2020 Elementary Mathematics Specialist Scholarship Recipient
Dana Hartzell
Pendleton, Indiana
Biography
Dana Hartzell is a 17 year veteran of elementary education from Pendleton, Indiana. Her career began when she obtained her Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Elementary Education from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Her first teaching experience, a Title I Math Interventionist at Longfellow Elementary, curated her interest in mathematics and how people learn and build mathematical knowledge. Through her six years of teaching at Longfellow, she worked with low-income students in a second grade classroom. This experience taught her that every student, regardless of background, can learn in unique ways.
Dana then obtained her high ability teaching license from Ball State University and moved to teaching high ability students at East Washington Academy in Muncie. While teaching high ability third grade students, she was able to incorporate many new mathematical teaching methods. Challenging students to extend their thinking became a part of her everyday teaching life.
Dana currently teaches sixth-grade high ability and general education mathematics and writing classes at Maple Ridge Elementary in Pendleton, Indiana. Throughout her past four years at Maple Ridge, she has had the unique opportunity to work with the Indiana Department of Education in the development of the new statewide assessment, ILEARN. She has served on item assessment committees, the standard setting committee, and the Performance Level Descriptors development committee. This work prompted Dana’s interest in obtaining her Master’s in Mathematics Education with a concentration in Math Specialist from Ball State University. She is currently in her second year of the three-year coursework necessary to obtain this degree. In addition, she has presented at the Indiana Association of Gifted Students Conference, the Indiana Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference, and the 2020 Indiana Assessment Literacy Conference, all on the topic of improving math education in our elementary schools.
Dana is delighted to be one of three recipients of the 2020 AMTE Elementary Math Specialist Scholarship. She plans to use the scholarship to help continue her pursuit of her Master’s degree in Mathematics Education.