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Scott MacLeod – English Teacher and Varsity Lacrosse Coach
Now in his fourth year at San Marin, Scott continues to believe that teaching is the hardest job he has ever had – and the best. After graduating cum laude from Harvard with a BA in Philosophy, Scott spent nearly 20 years in advertising and marketing, including stints as Senior Vice President at advertising agencies J. Walter Thompson and DDB Worldwide. Following a successful bout with cancer, he made the decision to pursue a path of public service which initially included working with at-risk youth and homeless people in the Tenderloin and later serving as Director of Development for a national education nonprofit helping high-potential, low-income students get on the path to college. Inspired by the power of education, Scott went to school at night to obtain a Masters degree and teaching credential at the University of San Francisco. Combining his two academic loves, Scott’s Master’s thesis was titled, “Philosophical Inquiry in the High School English Classroom.”
Scott currently teaches English 10 Honors, English 9, Journalism, and serves as the Advisor to the newly-formed Poetry Club. During the spring, he coaches lacrosse which he played in college. Scott also serves on the Harvard Schools Committee which gives him the opportunity to interview talented Marin County high school seniors applying to the college.
Outside the classroom, Scott can be found playing soccer, mountain biking, or playing guitar and bass in a rock band called “The Role Models.” He also enjoys talking shop with his son who is applying to graduate programs in English Literature. Back To Top |
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Linda Kislingbury Cain - Department Chair, Performing Arts, drama Teacher and Director (Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced Drama and Technical Theatre) - 2009 Golden Bell Award Winner
A California native, Linda Kislingbury Cain (Ms K) has been teaching drama for nine years at San Marin High School and loving every minute of it.
Linda received her early training from her inspirational high school drama teacher and then from University of Oregon where she received her BA in Drama and Speech and an Oregon Teaching Credential. She continued her graduate work in Theatre at San Francisco State and obtained her California Teaching Credential while working as Corporate Communication Manager for Pacific Bell for over twenty years.
During her corporate years, Linda was deeply involved in Marin Community Theatre: Ross Valley Players and Novato Theatre Company. Currently, she is one of the founding members of Terry McGovern’s Marin Actors Workshop (a group that meets weekly to perfect their acting skills).
In 2004, Linda received an award from the City of Novato Multicultural Commission for San Marin’s production of The Laramie Project.
In 2008, Linda received a Golden Bell Award for the San Marin Drama Program. In addition, the San Marin Drama program has been chosen to be part of the US team at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (the world’s largest and most prestigious theatre festival). Students under Ms K’s direction will perform in Scotland in 2009.
Linda is now directing and producing her 29th full scale production at San Marin. Her philosophy is to double cast most parts and get as many kids on stage as possible and expose students to travel. In April of 2008, Linda took 15 advanced drama students on an extensive England theatre tour.
In her spare time, she loves to hike, bike, travel and spend time with her daughter and her friends.
San Marin Drama Teacher Honored - Novato Advance 05/13 Back To Top
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Emily Gates, Music Department
For more than 30 years Emily Gates has been teaching her students about life through music. Emily was named Teacher of the Year in Novato and Marin County and won a Golden Bell Award for teaching excellence. She served as a board member for many state and local professional groups that promote the best in music and education. As a 1993 inductee into the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame, she was described as “an inspirational community member and role model … also one of the most respected and beloved chorus and musical theater teachers in Northern California.” And in 2006, the Rotary Club of Novato Sunrise named her as Novato Citizen of the Year.
San Marin music students excel academically
The valedictorians and salutatorians at San Marin have been members of the Music Department at least eight times in the past 10 years. San Marin’s music students have gone on to some of the most prestigious institutions in the country.
San Marin students play venues around the world.
San Marin students have shared music and dance with literally hundreds of local community groups, including elementary students, shut-ins, and seniors. The highly acclaimed San Marin Music Department has performed at such places as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, New Orleans, Banff, Vancouver, and Sydney. Back To Top |
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Kate Kenyon, Dance Program
Kate has been dancing for 20 years and has been teaching dance and choreographing throughout California for over 7 years.
A graduate of Chapman University, she earned her bachelor’s degree studying both dance and primary education. Kate also performed for several years with the Young Americans, a professional non-profit show choir. Recently, she traveled around the world while taking part in the Semester At Sea program. Her passion for the study of world cultures has taken her to 15 countries on 5 different continents and has encouraged her to incorporate cultural dance in her choreography.
Kate currently co-owns Rhythms Dance Center in Novato as well as teaches dance at San Marin High School. She loves musical theatre, and has now choreographed eight musicals for San Marin High School. She also co-directs the San Marin and Sinaloa Show Choirs.
Dance has taken Kate to many exciting places and provided her with many interesting opportunities, and she believes that dance can open just as many doors for her students. Back To Top
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MR. MICHAEL SPINRAD
2008 Golden Bell Award Winner
Mike Spinrad has always enjoyed teaching and came to San Marin after years of teaching private drum lessons, Sunday School, and serving as assistant band director at Kent Middle School.
The classroom feels quite natural to him since it is the "family business." His father and sister are both professors. Always pursuing a rich and varied life, before entering the teaching profession Spinrad worked as a marketing professional for Bay Area engineering firms, served as a marriage, family, and child counselor intern, and toured the United States as a professional musician.
In five years he has worked on raising the number of social studies honors and AP offerings at San Marin from one to four, strived to incorporate professional learning community concepts in his department, and helped support the community with his musical talents.
A born performer, Spinrad played rock music on Gary Gates field to raise money for the music department and emceed at a San Marin event benefiting San Diego fire victims.
Last year he received a Certificate of Recognition at a lunch hosted by the Novato Rotary Club. The luncheon honored a teacher from each of Novato's schools. He was also nominated by two class of 2006 students and recognized by UC San Diego's Teacher Recognition Program. He received an Award of Excellence certificate from UCSD for academic year 2006-2007.
As part of a three-year Teaching American History program, Spinrad and another teacher presented at the California Conference for the Social Studies conference March, 2007 in Oakland.
Spinrad's work has been published in Percussive Notes and his jazz is quite popular in Japan. Back To Top |
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SCIENCE DEPARTMENT TEACHERS
(Bio, Fall, 2008)
Ms. Martini - Biology
- I grew up in Sonoma County
- I graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Agriculture Science in 2000. Received teaching credential in Agriculture Education in 2001. I am currently working on my Masters degree.
- I previously worked at Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia as an Agriculture Science Teacher
- I have been teaching biology at San Marin High School since 2004
- I live in Sonoma with husband and our 2 fish!
Ms. Carlomagno - Biology
- I am from Novato (maiden name is Springfield) and attended many of the Novato Unified Schools including Pleasant Valley and Sinaloa. I graduated from San Marin High School in 1989
-I graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1993 with a degree in Biological Sciences. After college I worked in the admissions office at Dominican University and later attended school there. Next I earned my single-subject teaching credential there.
-I have been teaching science at San Marin since 1996.
-Besides teaching, I love doing stuff with my family. I live in Petaluma with my husband and two daughters (Kylie was born in 2004 and Layce at the end of 2007). In my spare time (which isn’t much these days) I enjoy running, golfing, skiing (both water and snow), bike riding, reading and traveling. Singapore, Bali, Japan, England, France, and Australia are some of the stamps in my passport, which I hope to continue to fill.
Mr. Nick Williams, Biology and Earth Science
- I received a B.S. from UC Davis in Evolution and Ecology and an M.A. from UC Davis in Education
- Before teaching I worked as an environmental monitor and summer camp director
- I enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee, hiking, and mountain biking
- This is my second year teaching at San Marin.
- I love teaching science and working with students!
Dr. LaFevre-Bernt, or Dr. L.-B. Chemistry
- I am originally from Connecticut. I received a B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Life Science Teaching Preparation from Humboldt State University. I received a Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology from the Department of Biochemistry at State University of New York, Stony Brook.
- Before teaching I did four years of post-doctoral research of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases at Sugen, Inc., and the Buck Institute For age Research. I most recently was a Senior Scientist at ProteomTech, Inc., in Emeryville, where I developed novel cancer therapeutic.
- This is my second year teaching chemistry at San Marin.
- I live in Novato with my husband, son, and two dogs.
Mr. Block - Chemistry and Physics
- I received a degree in Chemistry at University of California Santa Barbara where I played water polo and swam. I received a Masters in Business from University of Phoenix. I received my teaching credential from Cal State LA
- Before teaching, I served with the US Marine Corps, worked for the UC Police Department , worked as a Ski Patrol in Park City Utah, was an Analytical Chemist and Manufacturing Chemicals Purchasing Agent at Amgen Inc., Manufacturing Chemicals Purchasing Agent, at Sandoz, Inc, trained at the Butte Firefighter Academy, Chico CA, served as a Firefighter / Engineer in New Mexico, attended Paramedic School in Pittsburg, CA, worked and am currently working as a Jr. Lifeguard Academy Instructor, Malibu Ca, as a Summer job, and have worked and currently work as an ocean lifeguard for California State Parks in LA and Sonoma counties.
- Before teaching at San Marin, I was a Student Teacher with Arcadia School District, and a teacher in LA Unified School District.
- This is my second year teaching at San Marin. Back To Top
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Mr. Wes Swedlow
Our Town: Preparing students for College
Novato Advance, March 5, 2008
When Wes Swedlow taught college students in Chicago at De Paul University, the same school where he received his PhD in philosophy, he discovered something about himself, but even far more resounding was his realization about high school education.
Now a San Marin High School English teacher and coordinator of the school’s career-oriented multimedia academy, Swedlow, 36, said he noticed that the students he taught weren’t academically ready for college. “One of the problems I encountered was that students weren’t prepared,” Swedlow said. “Many students graduate college in six years instead of four and that’s because students spend time taking very basic courses.”
After realizing that his true passion was teaching, Swedlow decided he wanted to teach high school students to insure that his students would be prepared for college. As a former college professor, Swedlow has a unique perspective: he can tell students when they ask that, “Yes, you will need to know this when you are in college,” he said.
In addition to coordinating the San Marin Multimedia Academy, Swedlow, who is in his second year teaching at the school, also teaches high school English.
Having a PhD in philosophy with an emphasis on political philosophy, Swedlow tries to incorporate nonfiction literature, such as excerpts from Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” essays by Karl Marx or Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” into the curriculum.
“‘Plato’s Cave’ is something that anyone can understand especially when you compare it to the ‘The Matrix,’” he said. “I will try to bring in more non-fiction for rhetorical content, argumentative fallacies rather than doing a straight forward literature.”
San Marin High School principal Bob Vieth noted that the school has one other teacher with a PhD. “Any time people work on advanced degrees that’s an asset for the school,” Vieth said.
Swedlow’s said his interest in education won’t just stop at teaching. He envisions himself as an educational reformer.
“On average, students in the United States are two years behind students in Europe,” he said. “There are things that a lot of people wonder, like, how did we go from number one in education to the 40s’.”
What he thinks might strengthen the United States educational system is stronger standards.
Another area of interest for him is expanding school career technical programs, of which he is currently a coordinator at San Marin High School.
He admits that these plans are far in the future because he needs a lot more experience as a teacher before he starts revamping the education system.
But for now, Swedlow will continue doing what he’s doing — teaching, playing guitar, tending to his pet fish and scouring the Bay Area for the best sushi.
And over the summer when his students are swimming in their pools and heading to the beach, Swedlow may be working on publishing his dissertation Back To Top |
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Visual Arts Department Teachers
Denise Mozzetti (center) earned her teaching credential in art and English at San Francisco State University and has attended a number of classes at the Academy of Art. As head of the Art Department, Denise has taught all beginning, intermediate and advanced classes in 2D and 3D Art and Photography as well as submitting and teaching the curriculum for a Glass Art class.
Dawn Reily (right) has been interested in art since high school. In college she concentrated on sculpture and painting and graduated from Sonoma State University. She is very passionate about the arts and sells her work as a professional artist in galleries in the Bay Area in addition to showing her work at Art Fairs. She is teaching Glass Art, 3D Art, and Art and Design
Mariah Fisher (left) received her Bachelor Degree in Art Education as well as her teaching credential from Humboldt State University. She is also a graduate of the Technical Theater program at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Mariah has spent the last four years teaching all levels of Art and Drama at Calistoga High School Back To Top |
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Teacher 
