CLASSROOM MATTERS
Staff Biographies
To send a message to any of the tutors, just click the address next to his or her name. For inquiries, information or scheduling, send a message to info@classroommatters.com.
Please note that Classroom Matters is a tutoring center; all instruction and supervised study takes place on site in Berkeley, CA.
Administrative Staff
Molly Gales (English, History, Co-Director)
Tutors
Danny Botello
(Math, Physics)
Fred Chang
(SAT I&II, History, Math, Science)
Aurora Bracket
(Humanities, low level math, Early Childhood Education)
Lorna
Divino (Math, Science)
Jaclyn
Fridolfsson (Biology,
Chemistry, Algebra 1&2)
Rachel
Heavner (French, Humanities)
My
Hong (Algebra I, English, Bio, History, Early Childhood Education)
Ken Lewis (Integrated
Science, Algebra &2)
Steven
Li (Math, Physics)
Eion
Lys (On-Site College Advisor)
Ethan Mitchell
(French, Humanities)
Elizabeth
Schuster (Spanish, Humanities)
Dan
Thomas-Glass (Humanities)
Zak Zelin (Math
(all levels), Physics)
All of our staff is fully versed in study and organization skills in addition to their subject area specialties. Good study habits and organization are essential skills; we give them top priority no matter what subject we are teaching.
Molly Gerstein Gales (molly at classroommatters dot com), 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.
Now Molly 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 Miller (lisa at classroommatters dot com) was a popular and rigorous English and French teacher for five years at Berkeley High School. She was also responsible for the Yearbook. Her love of her students was evident in the dedication and innovation she and her students brought to her coursework. 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 regularly travels to France. 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. Lisa sees tutoring as a rewarding way to stay connected with students and to satisfy her love of teaching.
Jenne King (jenne at classroommatters dot com) is our administrative guru. Jenne comes with an extensive background in small business administration and education. As a therapist in school based programs for emotionally disturbed students, she championed families stuck in a useless system and helped them get the support they needed to aleviate life-stressors that became symptoms. Jenne is a firm believer that the strengths of people offer the source of their healing. Jenne is a computer wiz and has many years providing support services for small businesses around the Bay Area.
Aurora Bracket (aurora at classroommatters dot com) earned a BA in Media Studies at The Evergreen State College, an MA in English and a Certificate to teach composition from San Francisco State University and is finishing an MFA in Creative Writing (fiction) at San Francisco State this year. Aurora has taught creative writing and composition at the college level, and has worked as a tutor and teacher in elementary schools, teaching everything from theater arts to Algebra. Aurora is dedicated to make writing less intimidating for students, and believes writing to be an integral part of the learning process, something we never stop learning about.
Danny Botello (danny at classroommatters dot com) 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.
Fred Chang (fred at classroommatters dot com) has a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley. He has tutored and mentored Cal Students for Educational Outreach and has served as an Arts Bridge Scholar. His future plans are to be a scientist that specializes in the study of pretty much everything from economics, medicine and sociology to molecular dynamics. His thoughts on teaching: To teach with clarity and effectiveness is a hallmark of complete understanding. Any complicated phenomenon can be taught simply; if the teaching is complicated and convoluted, then the teacher really does not understand.
Lorna Divino (lorna at classroommatters dot com) graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Biology. After graduation she worked for several years in academic research. A volunteer trip to asia to work with children at an informal village school inspired her to pursue teaching. Besides helping her students at Classroom Matters find an appreciation for the sciences, Lorna also works as a preschool teacher in the city.
Jaclyn Fridolfsson (jaclyn at classroommatters dot com) Jaclyn currently attends UC Berkeley as an Integrative Biology major. She aspires to work in sports medicine as a Physical Therapist. Passionate about Chemistry and Biology, she has tutored both subjects since high school. When she isn't studying or tutoring, Jaclyn enjoys volleyball, baseball games (GO GIANTS), local rock concerts, and tasting exotic teas from around the world.
Rachel Heavner (rachel at classroommatters dot com) was born and raised in Berkeley. After making it through the East Bay French American School and the Head Royce School in Oakland, she earned her BA in International Affairs and French from Skidmore College in New York. While in college, she spent three years as a Teacher's Assistant and Assistant Editor of a bilingual literary magazine and dedicated many summers to instructing kids at UC Berkeley summer camps. When she is not at Classroom Matters, she can be found working to make her way in the non-profit world, or playing "Big Ball", a game she and her friends created, which she describes as full contact soccer with an exercise ball.
My Hong (my at classroommatters dot com) graduated from UC Berkeley with degrees in Mass Communications and English Literature, concentrating on pop culture and folklore. She has seven 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. My also has experience working with students with learning disabilities. My enjoys working with students to find their own personal learning style and loves finding new, fun, and creative methods of learning.
Ken Lewis (ken at classroommatters dot com) For several years, Ken has delightfully tutored/mentored students ranging from the highly-gifted, college bound teenager to the disenchanted, adult illiterate inmate serving time in Santa Rita's prison. He enjoys the art & science of meeting and adapting the lesson to the person's individual learning style and expressed interest and then celebrating when the break-throughs of understanding are reached.
Ken says, "…the student and I are on this journey together and once we've agreed on an (academic) idea, then it's all fireworks after that, especially, if there were phobias, self-doubt or other issues to overcome."
Ken has traveled the world while serving as a naval officer after graduating with a B.S. in Civil Engineering Technologies from Florida A & M University; currently he works as an educational assistant at two schools w/in BUSD with a focus on kids with special learning needs and disabilities.
Steven Li (steven at classroommatters dot com) earned dual degrees in Mathematics and Economics from UC Berkeley. Aside from Classroom Matters, Steven teaches math at Mt. Diablo High. In his free time, Steven enjoys poetry, writing and playing music, attending music shows and water sports.
Eion Lys (eion at classroommatters dot com) is a Berkeley High Alum, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC Santa Cruz, authoring a senior paper in History about UC Berkeley in the 1950s. He earned a teaching credential from Sacramento State. In addition to student-teaching, Eion has extensive experience working in education, as a teaching assistant, campus tour guide, new student orientation leader, and private tutor.
Eion loves to help students and parents manage and enjoy the college search process. Eion offers a wide variety of services as a counselor, tailoring his work to the unique needs of each student. He has visited over eighty colleges and universities throughout the US and abroad, including several on a bike tour of Iowa with other counselors. Unrepentantly inquisitive and committed to best practices, Eion continually researches colleges, admissions policies, and counseling methods. In his spare time, Eion continues to travel to colleges, volunteers with the UCSC Admissions and Alumni Offices, helps Project BlueBridge with voter turnout efforts, plays frisbee poorly, and puts off learning the harmonica.
Ethan Mitchell (ethan at classroommatters dot com) grew up in North Berkeley, attended Park Day School,King Jr. High, Berkeley High School and then Vassar College, where he wrote theses on Milton and Proust. At Paris VII and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales he defended a mémoire on silence and lacunae in testimonial texts and verbal art whose topic is the atrocious or unspeakable. Ethan has worked as a translator for Flammarion, in Paris, for the MIT press, in Cambridge, and in film as an adjunct to the Syndicat National des Traducteurs Professionels, in Paris. In his free time he likes to hike, hang out at the beach, and host long dinner parties for his friends. He plans to edit René Char's poems and Pascal Quignard's novels for an anglophone readership, and he came to work at Classroom Matters because Lisa Miller was once, happily, his own tutor.
Dan Thomas-Glass (dan at classroommatters dot com), a Berkeley native and Berkeley High School graduate, holds a BA in English from UC Berkeley, and has completed coursework for two master's degrees (in English and Creative Writing- Poetry) at UC Davis. He expects to receive his PhD in English from UC Davis in the Spring of 2008. His interests include poetry, music, philosophy, hiking, long walks while listening to music, and poetic philosophy. He has taught classes and workshops on writing, poetry, and the relationship between poetry and music, in high schools and universities throughout the Bay Area and northern California. He currently teaches Introduction to Literature at UC Davis when he's not at Classroom Matters. He has two brothers and a sister, and he loves to cook and eat Mexican food.
Zak Zelin (zak at classroommatters dot com), was born and raised in San Diego. He discovered his love for teaching after high school, working as a tutor, where he found the wonder of igniting the flames of intellectual curiosity in the minds of his students. Zak's a Physics major transferring to UC Berkeley as a junior in the fall. He is also a movie geek and lives to see live music. If he's not at a concert, he's either climbing or can be found at a café with his nose deep in a book.