Elmore, Dana Topping
Date Updated
10-29-2019
Department
Education
Academic Rank
Professor
Year Retired from SJSU
1992
Educational Background
University of California, Berkeley, 1967, EdD
San Francisco State University, 1956, MA
University of Southern California, 1953, BA
Teaching Experience
San José State University 1967-1992
University of California, Berkeley 1964-1966
Alamo School District 1962-1963 Paradise Unified School District 1958-1962 Willows Union School District 1956-1958Bakersfield City School District 1953-1955
Administrative and Professional Experience
Accreditation team member for the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT), 1978-1995.
Advisory Panel/Manuscript Reviewer, NEA Publications, 1983-1995.
Selected Publications
Creative Writing Activities for the Elementary School Classroom, San Jose: Teaching/Learning Press, 1980, 120 pp.
"Close Encounters of a Musical Kind," Elementary Teacher's Ideas and Materials Workshop, West Nyack, NY: Parker, Jan. 1979.
"Notes from Your Supervisor," Phi Delta Kappan, April 1976.
The Elementary Teaching Internship: Does It Have a Future? Monograph Series: Teacher Education Forum. Bloomington: Indiana Univ., June 1976.
Files
Personal Commentary
Dad (Albert Elmore) was graduated from UC Berkeley in 1903, going immediately to Japan for 4 years to teach English at government high schools. Returning home he entered Civil Service as a railway mail clerk. Mother (Helen Mitchell) was also graduated from UC (1921) and became a teacher.
I was born in Ukiah, one of three children. In 1936, we moved to Sonoma Co. and I entered first grade at Vinehill School. This was the same two-room school my father and his siblings had attended nearly 50 years earlier. With my brother and sister, I walked to school a mile each way through wild berry vines and willows, over the stile, through the redwood grove, along a creek and past the vineyards. In our rented farmhouse there was no electricity, telephone, ice box, nor radio. Life in the country ended after a year as the Elmore family purchased a home in Berkeley in 1937. There, I entered second grade. Mother gave piano lessons, myself included. As a sixth grader I started private flute lessons.
Playing flute led to participation in annual musical productions at Berkeley High School (e.g., Gilbert & Sullivan), in the Berkeley Young People's Symphony Orchestra, in the Oakland Symphony, and in Rose Parade/Rose Bowl appearances with both the Berkeley Cal Marching Band (1949) and the USC Trojan Band (1953); followed by a career as public school music teacher.
I met my wife at a college-age church camp near Cazadero. She would soon graduate from UC Berkeley and attend UCLA as a student teacher, while I was completing my credential requirements at USC. We were married in 1953 in the same Berkeley church where my parents had been married.
I treasure my years at SJSU. In addition to teaching a variety of education courses, I served as Director of the Student Information/Credential Preparation Center in Sweeney Hall. I was Coordinator of Student Teaching Placements, Elementary and Secondary Programs, and, in earlier years, I directed the Elementary Teaching Internship Program. Nearly every semester included the supervision of student teachers.
The years 1967 through 1992 brought many changes on campus, in the field of education and in society generally. I could not have asked for a more challenging and interesting professional life.
Date Completed: 9/96; Updated: 10/29/2019
Adapted from: Biographies of Retired Faculty San Jose State University 1997: A Project of the Emeritus Faculty Association of San Jose State University. San Jose, CA: The University, 1997.