Embedded Files
You can find information for each class by clicking on the links above.
You can find information for each class by clicking on the links above.
Email is my preferred method of communication and I try to answer all emails within 24 hours. If you have any comments, questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at mrowland@sanjuan.edu
Google Classroom
Google Classroom
The content for all classes, including unit plans, will be posted in our Google Classroom. Sign into Google Classroom by clicking here and entering your username and password.
Planning and Grading for Student Success
Planning and Grading for Student Success
In my evolving teaching practice I continually strive to structure my practices to support student success and clear communication of expectations and achievement of learning goals. As I have studied what works in education, I have found four main practices that strongly support student success:
Unit plans that clearly state the learning targets and make sure that all students know what the learning targets are prior to and during unit instruction.
Rubrics for all summative assessments that clearly identify the standards and learning goals assessed and describe the different levels of proficiency. Students have access to all rubrics at the beginning of the unit so that they know what learning is expected and how it will be measured.
All assessments will be graded on a 4 point scale, as described on the rubric: Mastery (4), Proficient (3), Approaching Proficiency (2), and Not Proficient (1). This system provides accurate feedback to students on their level of proficiency on specific standards without adding the points game that can result from the traditional 100 point scale.
Students have the ability to retest on any assessment to show their new level of understanding. Students are also asked to demonstrate the effort that they have invested in learning the content prior to retesting.
Supporting documents:
https://www.ascd.org/books/grading-smarter-not-harder
On Assessments:
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-classroom-assessments-improve-learning
On Reassessment:
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/the-case-for-confidence
On Rubrics:
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/using-rubrics-to-promote-thinking-and-learning
On the 1-4 grading scale vs. 100 point scale
http://tguskey.com/wp-content/uploads/Grading-2-The-Case-Against-Percentage-Grades.pdf
Resources for Students and Parents
Resources for Students and Parents
About me
My name is Matt Rowland and I teach all of the technology electives and some science at Arden Middle School. I started teaching in 1999 after receiving my Bachelor's Degree and Teaching Credential from California State University, Sacramento. I started as an upper elementary teacher in the San Juan district. I taught 5th and 6th grade for 8 years, during which I went back to school and received my Master's degree in Educational Technology through CSUS' iMET (Internet Master's in Educational Technology) program and served as the Technology Coordinator for my school. In 2005 I was awarded a Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Grant to study in Japan and was subsequently awarded a Fulbright Memorial Fund Master Teacher designation. My Fulbright work focused on utilizing technology to work collaboratively with a Japanese Elementary School (Shiojiri Nishi Elementary) on environmental science projects.
In 2007 I started work as a Teacher on Special Assignment / Technology Coach for Title 1 elementary schools. My primary job was to make all of the technology at the sites easy for teachers to integrate into their teaching and coach teachers how best to utilize technology in their teaching. After working in that position for 4 years, this fabulous teaching position at Arden opened up.
Since 2011 I have worked as the Media, Computer Application, and Computer Science teacher. I LOVE my job and working with students to develop their new skills and knowledge in science and technology. One of my current passions is getting all school age students to experience Computational Thinking and Programming. I am currently an Affiliate with the non-profit Code.org, and work to teach other teachers how to incorporate programming into their teaching.
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