. She lives in the same apartment building as one of her best friends, her daughter and their feisty chihuahua, and regularly visits family nearby. She loves a good mango smoothie and will never say no to anything truffle flavoured.

Ask her about: The Curly Girl Method, The Barefoot Investor or You Need a Budget (YNAB)! 

Izabella

As a hands-on learner, Izabella gets a real kick out of seeing students grasp a new topic or idea. She fell in love with teaching through Melbourne Theatre Company, which took her travelling all around Victoria to perform everywhere from remote and regional schools to an old former prison. She loves connecting with young people and answering their endlessly inquisitive and creative questions. During lockdown, Izabella collaborated with her best friend to create a one woman play which is becoming a short film. Outside of the classroom, she loves to go to the movies and bake – including her epic secret carrot cake recipe. Her nine-year-old cavoodle, Oscar, is the most spoilt member of her family.

Ask her about: That time she spent a week at sea on a pirate ship!

Sarah

Sarah loves witnessing students having ‘aha’ moments and the pride and self-confidence that follows. Having worked with students at all stages of their learning journey, teaching has taken her around the world. Sarah has worked in education reform in Saudi Arabia and developed a drama festival in Hong Kong, which helped students improve their English skills and confidence. She loves the challenge of staying open-minded to the surprises that often come from students when visiting different schools. In her free time, Sarah enjoys oil painting, swimming, yoga, CrossFit, cycling, and playing games and puzzles of all sorts.

Ask her about: Her love for the game Mahjong, which she learnt in Hong Kong! 

Michelle

Michelle loves watching the excitement on kids’ faces when they’re enjoying a learning activity. She’s often impressed by the passionate and persuasive arguments students put forward in the mock debates during the Parliament Process and Democracy, Community and Me incursions. Michelle’s teaching experience spans all ages, from lecturing on marketing strategy at university to leading ski lessons for all ages. As well as visiting schools to run incursions, Michelle looks after all things marketing and communications via her copywriting and content marketing business, Bluebird Content. This includes proofreading everything you see here! A music lover and outdoor adventurer, Michelle is always busy keeping up with her husband, two daughters and fluffy dog.

Ask her about: Life hacks for everything from meal prepping to low-maintenance gardening!