Lisa
Miller (lisa at
classroommatters dot com) was a popular and rigorous English and
French teacher for six years at Berkeley High School. She was also
responsible for the Yearbook. Lisa received her BA in French Literature,
with a minor in English, from the University of California at San
Diego and spent her junior year in France studying at the Sorbonne.
She is very interested in French language and culture and travels
to France whenever possible. Additionally, Lisa spent several years
working for an SAT preparation program and is well versed in test-taking
techniques. Lisa is also terrific at helping students with study skills.
She has honed her skills not just as a classroom teacher, but through
her experience working with individual students both as a tutor and
as a teacher in BUSD's Independent Studies Program. Currently, as
Director of Classroom Matters, Lisa draws on her experience as an
educator and trainer to create an environment where every student
can discover his or her own love of learning, both in and out of the
classroom. Lisa designs study skills curriculum for Classroom Matters,
travels to Bay Area schools offering workshops and trainings, and
appears as a guest speaker at educational events. In addition to training
tutors at Classroom Matters, she has worked as a new teacher coach
and mentor for Oakland Unified School District.
Shirley
Hasson (shirley
at classroommatters dot com) was born and raised in Tel-Aviv,
Israel. She joins our administration team bringing over nine years
of experience in various companies and non profit organizations, including
the Jewish Community Center in North Berkeley, where she was an Associate
Director for the childrens department. At CM, her responsibilities
include managing a challenging schedule and providing a safe and enriching
environment for all our families. Shirley currently resides in Berkeley
and is completeing her pre-requisite course work towards a Bachelor's
degree in Nursing at NYU. To further her career goals and training,
Shirley volunteers on a regular basis for organizations like VITAS,
that support hospice patients. In her spare time, Shirley enjoys spending
time in San Francisco, yoga and traveling as much as she can. Shirley
is also an experienced tutor who enjoys working with K-5 students
in reading and writing and with older students in Anatomy, organization
and time management.
Molly
Gerstein Gales, teacher
and mentor, founded Classroom Matters in 1998 at the request of a
parent. Molly provides a network of educational opportunities, resources,
and tutors for junior high and high school students. Molly received
her M.A. in English Education from Columbia University. She has taught
at public high schools throughout the Bay Area. At Berkeley High School,
Molly helped to create the 9th grade integrated core program and founded
B.E.S.T., a successful program for second-semester seniors. At Serramonte
High School in Daly City, Molly designed and implemented a complete
project-based learning curriculum in all subject areas. While Molly
was teaching at Irvington High School in Fremont, the school district
requested that she share her innovative techniques with other teachers
in a series of professional development workshops. She continued to
train teachers in private workshops and as a Master Practitioner with
the UCLA School Management Program, Bay Area. Although Molly does
not participate in the daily operations of CM, she remains active
as a consultant and continues to share her philosophy in workshops
and staff trainings.
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Dan
Glass is on a UC President's Dissertation Fellowship to finalize
his PhD in English at UC Davis this year. He is also the Humanities
Department chair at The Girls' Middle School in Mountain View, CA.
He holds a BA in English from UC Berkeley, and is a proud graduate
of Berkeley High School. He has taught composition, poetry, and rap
courses at UC Davis, 8th grade Humanities in a variety of schools,
remedial 9th grade English in Hayward, and in arts education programs
throughout Northern California; he has also been a tutor at Classroom
Matters for longer than he can remember. He and his wife Kate have
a 10 month old daughter named Sonia.
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Danny
Botello received his BA in Applied Mathematics
from UC Berkeley. He has been tutoring in the Bay Area for over four
years, "molding young minds to better understand math,"
as he puts it. From at-risk grade schoolers to college students struggling
with Calculus, Danny enjoys instilling a sense of confidence in his
students and helping them unravel the mysteries that surround difficult
subjects. In his free time, Danny enjoys playing soccer and sampling
the delicious foods of the Bay Area. He also loves to solve puzzles,
play guitar, and rock climb. When not tutoring, he can be found randomly
bursting into song.
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Emily
Mosen earned her BS in Geology with a focus on Environmental
Geoscience, at the University of Oregon. During that time, she authored
and defended an honors thesis on the subject of potential locations
for offshore wind farms. In 2006 she joined Teach for America to pursue
the mission of closing the achievement gap. For two years, she taught
high school Chemistry to struggling youth in East Los Angeles by day
and earned a teaching credential and MA in Secondary Education by
night. Then, she returned to her Bay Area roots and now resides in
Albany. She brings a wealth of patience and understanding to the learners
at Classroom Matters and enjoys helping young minds expand and mature.
Emily spends her free time swimming, hiking, camping, traveling, and
devouring baked goods like there is no tomorrow.
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Hilary
Seeley graduated
with honors from UC Berkeley with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies,
a self-designed major that combined American and French Literature,
Art History, History, and Sociology. She spent the Spring of 2008
in Paris, France, studying French history, literature, and culture
at the Sorbonne. Hilary has tutored students from ages 3 to 24 in
various subjects, both in one-on-one and group settings. She is known
to be extremely organized, understanding, and patient, and she loves
to see a student's comprehension and enthusiasm for learning grow.
In her free time, Hilary enjoys dancing (swing, ballet, and hip hop),
singing, designing and making clothes, and traveling.
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Jessica
Engle
graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara with
a Bachelor of Arts Degree in the History of Art and Architecture.
She was a Regent's Scholar and part of the Honor's program at UCSB,
and received the Academic Honors Award, Art History Chairperson's
Award, and Research Promise Award along with induction to Phi Beta
Kappa upon graduating. Jessica has tutored adults and kids of all
ages in various subjects including, SAT prep, reading, writing and
math. Jessica is now a Master's candidate at the California Institute
of Integral Studies; she studies Drama therapy, and is delighted to
be combining two of her greatest passions - theater and personal growth.
Jessica has traveled around the world, performed for years as a singer
and improvisational actress, and loves dancing, writing, and meditating.
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Meg
Webb graduated
with honors from Arizona State University with a BS in Biology and
a minor in Child Development. She has been tutoring in the areas of
mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry since high school, and plans to
one day go to medical school to become a pediatrician with special
emphasis on Adolescent Medicine. In her spare time, Meg enjoys making
trips back to Chicago, where she was raised, to spend time with her
family, singing (mostly showtunes and Disney, she cautions), and watching
dancing reality TV shows.
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Matt
Criden who was born and raised on a kibbutz in Northern Israel,
spent his childhood making friends with exchange students from all
over the world. After serving in the army and the air force for three
years, he moved to Berkeley. Matt is now a senior at UC Berkeley majoring
in Astro-Physics with a minor in Physics. Matt plans on attending
medical school and potentially do some research while keeping Astro-Pysics
as a life long hobby. In his spare time, Matt enjoys traveling; he
has covered almost all of Europe and South America. Matt is a dedicated
tutor with helpful and motivating techniques to help you love Physics
and all things math related.
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Maye
Hong graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Mass Communications
and English Literature, concentrating on pop culture and folklore.
She has over ten years of educational-assistance experience working
in various school districts all over California from Long Beach to
Sacramento to Oakland and now Berkeley. She has years of experience
working with all age groups from preschool children to adults. Maye
also has experience working with students with learning differences
and special needs. She is also experienced is supplying enrichment
for students above their grade level. Maye specializes in assessing
students of their academic standing by checking grade level standards
and supplementing areas of need. With her k-5 students, she specializes
in phonemic awareness,
beginning reading and writing, math development, and academic assessment.
She emphasizes filling educational gaps in order to strengthen
foundations and empower students. Her goal is to help students develop
their love for learning and nurture positive aspects of their lives.
Maye enjoys working with students to find their own personal learning
style and loves finding new, fun, and creative methods of learning.
Maye is also a trained test prep tutor for the SAT,
ACT, SSAT, ISEE, HSPT, COOP, and TECH.
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Meghan
Hunt brings to Classroom Matters a love
of traveling, discovering and learning. Recently returned from a semester
at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City, she is back
at Classroom Matters as a Spanish, English, History and Math tutor.
Meghan has been working with children ever since she was one, helping
in her mother's 3rd grade bilingual classroom and later becoming a
camp counselor and summer school teacher. She is now a leader of a
mentoring program at a Berkeley middle school and in her final year
at UC Berkeley. She is a student of International Development with
a minor in Spanish, and just completed a summer internship at the
Food and Development Policy Institute in Oakland.
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Michelle
Gerster graduated from St. Mary's College of
MD with a dual degree in Political Science and Public Policy. She
earned a K-8 teaching credential and Bilingual Credential from New
College of CA. She acquired her Spanish from living in Valencia, Spain
and San Cristobol de Las Casas in Mexico. She has also traveled throughout
Mexico and Guatemala. The past couple years, she has taught reading
and Spanish in Berkeley Unified schools. In her spare time, she enjoys
doing photography, reading, traveling and working with the Bay Area
Childcare Collective.
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Rebecca
Goodberg graduated
Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley with majors in
Political Science and a self-designed program combining English, Dramatic
Art and Film. She has worked in various capacities with students of
all ages, and developed a workshop to help middle and high school
students discover the joy and craft of playwriting. As a professional
writer with more than a decade of creative and commercial experience,
she takes special pleasure in encouraging young people to own and
delight in the power of language. Unfailingly inspired by the natural
world, Rebecca snags every opportunity to spend time near the forest
and ocean.
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Reem
Javed received her
BS in Biological Sciences from UC Davis, and her MS in Chemistry from
San Diego State University. She has previously worked as a high school
Chemistry teacher, and as a research associate doing cancer drug research
in La Jolla, California. In addition, throughout her academic career,
she has tutored students and small groups, primarily in science. Reem
enjoys working with young people, helping them to understand and love
the scientific world.
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Sybil
Lockhart is a writer, a biologist, and a mom. She was trained
in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, in education
at San Francisco State University, and in cell and molecular neuroscience
at Brandeis University, where she received her Ph.D in1994. She has
taught English and French at Maybeck High School, human physiology
and general biology at Brandeis, advanced neuroscience at U.C. Berkeley,
and the Classroom Matters' summer expository essay workshop. Sybil
is also one of the creators of Literary Mama Magazine, where she wrote
her column "Mama in the Middle" and still serves as Reviews
Editor. Her writing has appeared in anthologies, one childrens
magazine, parenting magazines, and scientific journals, and her first
book, a scientific memoir entitled Mother in the Middle, will be published
by Touchstone/Simon Schuster in spring of 2009.
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Yania
Escobar is an undergraduate student at the University of California
Berkeley. She plans to graduate with a Chemical Engineering degree
and go on to Medical School to become a Trauma Surgeon. Yania has
been tutoring in the areas of mathematics, Spanish and Chemistry since
high school. She is very passionate about math and science and is
a native Spanish speaker. Besides tutoring and going to school, Yania
enjoys Capoeira, Soccer and reading fiction books.
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