I supposed an explanation and/or official announcement was in order so here goes. After over two years of running multiple blogs I have made the informed decision to combine them all in one. My guess is it will save me many hours a week from running blog to blog trying to maintain all those “personas” as-it-were. I don’t yet know if it will cost me significantly. I will say that the adsense numbers have dropped a lot but they may rise again.

If you were a reader of Postcards from the Funny Farm – Bless you! Please continue to read this blog. I will be featuring the same sort of psychology and self imporvement articles here at least once a week in the Psychology category.

If you read Dynamite Lesson Plan, I have redirected the old posts here and imported those posts here as well so eventually this will be their “Google” archived home. I am committed to writing a “teaching” category post once a week.

I appreciate your support. I will continue to write the same categories on this blog I used to from online diary to Blogging A to Z and updates of my music. Thanks for following my work.

A small safari this week that represents some huge talent and entertaining material. From a set of photos that tempt one to hire some cross country movers to some truly positive energy and thoughts from Jim Carrey.

The Rumors are True: Here’s the Book – from Beyond the Rhetoric. Michael Kwan gives us his impressions of John Chow’s newest book on blogging. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention … Michael is co-author of the book.

Jim Carrey on Thoughts and Intentions – from Buzzing with Ange Enlightens us with an incredible interview with Jim Carrey and his discovery and understanding of Eckhart Tolle.

Yes, More Birds! – from Tyler Ingram. In his usually impressive manner, Tyler assembles a set of amazing photos.

Quote of the Day – from Everyday Gyaan. A great quote on how God understands all sizes and shapes of perspective.

Super Bowl Rundown – from Pop Culture Dish. Malcolm does a great job showing some youtube commercials from the sporting event. Last I heard they were running at 1 million a minute but a friend corrected me with this info:

“$2.5 million and $2.8 million for a 30-second spot.”

wowza!

The best in this post is his embed of the Who Halftime Show.

I have One of the Most Supportive Wives in the World – from It Might be Love. Chelle once again hosted one of my articles on her blog. It’s a great place to learn and laugh about love.

How were your classroom behavior management strategies last year? Be honest. If you are like me, the results are mixed. They were good because you kept the stuff that worked for years and applied it and got rid of the stuff that didn’t. Unfortunately they were also bad because situations you didn’t think about arose and created problems in your classroom management. Well, right here, right now is the time we should be examining all that in preparation for a new year. There are many things I have learned through the years that work for classroom management. I believe that effective classroom management techniques must start with a dynamite lesson plan.

So, before we even talk about behavior, we have to spend time in a straight-backed chair (or the equivalent thereof) completely focused on crafting the best lessons we can. The lessons should explicitly teach and solicit responses from all the kids. If we aren’t doing this, that is our glaring error we will never overcome.

If we have done this, then our kids should behave rather well. Most kids want to engage, many have been taught there is nothing to engage with. You need to be the teacher who re-awakens that natural wonder. It’s kind of like a dare: are you up for it? I triple dog dare you ;) Okay, now that the obvious elephant in the room has been identified, let’s get to those three techniques:

1. Effective classroom rules – These are usually a “given” but I want to revisit them.  These rules can get you out of many binds.  The lack thereof can also get the entire class is a mess that’s hard to escape.  The word on these is simple: Make concise, relevant rules that number no more than 7.  I have had discussions with teachers about how they want more rules.  This defeats the purpose of rules in my opinion.  If the rules on the wall become impossible to follow, or retain for that matter, they will be ignored.  In my class, I never go above 5 rules.  My only guideline in creating these is that every possible scenario can be linked  to one of them.
2. Classroom management intervention – You should have a system in place that protects the “good kids” who are obeying and trying to learn.  Before they happen, you should have a system that quickly diffuses the “rule breaker” and returns the focus on instruction.  There are many ways to do this and I am sure you know them.  Many times I forget this tip and there is a lot of raucous before Christmas.  The truth is, it doesn’t have to be this way with some pre-planned intervention.
3. Assertive discipline classroom management – This is Lee Canter’s method and I subscribe to it 100%.  Apart from my feelings about the lesson plan coming first, he has some amazing ideas that started in the 70’s in an authoritative style and have developed into a more democratic style.  The word I like best is “assertive.”  An assertive teacher addresses situations and works through them to her/his advantage.

Okay, so there you have it.  Those are my 3 tips for you.  We all hope we will get a perfect class every year and it’s no wonder we’re frazzled by Halloween!  You can declare power over your year and when you do you will see that we have been entrusted with one of the most valuable jobs on Earth: teaching kids.

When I was a kid, my parents were really into Christmas. They would take us caroling, and sometimes they would have a “play” in the garage where the kids would dress up as the Bible characters (and animals) in the birth of Jesus scene. My dad would read the scripture and we as kids would smile big as neighbors and family snapped polaroids of us. I think it’s important now as a man that I recognize the amazing worth that tradition help. It was so much more than a garage floor that lay under our fun. It was a stage of the Holy Spirit teaching us all in out own way that this day was special and not just a holiday where we got presents. One day I would like to try this. I don;t know how many neighbors would stop by, we barely even get any trick or treaters. I am sure I can come up with something similar to have the same effect on my kids.

As you likely know, each year the schools in k12 education are assessed for effectiveness through multiple measures. The popular assessment litmus test is called the “standards test.”  I just got my scores back for my class last year and I’d like to discuss them with you. This test is both hated and revered by teachers all across America. When it is given it’s the one time we as classroom teachers are not as “in control” as usual, or as we would like. The students bubble in answer documents and we stand to the side for a week until the tests are shipped up to Sacramento, in my case here in California, or to the respective capital office of each state.

Then the waiting begins.

There are around 185 teaching days in a k12 education year.  The standardized test is given in late April so the teaching days before the test are about 3/4 of that.  Teachers are expected to produce results.  Students are classified into 5 levels based on their percentages, they are roughly this:

90-100% Advanced
75-89%    Proficient
—–
50-74%    Basic
25-49%     Below Basic
0-24%       Far Below Basic

Proficient and Advanced are considered “passing” by the state.  Everything below is unacceptable under the “No Child Left Behind” act.  Schools work all year to get as many passing as possible and they also get points for improvement.  These points are called “API,” Academic Performance Index.  An acceptable performance score for a school is 800 API or above.  With that in mind you might want to see the history of my school, Westside Park, on Wikipedia. We’ve come a long way and it’s been a fun ride.

Today I was able to access my scores and they were quite good.  Overall I am pleased and encouraged that what I have been preaching REALLY WORKS.  EDI as part of an engaging, “dynamite” lesson plan will show results on the standards test.  I’m looking forward to dispensing with the shyness and delivering solid posts here about what has worked and what I am experimenting with this coming year.  I hope you’ll be along on the ride. My topics will include standardized testing and much more beyond that.  I truly believe I have much to offer that can raise your standardized testing scores.  Like my song goes I wrote for my kids about 8 years ago:

English and math are calling your name
Get on board, get on board the standards train!

Moments like this must be written down for when those inevitable valleys come, they bring a teacher strength.

Like a cowboy riding all night in the rain and sleeping on rocks, so a blogger must be tough. You’ve got to do a lot more than just write as a blogger. You have to be researching the marketplace all the time because it’s always changing. One way to do this is my keeping an updated blogroll and doing your “rounds” of reading those blogs on a regular basis.

So has the cowboy image got you thinking of equestrian apparel yet? It’s not a joke, bloggers really do have a tough road. If you blog as a journal, your job is a lot easier. You write only for yourself and don’t have to consider “the big picture” and how each post fits into it. Most bloggers do it for some sort of return, and those bloggers must be tough.

Ever had a transmission go out on your car and tried to fix it yourself? This is akin to a database going bad or a theme breaking. As a blogger you don’t have the money (usually) to hire the Geek Squad to come out and fix your problem.

Then, there is the issue of writing. Blogging takes your wit and candor and time. For these reasons, I would hope to discourage those who think blogging is easy money. At the same time, I wrote this to encourage those fellow bloggers out there “in the trenches.” You can do it! Don’t lose heart.

Charlie Ray and Linda were kind enough to ask me to play after them tonight at the Grind in Apple Valley. I played for about 20 minutes since my kids were there and running through the place. Truth is, Sarah was great about it and brought them outside but I didn’t want to put her and them at too much of an inconvenience.

I sort of envisioned it as a “covers” night since it was my first time playing there. Many great singer/songwriter song-lists were taped on my guitar but some highlights were: The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Jackson Browne and I got to play lead guitar in a “trio” of the Song Charlie and I wrote together: “Land of the Living.” His musical cohort Linda has spot on harmonies in that song. I really apprecited talking to Sierra Donovan, Charlie’s wife after the show. She is also a Jackson Browne fan and a fellow writer/blogger. Sarah and I hope to see more of them in 2010.

Here’s a link to the venue.  Charlie Ray and Linda have played professional country there for 2 years paying tribute to the classics as well as some modern stuff. Whenever they play live, I warmly encourage you to head out and catch their show. There is a pretty good possibility I will be playing the Grind again soon for a 90 minute set so stay tuned! Thank you to Charlie and Linda for recommending me and getting me the contact. Below is a map and a phone number to the Grind where I hope to show up once in a while.

Map and phone number to the Grind copied from Google

You can hear my tunes and get info about my upcoming shows at Damien Riley Tunes on Myspace

Something rather funny happened to me one day at work as a teacher. We were having PE and kicking the ball around while we walked/ran laps. Since I’ve been reading lately about the terrible childhood obesity levels, I’ve been trying to work some physical activity into each day. Anyway, as we were walking, there came up a dead bird in our path. The girls screamed but the boys saw it as the best of the best of all toys.

Using unorthodox tactics, as I am sometimes wont to do, I told the boys they could see the dead bird if they each ran two laps and the girls could stop running after the same. How’s that for teaching incentive?

I’ve written about a countdown for the kids and their test quite a bit in the past. Since my current countdown is at “56 days to the test” I wanted to write on it again. It may be valuable to you in your major goals.

If you haven’t seen Morgan Freeman in “Lean on Me” you need to rush out today and rent it or click on Netflix. It has a countdown in it to a Standards test for a low income/low performing high school.

While I am proud to say that our school for some time now is no longer considered “low performing,” the test is still all powerful. For this aside/announcement to my colleagues and friends, I will simply say that I know having a countdown so everyone is on the same page moving toward a goal is an amazing way to produce awareness and results for a task or goal.

How many days to the test?

Do you have something in your life/work/family you should make a countdown for?

In the past years I have lost my grandfather and I’ve seen some friends lose spouses and other relations: it’s been rough. I know many people reading this can relate with the death of a loved one. I remember my grandfather, and these other people as so vibrant, so a part of life. Now that they are gone it is sobering to realize that I will never see them again. It has gotten me to thinking about what really matters in life.

There are accolades at my work to strive for if one chooses to. You can do what it takes and get a small plaque presented to you … etc. Or, you can think about those who have gone ahead of you and what they have left behind that matters. In the entrance to our auditorium at the school where I teach there is a photo case. In that photo-case is a montage picture of the teachers when the school opened in 1985. I was 15 at the time. The teachers in the picture have retro 80’s shirts and most the men have beards. The pattern on the clothes are the kind you just don’t see nowadays. It was a different time but the teachers them were flesh and blood as I am now with my staff. Losing my grandfather got me thinking more about what I will leave behind by way of legacy and less about what I can get out of life while I’m alive. For example, I love my wife so much. It would be great if I could leave a hope chest with all sorts of well-chosen gifts for her.

Leaving something behind is my biggest concern. I’ll admit, while writing blog posts I think about how my kids will one day read them. I think about whether to include all my rants when I don’t see as they will offer them any help in life. I think this is a good filter. This mindset also filters out the drama of my work. When I am only concerned with making a contribution, the gossip lines fade in order of importance. I want to leave behind a model of passion for teaching, for blogging, for guitar and piano and the appreciation of many kinds of music. I want people to be encouraged by what I have done and believe they can do even better. When I think of how animated and gregarious my Grandpa was in his 85 years, I get inspired to live fully. If I can encourage even one other person to do that, then I will feel my life was success. That kind of influence is what I hope to leave behind. If you could leave behind just 3 things, what would they be? Here are mine:

1. My best life lessons in a journal (written not online).

2. Lessons of my favorite recipes – Pizza and enchiladas.

3. Guitar lessons to as many people as possible.