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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Cameron
Cuchulainn was born in New York City and grew up in Oakland,
California. He attended public schools in Oakland and the University
of California, Berkeley, where he graduated with highest honors and
high distinction in general scholarship, earning his B.A. in Political
Science. Cameron went on to work for the University's Educational
Technology Services Department, and then served in the Peace Corps
in Mozambique. As an education volunteer, Cameron taught English for
two years to tenth graders at a Catholic bush school, coordinated
a photojournalism group with a novel approach to fighting the spread
of HIV and AIDS, and co-coached a high school English theater team.
He currently tutors students in English, other humanities subjects,
and prepares students for their AP examinations. Cameron is a superior
speaker of Portuguese and an advanced speaker of Spanish. His twelve-year-old
brother has ADHD, and the two work closely together on homework and
building study skills outside of Classroom Matters. He has a creative
approach to teaching and tutoring, and his personal interests include
skateboarding, photography, literature, art, and contemporary music.
In the future, Cameron plans to pursue a career as a photojournalist
specializing in the Portuguese-speaking world.
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Casey
Busher Born, raised, and magnetically pulled back to Berkeley,
Casey Busher is a Classroom Matters success story. With the help of
the CM staff, she navigated her way through Berkeley High, SAT and
AP testing, and the college application process. She recently graduated
with honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz, with
a BA in Literature and Creative Writing. While there, she wrote a
novella about a young woman with whom she might have a few things
in common. She has taught at-risk youth in Santiago, Chile, and is
an advanced Spanish speaker. Casey tutors English, Spanish, and other
humanities subjects, for test prep and the classroom. She also offers
tools for effective study habits and general organization. In her
spare time, Casey enjoys solving crossword puzzles, playing ping pong,
and freestyle rapping.
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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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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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Matt
Sharpnack who was born and raised in the Bay Area, began working
with children at an early age in his mother's 2nd grade classroom.
Throughout his high school years at Bishop O'Dowd, Matt worked many
summers as a camp counselor before shifting toward education, tutoring,
and mentoring. Since then, Matt enjoys engaging children in a fun
and exciting learning environments. He graduated from UC San Diego
with a BS in Psychology with an emphasis in Biology, and he has worked
as an after-school enrichment teacher for ages K-5th for the past
two years. Matt enjoys spending time with his students, and he is
especially passionate about developmental education. He has great
patience and skill in helping students understand concepts and processes.
In his free time he enjoys basketball, soccer, golf, snowboarding,
nature, video games, tinkering, and reading.
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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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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 a 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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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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Michael
DeMaio just graduated from UC Berkeley as an Applied Mathematics
major. He has a strong passion for math and engineering, and a desire
to teach and tutor youth of all ages. He has a diverse academic background
with experience in tutoring history, Spanish, Chemistry, Physics and
mathematics as a private tutor since the age of sixteen. Michael has
worked for many youth academic camps, for multiple recreation departments,
and spent time as a peer tutor for other students in mathematics and
Chemistry at UC Berkeley. In the future, he hopes to go to graduate
school in either teaching or engineering. In his free time, Michael
enjoys playing and watching basketball and football and he works for
Cal Athletics.
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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 interdisciplinary program combining
English, Dramatic Art and Film. She's tutored students of all ages
throughout California, with a focus on writing, reading comprehension
and analytical thinking, has taught acting and directing at Bay Area
schools and camps, and developed a popular summer playwriting workshop
for seventh through twelfth grades. As a professional writer with
more than a decade of creative and commercial experience, she especially
enjoys helping young people use the power of language to shape their
own voices.
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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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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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