Biography
Dr. Dana Grosser-Clarkson is a Master Teacher in the Terrapin Teachers program and a member of the Center for Mathematics Education at UMD. Dana works closely with the secondary math and computer science candidates at both the undergraduate and graduate level. She often teaches Methods I (TLPL 401: Student-centered Curriculum and Instruction), Methods II (TLPL 403/606: Classroom Interactions), and Math 470 (Mathematics for Secondary Education). Dana is also a Supervisor for the COE and observes teacher candidates in their field placements, and additionally assists in seminars which support teacher candidates in the completion of their performance-based assessment (i.e., edTPA). While the majority of Dana’s position is teaching focused, she still enjoys research around the following topics: practice-based teacher education, mathematical experience, algebraic thinking, classroom discourse, standards-based curricula and lesson study.
Dana began her teaching career in Michigan as a high school mathematics teacher. While teaching full-time Dana completed her Master’s in Secondary Mathematics Education from Western Michigan University while participating as a research assistant on the Core-Plus Mathematics Project. After teaching high school for six years Dana took a position at the University of Charleston as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. Dana quickly realized she wanted to return to school to work toward a doctorate in mathematics education with an emphasis on teacher preparation. Dana completed her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Maryland in 2016 with a case-study dissertation that explored teacher candidates learning and enactment of Mathematics Teaching Practices. Dana then took a two year postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Mathematics Education working on Dr. Dan Chazan’s NSF-funded grant entitled Developing Rich Media-based Materials for Practice-based Teacher Education). Dana has been working full-time with Terrapin Teachers since 2018.