Faculty Bios

Brandon Adams has been integrating digital tools in the music classroom for more than 14 years. Brandon received his undergraduate training at Dartmouth College and completed a Masters in Music in Choral Conducting at Indiana University. Brandon was instrumental in building Urban’s music program in 1995, and he has also worked at Millbrook School in New York and Woodside Priory School in Woodside, CA. Brandon is also a frequent guest choral conductor in the Bay Area, having recently worked with the East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus, the Silicon Valley Symphony Chorale and the Oakland-East Bay Symphony Chorus.

Charis Denison was the former Director of Service Learning at The Urban School. Under Charis’ leadership, Urban’s program achieved national recognition for its transformation from an experiential education program with elements of service into a progressive, four-year service-learning curriculum. Currently, she teaches at Marin Academy in San Rafael and directs Prajna Consulting‚ focusing on Human Development, Ethics and Service-learning. Charis holds a Master's degree in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco.

Lori Hébert teaches French and Service Learning at The Urban School of San Francisco. She received a BA in Mathematics and French from Mount Holyoke College, where her interest in educational technology was initially ignited. She recently finished a Masters program in Digital Media and Learning with an emphasis on second-language instructional media at the University of San Francisco’s School of Education. In addition to teaching, she has worked as a technical training specialist, educational technology consultant, web designer and Flash developer. Her tech background, combined with her enthusiasm for teaching and curriculum development, has enabled her to explore and cultivate new resources and methods for bringing foreign language alive in the classroom. Lori has presented at a number of professional conferences, including the Laptop Institute, NECC and CAIS.

Jonathan Howland is the Dean of Faculty at The Urban School of San Francisco, where he has taught English for 21 years. His better teaching has taken place in the context of courses on the American Romantics, Dostoevsky and Chekhov, and Faulkner. His professional interests and commitments include innovative practices in teaching and assessment, effective instructional leadership, and the evolution and design of digital classrooms. He has published and presented on all of the above subjects.

Howard Levin is Director of Technology at The Urban School of San Francisco. Prior to Urban, he served as history chair and teacher at the Overlake School of Redmond, WA, as well as Assistant Head of the Jewish Day School in Bellevue, WA. He is formerly a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Howard has authored several articles including those in ISTE's Leading and Learning with Technology and is a frequent presenter throughout the country about effective uses of digital tools and practices that support learning, 1:1 integrated laptop initiatives and digital video-based oral histories. His work with Telling Their Stories: Oral History Archives Project resulted in a NAIS Leading Edge Award in Technology for Urban. Howard holds a MAEd from the University of Washington. More information is available at www.howardlevin.com.

Kate Mackrell has a B.Math and M.Math from the University of Waterloo in Canada, worked in computing for several years and then, after six years in the classroom, lectured for 10 years in the Faculty of Education at the University of Brighton in the UK.  She is currently pursuing a PhD at the Institute of Education at the University of London, researching the use of Cabri 3D in secondary school. She was the first in line to purchase Cabri 3D when it became available in 2004 and since then has produced teaching materials, written articles, created a website and given Cabri 3D workshops in the UK, Canada and the US, as well as Hong Kong, India, Thailand and Taiwan.

Larissa Parson teaches English to students ranging from freshmen to seniors at The Urban School of San Francisco. She previously taught at The College Preparatory School in Oakland, CA. Larissa has a keen interestin using technology to help students improve their skills as writers and readers. She earned her BA in Liberal Arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, MD, and an MA in Classics from Cornell University.

Henri Picciotto is director of the Center for Innovative Teaching. He has taught mathematics at The Urban School since 1981, leading a continuous curriculum development effort, introducing cooperative learning, hands-on labs, technology, and unusual electives. He received his BA and MA in Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. Henri has written many books and articles, and edited activities for The Mathematics Teacher. He is an authority on the use of manipulatives and geometric puzzles in secondary school, and has done much work in teacher training nationwide, with both beginning and veteran teachers. Henri shares his ideas about teaching at www.MathEducationPage.org.

Mark Salkind is in his 24th year as Head of The Urban School of San Francisco. Under his leadership, the school has established a national reputation for extraordinary teaching and for excellence and innovation in its educational program. During his tenure, Mark has overseen four strategic planning processes, two major capital campaigns to expand school facilities and enrollment, and the implementation of a 1:1 student laptop program, the first of its kind at a California independent high school. An alumnus of Marin Country Day School and The Urban School, Mark graduated from Yale University in 1974 and pursued graduate studies in English literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Mark has served on the board of directors of the California Association of Independent Schools and has been a trustee of Aim High, Marin Country Day School, Oxbow School and Town School for Boys. In addition to working with boards of trustees of local independent schools, he has been a frequent presenter at the CAIS Trustee/Head conference on a wide range of topics and at several NAIS conferences.

Cathleen Sheehan teaches Shakespeare and Advanced Shakespeare at The Urban School of San Francisco. She holds an AB and MA in English Literature from Stanford University and continued her graduate work in Victorian Literature at Oxford University. Her background includes a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar on Shakespeare in Performance and a directing workshop at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Ms. Sheehan has lectured and written for Shakespeare Santa Cruz and currently works as a writer, lecturer and dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater and a dramturg for the Marin Shakespeare Company.

Algis Sodonis is a Physics and Chemistry Teacher at The Urban School of San Francisco and has been teaching science for 17 years to students ranging from 6th grade through seniors in high school. He is currently teaching 9th grade introductory science and Physics and Applied Electronics, a project-based fusion of physics, design, electronics and programming. Algis is also a teacher-in-residence at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco, where he helps with teacher workshops focusing on project-based approaches to learning about electricity, programming and creativity. Algis received his BA from the University of Chicago and his MEd from the University of Illinois.

Igor Zagatsky is the Systems and Network Administrator at The Urban School of San Francisco and is responsible for the running and maintenance of the infrastructure, servers, internet connection and phone system. He coordinates the technical aspects of the laptop program, deployment and creates the software images used. Igor is also instrumental in working with various departments within the school to seek out technology and software solutions and to ensure their smooth deployment and use. Igor is a graduate of San Francisco State University and holds a master’s degree from the University of San Francisco in computer science.