Our Department Heads
English
Laura Turnbull — Originally from Missouri (and still an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan), Laura lives in Berkeley and is the proud mother of one son, Jacob, who consistently reminds her of her talent for being embarrassing. Laura holds a B.A. in Romance Languages and a M.A. in English, along with a teaching credential in the state of Missouri, and has done some graduate study in France and Spain. A teacher since 1987, Laura maintains that her greatest learning experiences have come to her through her interactions with her students. Before she came to Tilden, Laura taught international students at U.C. Extension, developmental reading and writing and ESL at Cañada College, middle school Spanish, and even swimming lessons (her first real teaching job). She has dabbled in writing and editing on the side, but teaching is what she really enjoys, especially when she gets to read and talk about great literature with her students. She believes that reading (and writing) from the heart is a vital skill, and that students of all ages and abilities can and will learn to think critically with a gentle push to dig deeper, never accept easy answers, and use all available senses. To that end, Laura endeavors to follow and model the advice of the very wise fox in The Little Prince, who said, “One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
History and Social Science
Myles Gordon — Myles is originally from New York and completed his BA in Political Science at Yale University. After teaching remedial math and English to high school students in New York for two years, he moved to California and began teaching at Tilden Prep in 2008. Having taught all levels of History, Government and Economics, Myles feels that the best aspect of teaching at Tilden is the ability to really get to know his students as people first and to build a strong relationship with them in which there is mutual trust and understanding. This makes learning much more accessible for students and enables Myles to find ways to motivate them that are more collaborative than the traditional student-teacher relationship allows. Myles also believes in using a multidisciplinary approach in his teaching. This sometimes results in a word or two of ancient Greek on the board during an Economics lecture, a discussion in which the political underpinnings of a particular historical event are analyzed in a History course, or having students do a budget with projections in the Community Impact Practicum. He tries to help students realize that almost every discipline is part of every other discipline, and no field of inquiry is isolated from any other. Myles is very happy to be teaching at Tilden and wakes up every day ready to get to work and have fun.
Math
Sudhir Kamath —
"The most exciting thing about tackling mathematics is the fact that you are learning the language, which can unlock the mysteries of the universe."After graduating with a B.S. in Mathematics from UCLA in 2003, Sudhir has dedicated his time to streamlining his approach to math education. Working in charter and private schools in Southern California for five years, he saw firsthand the many challenges today’s students face with their math education. He has developed online math lessons and tutorials that demonstrate the procedural and logical nature of problem-solving, and now as Head of the Mathematics Department at Tilden Preparatory School, he is working with all the math teachers at Tilden to provide students with a strong foundation in Algebra, Geometry, and Analysis while giving them the confidence to pursue the cutting edge of their dreams, whatever they may be.
Science
Frans Roukes — Frans was born in The Netherlands, where he grew up in a small town in the northern part of the country. He received his Master's Degree in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Groningen and afterwards conducted his Ph.D. research in Material Science. In 2009, he left his research career to teach at Winkler Prins High School in Veendam, while completing a teaching credential (Master's Degree in Education) at the University of Groningen. In August 2010, he moved to the East Bay with his wife, who is working as a post-doctoral researcher at UC Berkeley. After 6 months of (independent) tutoring all around the Bay Area, he found his current position at Tilden Preparatory School, where he enjoys the interactions with students and constantly searches for new connections between schoolwork and the student’s everyday life.
Spanish
Angel Ruiz Blanco — Ángel Ruiz Blanco has been teaching Spanish to high school students and adults for the past eight years. He was previously an attorney, licensed to practice law in Spain, where he grew up and attended law school at the University of Sevilla (Spain). In 2002, he moved to Walnut Creek, California where he currently resides with his family.
Upon arriving in the United States, Ángel worked for several language schools and received training in a variety of teaching methodologies. As a result of his experience, he developed a clear idea of his personal teaching philosophy and began to create his own materials. He is currently writing a manual for high school students learning Spanish as a second language. Ángel provides language instruction ranging from intensive professional language classes to tutoring and exam preparation. He also prepares students for the D.E.L.E (Diploma of Spanish as a Foreign Language), which is similar to the TOEFL in English. In addition to his teaching responsibilites at Tilden Prep, Ángel provides Spanish legal instruction to the Superior Court staff in various Contra Costa County locations as well as to sole practitioners. He also proposed, developed & implemented a Volunteer Spanish Interpreter Program, and developed training materials for new interpreters.
Angel’s experiences in learning English give him an understanding of the frustrations and the satisfaction of learning a language, and he truly enjoys helping students reach their goals. It is his goal to combine his range of experience with his ability to be a compassionate, enthusiastic teacher and leader to make a positive contribution to Tilden.
In his spare time, Ángel enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, reading, playing chess and swimming. He has volunteered as a judge for Odyssey of the Mind and for high school legal debates. In his past life, Ángel coached swimming for twelve years, was a member of the Spanish National Swimming Federation.
Special Education
Jan McClain — With a BA in English and an MA in Learning Disabilities, Jan has a rich history of teaching experiences. She taught for twenty years in both special education and language arts classrooms, 9-12, mostly at a large suburban public high school near Denver, Colorado. She also trained and coached teachers in the Jefferson County School District. Over time (and with extensive training in reading/writing instruction, cognitive coaching, learning styles and compensatory behaviors), she has developed a variety of tools to uncover a student’s natural curiosity and stimulate learning. What motivates her teaching now is finding a student’s particular sweet spot, a place where he or she wants to learn and can actually experience success. She enjoys challenging the students to broaden their skills, deepen their accountability, and risk riding the edge of their comfort zone. It is an art form for her.
Our Teachers
We hire both credentialed and non-credentialed teachers. Many have received their education from Stanford University or UC Berkeley, and all are selected based upon their subject matter knowledge, teaching experience and ability to connect with students. With many qualified teachers to choose from, and an initial assessment that identifies your student’s learning style and interests, we are able to match each student with a teacher who will inspire him/her.