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Helen Hatzikalis

What is your role at Hume Anglican Grammar?

Generalist Teacher, Year 1 Donnybrook

 Do you have a Motto or personal mantra?

Wisdom is not free-you have to pay attention.

What’s one thing you couldn’t live without?

Family, hhhmmmm or chocolate lol

Who has had the biggest impact on your career thus far and why?

To date, I have had an incredibly amazing career as a teacher that has provided me with many opportunities to learn from and work with some amazing people, such as Patrick Griffin, John Hattie, John Munro, Frank Crowther, Geoff Masters, Ramon Lewis - to name but a few. All so brilliant in their fields of expertise but the one I absolutely cherished was my time with Dylan Williams - having worked with him, listened to him and looked up to him and his philosophy on activating students to become ‘owners of their own learning’ is pretty much what guides me as an educator. The need to use formative assessment as a student-empowerment strategy has guided me throughout my career.

Favourite travel spot?

Hamilton Island

What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?

I found it very strange when working at the Australian Council for Educational Research that there were no ‘real’ teachers there. I say that because “working” teachers could offer from authentic experience, the challenges and applications of resources we use every day in our teaching or leadership roles. Thus, adding value to the projects or assessments developed by the researchers there. That puzzles me to this day. 

How do you define success?

Contentment: To be thoroughly happy with your job, your surroundings and especially yourself

Tell us two things most people don’t know about you…

1. I am the founder and director of the Hume Orchestra.
2. I initiated a partnership (Pizzicato Effect) between the City of Hume and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 2009, which to this day is still going strong and impacting the instrumental music education of disadvantaged students and their families. 

Dawn Gordon - Director of Community Developement