Dana Dunnan grew up in a family of educators. He lived in Malone, NY, Meadville,PA, Springfield,IL, St. Paul, MN and Peabody, MA, as his father changed superintendencies every five years or so. Dunnan’s two older brothers both were school administrators, one in public schools in Ohio, the other beginning in public schools and ending up in private schools.
Dunnan went to high school in Minnesota, and attended Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School. He did his undergraduate work at the University of New Hampshire, where he majored in chemistry and minored in English. He received his teaching certification through a Masters’ program at Stanford University.
While at Stanford, he was a teaching intern at Woodside High School, in Woodside, California.
He began full-time teaching at Masconomet Regional High School, in Topsfield, Massachusetts. Masconomet serves Topsfield, Boxford, and Middleton, suburban towns north of Boston. Topsfield and Boxford are among the ten wealthiest towns in Massachusetts.
At Masconomet, he taught Chemistry, then added Physical Science and Physics. He was laid off from the Science department, took a year off, and returned to teach English and journalism.
Around this time he began teaching at Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School. He and his wife supervised boys’ dorms during the summer session.
Also, at about this time, he began three years when he served as a teaching practitioner with the teacher training program at Harvard. He was in the classroom with graduate students, as well as doing field supervision and admissions work.
After his Masconomet journalism students had won state and national recognition, he returned to the science department full-time.
During the years to follow, he would develop a fruitful relationship with MIT, serve NSF summer fellowships, work on educational reform initiatives in Massachusetts, and develop chemistry curricula that would be used internationally.
While at Masconomet, he taught students in grades nine through twelve, and at all levels of achievement.
Retired from teaching, Dunnan now lives with his wife Judy, in a log cabin built they built themselves on Coles Pond, in Walden, Vermont. He has written numerous articles, and two books before Notes to a New Teacher.
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Hi Dana – longtime no see – retired a year ago after 44 years teaching physics – I caught your video interview with judy simpson after seeing your post on the retired.nsta list.
Even with great resources, you are right – really teaching is hard work. I did a lot of workshops for teachers in the DC public schools, and the lack of resources and the city school problems really burns out many of the really good teachers.
As a writer you might be interested in my web project on Benjamin Franklin and his electrical researches – http://www.compadre.org/psrc/franklin/
Cheers and enjoy your retirement.
Bob Morse
Bob- You were a colleague at Masconomet whom I really admired. You are cited as such in both of the books. In Chalkdust Memories, I laid out my theories about what made Masco dysfunctional at times. And I particularly mentioned your chosing to leave because you felt unsupported as an example of bad management.
I cited your theory of thirds abut the quality of Masco faculty, without mentioning you by name, on the NSTA Listserve. It was not well received, but I think that science teachers involved in such digital communication may not be seeing beyond their own schools or even departments.
I hope this finds you happy and well.
Best regards,
Dana
The Ben Franklin link produces a 404 Page not found message.
Dana, I wanted to thank you for investing in my life. I am a member of the class of 88 at Masco and part of the morning basketball crew. Thank you for picking me (and Mike Blake) up at o’dark 30 and instilling confidence in a young man trying to find his way. You were more than a teacher, but a true mentor. Your investment made a big difference in my life – will never forget those mornings and our trip to see the Boston Shootout. Thank you!
Dana,
Just shy of 38 years ago I had the good fortune to meet you and Judy in a Island County campground on San Juan Island in Washington. I was traveling by motorcycle and about to heat up some freeze-dried food when I was graciously invited to join you folks for spaghetti dinner in your campsite. A great camp dinner turned into a long and rewarding evening of conversation about education, teaching, schools and life in general. I have told the story of our impromtu meeting many times over the years. It was a highlight of my month-long trip up and down the pacific coast and back and forth across the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains by motorcycle. I have never forgotten that evening – in fact I told the story again just last night, which of course brought you both to mind. I tried once many years ago to contact you by mail in Exeter but was unsuccessful. Now at long last, thanks to the Internet, I have the opportunity to thank you in writing. I hope you and Judy are both well and send you very best wishes for a new year.
Gratitude does not fade away. It waits patiently for the opportunity of expression.
Take good care…
Bill and Mike
I have often thought of our nice interactions..
We’re up in northern Vermont now, in a cabin we built ourselves. Life is good, and we hope the same is true for you.
Judy continues to work part time as a speech path in a small local school. I’ve been retired for many years. The story of my time in, and departure from, eduction is in Chalkdust Memories.
It is nice to reconnect with a good soul such as yourselves..
Best regards,
Dana
Mike-
My interactions with you were high points in my time at Masco, which wasn’t always great.I have often thought of our nice interactions.
We’re up in northern Vermont now, in a cabin we built ourselves. Life is good, and we hope the same is true for you.
Judy continues to work part time as a speech path in a small local school. I’ve been retired for many years. The story of my time in, and departure from, eduction is in Chalkdust Memories.
It is nice to reconnect with a good soul such as yourself.
Best regards,
Dana
Hi Bill-
I have often thought of our nice interaction in a special place. I’m sorry that your attempt to contact us in Exeter failed.
We’re up in northern Vermont now, in a cabin we built ourselves. Life is good, and we hope the same is true for you.
Judy continues to work parttime as a speech path in a small local school. I’ve been retired for many years. Yhe story of my time in, and departure from, eduction is in Chalkdust Memories.
It is nice to reconnect with a good soul such as yourself.
Best regards,
Dana
Hi Dana- I was surprised to see your book here and I have ordered one. That school north of Boston did a number on you and many others. I did retire from there on my own terms but I have a terrible dislike for the school and all the ‘gangsters’ that worked there during our tenure. Most are gone now either retired or passed but the anger is still inside of me. Best of luck to you in your writing.
Hello, Dam, I’m doing research on the Banff Springs Hotel, just wanted to ask, am I able to include quotes and screenshots in my piece?
Thanks,
Ezekiel McAdams
Mr Dunnan!
I was one of your first students at Woodside High School. Just wanted to let you know you were one of my favorite teachers (and I’ve had a lot of them). Thank you so much for inspiring me.
Dave Wedell
Hi Dana,
Dreams….wtf !!
I have dreams that are nothing more than short snip-its, with a brief scene, a brief image. I doubt my average dream lasts for more than 5-10 seconds. I don’t know…
Last week I had this amazing dream (snip-it). I was in back in high school, and the images were amazingly detailed: I saw every amazing detail: the room, the desks, the chalkboard, the 1970’s-vintage computer in the corner. Everything as I remembered it, to a tee……..And you.
Yes, this was my Woodside High School chemistry class. You were the “intern teacher” as you put it on your bio. BS. You were the most amazing teacher I had in high school. I took lower-division and upper-division chemistry classes in at CAL, and all of them were SOOOOO much easier because of your amazing teaching skillls as a chemistry teacher at WHS. This whiile you were in your graduate program at Stanford. And you were a great guy too, I remember that. You were awesome!!
Anyway, I had this detailed dream. So I thought I’d share it with you. Then I saw a post from David Wedell, who I went to high school with at Woodside HS. I remembered him also. A bit of deva ju.
Anyway, it looks like you had an amazing career. I’m so happy for you. I hope that you don’t think this is a totally off-the-wall post, but I just had to say how much I appreciated you as an amazing chemistry teacher in high school. And a great person also!!
Take care. And best wishes to you. Ed Struffenegger