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Anastasia Samaras is Associate Professor
in the Graduate School
of Education, College of Education and Human Development
at George Mason University, Virginia. Anastasia has
presented and published widely nationally and abroad.
She served as co-editor of the The proceedings of the
Fourth International Conference on Self-Study of Teacher
Education Practices, which is the basis for her latest
books.
Her teaching career began in 1972 as a Social Studies
teacher in a newly integrated junior high school. Anastasia’s
life-long passion for teaching also includes three decades
of teaching in high schools, preschools, colleges, and
universities. She currently holds advanced professional
certificates in Social Studies, U.S. History, Early
Childhood Education, and Elementary-Middle School Principal-Supervisor.
Her experiences as teacher and parent of three children
shaped her advanced studies at the University of Maryland
where she earned a Masters from the Institute of Child
Study and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with
specializations in Early Childhood and Teacher Education.
Her former role as director of teacher education at
The Catholic University of America was the context of
her 10-year Vygotskian-based teaching and research and
her book, Self-Study for Teacher Educators: Crafting
a Pedagogy for Educational Change (2002, Peter Lang.
Anastasia's interest in the self-study of teaching and
teacher education practices towards professional development,
including her own, continue to center much of her research.
Her research in socio-cultural practices has led her
to fascinating experiences in interdisciplinary teaching
as well as appointments with federal agencies, the US
Department of State, Head Start, and numerous universities.
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