Alice Cook is a clinical faculty member in secondary mathematics for Urban Teachers in Baltimore and a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. She previously taught in the education department at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she is a doctoral candidate.
She has served as an instructional coach for middle school teachers in Montgomery County, Maryland, and has taught in Washington, D.C., Lima, Peru and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She is a former NASA Endeavor Fellow and holds a master of arts in teaching from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. She firmly believes that teaching is a political act and that math can be a tool to achieve social justice. She leads new teachers to help students see themselves as mathematicians and realize the power in understanding mathematics.
Education
• University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Teaching and Learning, Doctoral Candidate, Minority and Urban Education and Mathematics Education
• Adams State University, NASA Endeavor Fellow, STEM graduate courses, 2012
• University of Puget Sound, Masters of Arts in Teaching, Curriculum and Instruction, 2005
• University of Puget Sound, Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, 2004
Academic positions
• Johns Hopkins University, School of Education, Urban Teachers Clinical Faculty for Mathematics, Baltimore, 2017-present
• University of Maryland, College Park, Undergraduate Student Teacher Intern Supervisor, 2016-17
• University of Maryland, College Park, Adjunct Professor, Graduate Assistant, 2012-2017
• University of Maryland, College Park, Research Assistant: Participatory Action Research Project on Street-Oriented Youth, 2014-present
• University of Maryland, College Park/ University of New Hampshire, Research Assistant: Math Tricks Project, 2014-present
• University of Maryland, College Park/ University of New Hampshire, LessonSketch Research Team Member, 2014-present
• University of Maryland, College Park, Research Assistant: Research Assistant: ThEMaT Project, 2013-14
• University of Maryland, College Park, Research Assistant: Math Outreach Project, 2013
Other professional positions
• Founder, Solidarity for Justice Consulting, 2016-present
• Consultant, Social Justice Mathematics Education, 2014=present
• Math Instructional Specialist, Montgomery County Public Schools, Office of Curriculum and Instruction, Maryland, 2016-17
• Secondary Mathematics Teacher, Capital City Public Charter School, Washington, D.C., 2009-2012
• Secondary English Teacher, The American School of Lima (Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt), Lima, Peru, 2007-2009
• Secondary Math Teacher, Discovery School, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 2005-2007
Awards
• University of Maryland Award for Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching in the I-Series Courses, 2013
• University of Maryland Graduate School Dean’s Fellowship, 2012
Teaching experience
• Proportional Reasoning
• Algebraic Thinking
• Field Experience and Student Teaching
Research, Publications, Presentations
• MacDonald, V. M., & Cook, A. (2018). Before Chicana Civil Rights: Three Generations of Mexican American Women in Higher Education in the Southwest, 1920–1965. In Women’s Higher Education in the United States (pp. 233-254). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
• National Association of Multicultural Education, Presenter: “Examining high school leavers’ perspectives on competence and efficacy, and high school experiences,” 2017
• American Educational Research Association, Symposium Presenter: “Noticing for equity: Emerging themes from video club discussions focused on algebraic thinking” Presenting with Dr. Janet Walkoe and Angela Stoltz, 2017
• Association of Mathematics Teacher Education, Symposium Presenter: “Technique and purpose: Separating and integrating doing and thinking in representations of practice,” 2017
• Gutierrez, R., Cook, A., (2016) A frog in the pan: Developing critical awareness in mathematics teachers: A commentary on Rubel’s Case. In White, D., Crespo, S., Civil, M. (Eds). Cases for Teacher Educators: Facilitating Conversations about Inequities in Mathematics Classrooms (pp 445-450). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing Inc.
• Buchbinder, O., Ron, G., Zodik, I., Cook, A., (2016) What can you infer from this example? Applications of online, rich-media tasks for enhancing pre-service teachers’ knowledge of the roles of examples in proving. In A.Leung & A. Baccaglini-Frank (Eds)., Digital Technologies in Designing Mathematics Education Tasks: Potential and Pitfalls (pp. 215-235). Cham: Spring International Publishing.
• International Congress on Mathematical Education, Presenter: “Implementation of social justice mathematics: Experiences & perceptions of secondary math teachers,” (2016)
• TODOS: Mathematics for All, Presenter: “Powerful numbers in a social justice algebra classroom: Catalyzing critical thinking, rigorous mathematical learning, and student voice,” 2016
• American Educational Research Association, Presenter: “Latina/o Ninth-Grade Leavers: Re-conceptualizing “Risk” for School Non-Completion”, co-presenting with Dr. Tara Brown and Jesus Santos, 2016
• Association of Mathematics Teacher Education, Presenter: “Enhancing prospective teachers’ knowledge of proof and dispositions towards productive struggle through exploration of Math-tricks”, co-presented with Dr. Orly Buchbinder, 2016
• Buchbinder, O., Cook, A., (2015) Pre-service teachers’ construction of algebraic proof through exploration of math-tricks. Published in conference proceedings of Conference of European Research in Mathematics Education.
• Cook, A., (2015) The experiences of secondary mathematics teachers implementing social justice mathematics. Published in conference proceedings of American Education Research Association
• National Association of Multicultural Education, Workshop Presenter: “Powerful Numbers in Social Justice Algebra: Student Voice and Community,” 2015
• National Conference On Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education Presenter, Poster: “Preparing Culturally Responsive STEM Educators: From the post-secondary classroom to the K-12 classroom” Co-presentation with Angela Stoltz, 2015
• American Education Research Association (AERA) Presenter, Poster: “The experiences of secondary mathematics teachers implementing social justice mathematics,” 2015
• Young Educational Professionals, DC Presenter, Presentation: Preparing Culturally Responsive STEM Educators: From the post-secondary classroom to the K-12 classroom Co-presentation with Angela Stoltz, 2015
• Latino/a Studies Conference Presenter, Panel Session: Learning from the past to re-envision the future: Latino/a resistance and response to higher education barriers. Co-authored paper with Dr. Victoria-Maria MacDonald: “El Techo del Vidrio-The Glass Ceiling: Research Latina women’s historical access to higher education STEM fields,” 2014
• Harvard Alumni of Color Conference Presenter, Panel Session: Learning from the past to re-envision the future: Latino/a resistance and response to higher education barriers. Co-authored paper with Dr. Victoria-Maria MacDonald: “El Techo del Vidrio-The Glass Ceiling: Research Latina women’s historical access to higher education STEM fields, 2014
• Creating Balance in an Unjust World: Math Education & Social Justice Conference Presenter, Workshop: Powerful Numbers in a Social Justice Algebra Classroom: catalyzing critical thinking, rigorous mathematical learning, and student voice, 2013
• Coalition of Essential Schools Presenter, Workshop: The Power of the Mind, the Pen, and the Voice in HS Math, 2011
Service
• AERA Paulo Freire Special Interest Group Graduate Student Council Femtor/Mentor Session Fellow, 2017
• National Association of Multicultural Education Proposal reviewer, 2017
• University of Maryland College of Education Graduate Student Organization President, 2015-2016