OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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Senior Instructor II & Program Coordinator, Master of Arts in Teaching
Endorsement Areas: Social Studies and English Language Arts
Carolyn Platt joined the OSU-Cascades faculty in 2009 to launch the Master of Arts in Teaching licensure program for secondary level endorsements in Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Mathematics. Prior to OSU-Cascades, Dr. Platt served as an academic dean at Wellesley College and an independent educational consultant to Oregon school districts and students. Platt was elected to the Bend-La Pine School Board, serving two terms in leadership positions as chair and vice-chair. She received her Ph.D. and masters degrees in education from Stanford University, and her B.A. in sociology from Occidental College.
Platt's areas of expertise are in assessment and data literacy, culturally responsive practice and professional formation, and accreditation and curriculum. She regularly consults with the State and the Teacher Standards and Practice Commission on the EdTPA (national teacher licensure portfolio), educator preparation, national accreditation, university program reviews and teacher licensure. Recently, Platt was a guest of the Macau, China government where she provided workshops and coached Chinese high school teachers on formative assessment and student engagement.
Associate Professor, Master of Arts in Teaching
Endorsement Areas: Integrated Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics
Dr. Giamellaro is dedicated to preparing future teachers to work within the current schools of Oregon and the world. He is equally passionate about working with his students and current educators to imagine schools as they could be, pushing for innovative and student-centered learning experiences. Understanding learning through experience is also at the heart of Giamellaro’s research, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, Oregon Department of Education and private foundations. He studies how learning in or with real-world contexts impacts learning and this includes integrated STEM, teacher-scientist partnerships, field learning and digital immersion into simulated settings. Giamellaro has taught in public and private middle and high schools in Colorado and New York City. He brings all of these experiences into his teaching to help launch students into a productive and formative launch into their own teacher careers.
Undergraduate Teaching Program Coordinator, Associate Professor of Practice
Endorsement Areas: Foundational Mathematics and Advanced Mathematics
Dr. Melinda Knapp is interested in student learning and its connection to teacher development. With 15 years of K-12 mathematics classroom teaching and instructional coaching experiences, Knapp is particularly interested in how novice and expert teachers attend to students' mathematical thinking through discourse with other students. Her focus is on how teachers learn to orchestrate discussions that will support deeper understanding of mathematics for students.
Knapp's professional goals encompass creating opportunities for collaborating with teams of mathematics educators, practitioners, and school leaders in order to design innovative learning experiences and create vibrant intellectual communities for students, teacher candidates and practicing teachers.
In her most recent work, Knapp coordinates, plans, and facilitates "practice-based" mathematics methods courses in a local elementary school. These mediated field experiences give teacher candidates opportunities to learn how to teach mathematics in a school context with school aged students and with the support of university instructors. To learn more about this model of teacher education used at OSU-Cascades click here.
Director of Programs: Education, Health and Wellness; Senior Instructor MAT/ B.S. Teaching: Elem. Ed; National Board Certified Teacher (she/her/hers)
Endorsement Area: Elementary Education
Rachael Schuetz is the Director of Programs in Education, Health, & Wellness, a Senior Instructor, and the Elementary Education cohort lead at OSU-Cascades. As a National Board Certified Teacher, she enjoyed teaching in the primary grades over nine years, most of that spent in the Bend LaPine Schools. In 2012, Schuetz was honored as a finalist for the Bend LaPine Schools Teacher of the Year award. Along with university administrative work, teaching and advising students in the elementary education programs, she continues her research in educational technology, teacher preparation and elementary classrooms.
