My thought on this post was to go every 10 years in my life talking about highights.  As you will see, I end up getting sidetracked on certain important dates and end up somewhere in time . . .  Forgive my ramblings . . . this one is a diary entry in the truest sense of the word!

I was born in 1969. People called it the summer of love. The Beatles had or were about to be broken up and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Ten years later Star Wars has blown away box office records for two years running. It was a lifestyle for 10 year olds like me. I had every “series” of Stars Wars card extant. I can still taste the gum that came in the wax paper wrapping. Atari held the place of the wii. Jimmy Carter was president around that time and he had problem with hostages in Iran. He tried a rescue and the helicopter crashed and the rescuers died. It was a global humiliation for his Presidency, but I like him still. Ten years after that in 1989 I was 2 years out of high school: “young and red” as the South is wont to say. I used to listen to REM CD’s in a jaded Pizza Hut delivery unit where I started learning Spanish from the cooks and drivers. I was what they call a “Shift Manager.” I made $9.25/hour, worked 40 hours a week and lived with my parents. I started going to church to get a girlfriend and I ended up finding God. I went forward at a Harvest Crusade in 1992. The wife was still on hold. Ten years later in 2002 I’d been a teacher for 3 years and a full Restaurant manager for 2. I made 70k as a Pizza Hut manager and 30 as a teacher. the difference was, as a Pizza Hut manager I never had a day off. I was starting to go looney after the open/close shifts and insane turnover of lazy employees. I decided to throw my hat back in the ring as a teacher . . . I missed being called “Mr. Riley.” I was hired in August of 2002 by a High Desert school district as a 5th grade teacher. I relocated from the san Clemente beach area I grew up in to this small dusty cowboy town where that Roy Rogers museum was on the way to Las Vegas. I met my wife through Yahoo! Personals and now we go to church with our whole family (1 boy, 2 girls).

What will the future hold?

Ten years from 2002 will be 2012. I imagine my computer then will do things we haven’t even imagined yet. I imagine my school will be scoring close to 100% proficient on the California Standards Test. Terrorism will be ameliorated. I’ll be teaching college classes at night to budding new teachers. My wife will be teaching too and our income will benefit!

Ten years from 2012 will be 2022, I’ll be 52. Computers will be controlled by our eyebrows . . . no more keyboards. I’ll be looking back on these days when I was 38 with reverie, seeing myself as “so young then.” I’ll be investing and focused on retirement. I’ll be planning for my kids’ college and having those serious talks with them . . . many as they may or may not be.

Ten years from then will be 2032, I’ll be 62. Retirement will be on my mind often. I’ll probably be criticizing young and green teachers coming through the gate loaded for bear with no experience (like the oldies did with me!) I imagine my health will be moderate.

Ten years from then I’ll be 72, 2042. I hope I’m the hugging type of grandpa that reads stories to his grandkids in a big comfy chair! My eyes and hands may not be able to use the computer anymore. I’m not sure about my eyebrows! If I make it to this point, I am sure computers will do more than is even possible to comprehend right now. I wonder if there’ll still be blogs?

I don’t think my natural life will extend much further than 2045 or so. If it does, I’ll be thanking God every day! Otherwise, I’m gonna use this gift of life I’ve been given to “do my thing.” Thank God I found my thing . . . thank God for these short years on Earth, I know what it is!

Most women will tell you that men aren’t as social as they are. Depending on the women you are talking about, that may be true. We are hunters and gatherers so-to-speak. Perhaps that accounts for some negative men health issues. Any book or product on men’s issues will cater to our hunter, loner mentality. It can make finding and keeping friends difficult. We find satisfaction in bringing home a paycheck and giving vacations like the finest hotels new orleans has to offer. When we get to be in a family event like a wedding, as husbands we scope out the closest tux place and expect our wives to get their dress etc. together even if it involves them going, on their own, to several stores in town. There may be some variations but for the most part, based on my experience and the men I have known in my life, these stereotypical images are well founded. One of the most difficult parts of being a man is the art and science of interacting with male friends. Our gifts, or curses depending on how you look at them, often make it very hard to find friendship.

Now as I write in this topic, let me preface that I am not talking about gay relationships. I am not qualified to write about those. On the other hand, I am talking about making and keeping platonic friends from age 25 and up. This is very tricky and tough to do. I have valued friendships since then and have had minimal luck keeping strong ones alive. You get married, you get preoccupied with your job, your hobbies etc. It is very hard to juggle friendships with guys you know. This is a real shame because we really need these friendships. While I value and love my time with my wife, I sometimes want to just chat with a guy friend about guitar, or blogging, or money management. It is invaluable to have a friend you can tell about stuff like this.

I have my suspicions about why it is harder for men to interact as friends than it is for women. What do you think on this topic?

Life is so complicated. From paying the bills to making the grade at work we are constantly judged by ourselves and others. In this world it is helpful to break all your stress down into smaller, bite-sized chunks. I find it useful to categorize my “do-list” into three categories. For my blogs that make money, I use the CAN acronym standing for “Circulation, Analytics, and Net.”

This has proven extremely effective in reducing stress and keeping me focused. At my teaching job, I have broken down my weekly tasks into another acronym: MAP, “Measure, Assemble, and Plan.” It’s acronyms like this that can turn great ideas and locations into franchise opportunities, even in a public school classroom! Remember you are inspiring the future and that’s an awesome opportunity. What is causing you stress today? Why not get a yellow pad out and create three columns. You’re the expert, the only limitation is in your mind.

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