Mr. Joseph Riddle is more than just a history teacher.
His love for baseball, coffee, and being a chill guy is what he’s all about.
When Mr. Riddle was in high school, his love for teaching was influenced by his own history teacher. Mr. Riddle has been and continues to instill the history of our country in his students.
Riddle has been teaching at Granite Hills for six years and has been a teacher for 10 years, teaching subjects like History, Civics, Economics, and more. He previously taught at Seaside High School in Monterey for four years. Once COVID hit, he decided to move closer to home, and he became a teacher at Granite Hills.
“I decided I wanted to move back to somewhere close to home, and the Central Valley here is home to me,” Riddle said.
Just as much as Mr. Riddle loves teaching, he also enjoys learning. Mr. Riddle earned a scholarship to play baseball at Master’s University, where he also earned his undergraduate degree in history and his teaching credential. Riddle then gained his intern credential at Alliant International University.
Mr. Riddle was born and raised in Bakersfield and graduated from Centennial High School.
“I like Bakersfield,” he said. “I still live there, and it’s home to me, but just the Central Valley in general is home.”
In his free time, Riddle enjoys studying, drinking coffee, and playing semi-pro baseball. He spends time with friends getting coffee at a place called Dagney’s Coffee. He said he often spends time there catching up on grading and planning his next class agenda.
“My friends and I will go and just get coffee, or sometimes I’ll just go by myself, just to research history stuff, just to get school work done, to make sure I’m good to go for Monday,” Riddle said.
Riddle also often enjoys spending his free time on the baseball field after all of his teacher duties. He and his teammates often go to a hitting facility called D-BAT Bakersfield to get some practice in.
When you walk into Mr. Riddle’s classroom, you can definitely see what he likes and what he is a fan of. He has posters of American propaganda, an Atlanta Braves flag, and posters of The Lord of the Rings. He explains his interest in video games like Halo Infinite and Call of Duty.
“Yeah, so I definitely nerd out to Lord of the Rings stuff and, you know, I like video games like that too,” Riddle said.
One thing students might not know about Riddle is that he plays semi-pro Baseball for a team called the Bakersfield Train Robbers. For him, playing baseball is a summertime job and a hobby. Being a teacher allows summer breaks, giving him all the free time to play. He explains his love for the game of baseball and his fans who support the team.
“It kinda feels like you’re a big leaguer, you know, signing autographs for kids and everything,” Riddle said. “Like you feel like you’re a star in Bakersfield.”
Riddle has many influences in his life. His father was a police officer who worked for the Bakersfield Police Department for 30 years plus. Riddle says he and his dad have similar mannerisms and shared memories of his dad spending time with him. He remembers his dad pitching him baseballs or watching Atlanta Braves games with him.
“So I watched those games a bunch, and my favorite player from the Braves is Chipper Jones. That’s kind of what got me into baseball was watching them on TV,” Riddle said.
He also expressed his gratitude to his high school history teacher, Mr. Olejnik, for his love of history.
“He helped me see things from a different perspective by teaching these history lessons,” Riddle said. “I learned a lot in his class, so I want to do the same thing now for this new generation.”
Mr. Riddle talks about his love for teaching and the connections he makes with his students. Students in his class know he loves going on about history, but he also makes time to have a bit of fun. He creates Blookets based on the notes students take in class. This allows the students to learn, have fun, and compete all at the same time.
“Teaching is a very rewarding profession,” Riddle said. “Obviously, the relationships you have with students, good times with the students you’re around, playing the Blooket games, just a good time. That’s definitely why you do it.”
Granite Hills High School senior Marisol Zamarripa has been in Riddle’s class since her sophomore year.
“Mr. Riddle has always been nice; he’s very understanding,” she said. “Sophomore year, I would say, was pretty easy, and then junior year, I had him for a Porterville College class, and even when I would fall behind, he would encourage me to keep going. I ended up passing the class.”
Mr. Riddle offers some advice for his students.
“Always focus on being the best you can be, you know, by always putting in the best effort, putting in the best attitude,” he said.
