Matthew Tate has been working in education for over 16 years in many different positions. First, he worked at El Rancho, a private elementary school in Fair Oaks, as a Yard Supervisor and Teacher Assistant. Second, he became a Substitute Teacher for the Manteca Unified School District (MUSD). Third, he became an English Teacher when a position was vacant mid-year at East Union High School. During that time the great recession occurred, and he did not have enough seniority to keep his position and he was one of many teachers who were laid off. He continued to persist and became a Special Day Class-Moderate Severe (SDC-MS) Teacher at Sierra High School. Matthew has been there for the last ten years. During this long and arduous journey he has enjoyed building positive relationships with students and staff.
Furthermore, the vision of educating SDC-MS students is to teach them life skills that they can use upon graduation to get a position working for a job development program, to live as independently as possible, and to develop social skills so they can be productive members of society. Over time Matthew has developed his own curriculum that supports their Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Additionally, he has created the following for special education students: The Recycling Club, The All-Star Olympics, a bowling league titled The Friday Morning Specials, an SDC Bootcamp at the district office during the summer, a classroom yearbook for students who can’t afford the school’s yearbook. Moreover, he has been working with two different classes, Leadership and Get Focused Stay Focused, where general education students come into the class to help improve social skills and student interactions to maintain a positive school culture so that every student feels accepted and appreciated. Also, he spent five years coaching football and integrated his students as players and as team managers. Finally, over the past two years Matthew has been integrating STEM activities and team teaching with Mr. U, a Science and Lead Technology Teacher, to help improve the student’s science and digital literacy skills.
Quality teaching is critical to the growth and development of our society and not matter what ability every person deserves to receive a high-quality education. Matthew’s goal is to continue to empower students and help them reach their goals. He volunteers at the school in many ways by supervising at tailgates, watching and cheering on students at different sporting events, being a club advisor, participating in a teacher rock band, participating in school spirit weeks, or anything else that is needed to help build positive relationships with students and staff.
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Finally, if Matthew is fortunate to win the All-Star Teacher Award, he plans to put the money towards projects that will improve school culture along with teaching his moderate severe students critical life skills. It has been a dream of mine to have a student run café at school where they can learn different working skills like customer service, ordering and stocking inventory, cleaning and catering, taking orders, and balancing a budget. We could use the café to help support school events throughout the year and improve functional life skills and school culture. You would be amazed what students can do if have the right tools, facility, and quality teachers to help guide them to reach their goals.