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#ROAR4KIDS
It’s Time to #ROAR4KIDS
Saying it plainly, “It’s Time to #ROAR4KIDS.”
The idea of focusing our energies on one prevailing idea, concept or thought has been with us for some time in recent blog years, and yet, I felt that I had, at this moment, an opportunity to not just identify one big idea to carry me through another year, but an entire decade!
I reflected on some of my previous #oneword commitments, #Resilience, #Transformation, #Perseverance, and realized that these pronouncements seemed to focus on me, not the people I seek to serve. While not a bad thing, I thought, maybe if I tweak my perspective just a bit, I could make my #oneword more meaningful to my work as an educator, superintendent, author, speaker, perspective challenger, advocate for our students.
As you know I had also been contemplating a bit of a personal push into the author arena, onto the speaking stage in a broader light to shine, and thought to myself, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great to have one concept that really got at the essence of what I am trying to accomplish.” Well, as it sometimes happens, my unconscious found an answer that had been escaping my awake cogitations about this. Yep, it came to me in a dream.
Born from an early winter’s dream “#ROAR4KIDS” entered my frontal lobe and has become this decade’s focus for me.
#ROAR4KIDS “Results through Opportunity and Access Via Resilience for Kids.”
Results:
Are we making a difference that matters? Are we seeing positive outcomes occur due to the decisions we make? Are answers we provide leading to improvement in the actual grow of our children? Are investments we push forward providing a return on that investment that is meaningful? Are the strategies we employ effective, being evaluated with objectivity, and demonstrating with confidence that they are the correct strategies? Is the instruction we are supporting, implementing, developing the most meaningful and relevant instruction that is actually targeted on improving specific issues, or at least in readying our children for new questions and skill sets that matter? Are the communities we are building asking the right questions that are focused on empowering our students become the leaders we need, or do we continue to focus on issues that are preparing students for a world that has passed them by? Are we developing leaders who are nuanced in focusing on the correct result for students and who are empowered to take the risks with passion to support these children to aspire to greater heights that we can imagine for them? Are we supporting real and authentic relationships for our children, and helping them recognize that they are all humans, who bleed, who care, who think, who love, who feel, who have goals, individuality, can accept, support each other, and build a society where their differences, much like the outside of a Number 2 pencil should not distinguish the amazing work that can be done by their internal lead.
Results are the outcomes of our work, and yet, in a number of cases, we miss-lead ourselves by thinking that we have worked hard, finished implementing something new, and that we have put the effort in, so we must be good people. Though far too often than not, we have not moved the needed, we have not improved the system, we have not found the results that our children desperately need.
I choose to challenge my thinking about results. I will strive to look deeper to see what actually changed based on my decisions, actions, goals, investments, answers, and commitments. I also plan to challenge the status quo thinking of our systems that frequently want to believe we have made good choices, but then don’t invest in the time to understand the actual consequences of our actions. Results do matter, yet, if we are too busy patting ourselves on the back for our efforts, without understanding our true impact, we are missing out on a lot of great feedback that could actually help us reach the goals we have set for those we are seeking to support.
Through Opportunities and Access:
Each of our students must be provided with the opportunities they deserve. It is a simple statement, yet far too often we continue to look at our educational institutions and their exists inequities, disparities, unbalanced opportunities that skew the lives of our children. While many would argue that of course things should be fair, and that equal opportunity should be apparent, and that no matter where you grow up you too have the same opportunities as everyone else in the community, this is not an accurate perspective of the realities for many of our children. The variance in their birth places, their homes, their family’s economic opportunities, educational opportunities, career opportunities all influence the academic realities that limit opportunities to students. We must work to ensure that our students are provided with opportunities to find more and more opportunities to discount the already imbalanced pursuits they face.
I believe that we must be the people to open doors, let widows fly open, break down walls, dig tunnels, provide supports to climb up and over hills, and dismantle any false obstacles that our society might create for these children. We must speak up on their behalf, use our voice to help them find theirs, and educate, educate, educate all of their family members so that we build a rolling tide of opportunity that becomes the new normal for all of our students who have not found their opportunity in the way things have always been.
To be clear, it’s not just having an opportunity that matters. It is in arriving at and having access to the end results that is meaningful. Students of all walks of life, and of all means, must be provided with the experiences, instruction, knowledge, technologies, thinking, and questioning that are meaningful, relevant, and create a new paradigm for our students to become. While our systems have allowed for more students of color, diversity, low-income, etc. to succeed than ever before we are not fulfilling the promise of every child, no matter what their history, to succeed. Our work is far from over!
Via Resilience:
I believe that resilience, much like good character of the heart, mind, and soul, can be assisted to develop through supportive, thoughtful, engaging, purposeful processes that impact one’s life. Further, I believe that through initiating and acting upon exceptional teaching practices and leadership development practices we, as a society, can have more of a positive impact to ready every heart, mind and soul we encounter for the adversities that will come their ways. While we cannot temper all adversities in such a manner that leaves no scars, we can work towards supporting the development and growth of resilience in each child, in our colleagues, our staff members, our families, and our broader society.
#ROAR4KIDS
“Results through Opportunities and Access via Resilience for Kids!”
Several simple words that are going to provide me with the frame for this decade. I hope you give yourself an opportunity to not just see this next year before you, and to make a bigger commitment to those in your world. You deserve it, they deserve it, and those that you aim to serve, surely deserve it.
Dr. Rob Martinez is the proud Superintendent of the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. He is well known as “Resiliency Guy.” He is currently authoring a new book with the Dave Burgess Consulting Group, speaks around the nation on topics of resilience development and leadership, and is available to help you on your journey through a number of avenues. Follow him on @Twitter @Facebook @Instagram as “Resiliency Guy.”
Heart, Mind, Soul & Actions, What’s Missing?
Today, in Saugus, California, another report of a student coming onto a high school campus, attacking with abandon, and succeeding in taking the lives of fellow students. It simply makes my heart grow cold, my thoughts swirl with fatigue, and my soul become heavy with the loss that families, friends, communities now must endure as we all seek to understand and determine how we can move forward. While many articles have been written, many thoughts and prayers have been shared, and oceans of tears have been wept, we still are collectively at a loss for true actions to impede these types of events from continuing to disrupt the true fabric of our schools. Today, I ask again, What’s missing? I truly need to know! Not just for the sake of my own children, family and friends, but for the 30,000 plus students that I care so deeply about each and every day. I’m absolutely interested in your feedback, solutions, and guidance, as we all need to be in on taking steps to protect all of our children!
What’s missing? A simple question, yet, one which I often feel we miss when we seek to solve problems of humanity. As a society we often seek to solve a problem from our personal or ingrained perspective. In the case of gun violence on our campuses I feel this re-occurring to a great extent.
Think about it, when we align with a group, we tend to generalize and seek to apply similar logic to the problems we face:
If we are politicians, we seek to legislate, rule, and govern, yet, with fear that we will lose popularity with those who align with us if we go against the perspective of their will.
If we are religious minded, we seek to pray for and send thoughts to those in need, seek to change others to our way of thinking, and we hope for change, while we often do not seek to address the other prevailing issues of the day that need changing through purposeful legislation, or remedies that are truly actionable for each member of our society.
If we are educators, we seek to teach, support and guide, care for, and yet we are corralled by the rules of the system, limited by fiscal resources, and told to do better. (Take up arms in classrooms to protect students? Really? Is this the answer, arming teachers on campuses? I think not.)
If we are first responders, we seek to protect, act, and ensure safety, at the risk of our own lives, and yet, we cannot be everywhere, protect everyone, and stop time to mitigate and solve problems that have yet to occur or that are well hidden from society, such as the case with mental illness.
I know I am generalizing on a grand scale, and thoughts and actions are not always aligned to certain ways by groups, and still, my point is, when we seek to solve a problem from our current perspective, we tend to come up with the same actions for many problems, rather than to build our perspective from a wider view first, and work towards attacking the current problem in a multi-faceted manner.
In the case of our children, who engage in heinous and anti-social acts, who are focused on the destruction of others, I ask again, “What’s missing? What are we not seeing? What must we do differently to curb these violent acts from being perpetuated on others? What’s missing?”
I think we all should be asking this question to help us understand the problems better, to identify what led students into this path of destruction, and how can we discover alternatives that we might be able to provide that could have derailed their focus before they got to this point of committing the unthinkable. I think this approach might help us to realize that there doesn’t exist just one answer, to the problem!
Unfortunately, I do believe this: The legislative body of politicians from both sides of the isle will never allow the masses to rid the world of guns!
Unfortunately: No matter how much we provide thoughts and prayers, while providing comfort to many, will not bring people back to life, nor heal all who may contemplating acting to harm others.
Unfortunately: We can’t just lock everyone up who we believe has some type of mental illness! Quite frankly, many of us are far too accusatory and we would fill up our prisons with anyone who is different from ourselves
I must say that the idea of arming educators to me is an insane idea. I do not believe that there is an appropriate way of arming teachers, having a security guards at the entrance to every school, or having a good kid, bad kid scanner that will buzz whenever someone is having negative thoughts. Simply put, turning schools into military zones will not protect everyone inside from the outside, or the broader community.
Many, smarter than I individuals, have said it, we must have a multi-faceted approach that seeks to support each person with finding balance within their heart, soul, mind, and actions. We must then work towards appropriate, sensible, logical, parameters to ensure, as best we can, that if a person’s heart, soul, mind and actions are not in balance, and if they are seeking to impact damage to others, that we have safeguards in place to help and stop them, and that we can rest assured that we have done everything we can do to protect them and others!
Some ideas:
Socio-Emotional Learning:
We must invest in a multi-pronged approach to provide services at all of our schools, through trained professionals, through our medical providers, and through our governmental agencies for individuals at all stages of their lives. With curriculum programs that focus on building positive and strong mental health development, we would then allow for our children to grow in peace, and to build their personal resilience skills, problem solving skills, and to develop an approach to life that is well-balanced. These types of services are needed throughout our lives. Thus, we should work to ensure that mental health services are provided through medical care providers to all, free of charge, and that everyone within our governmental agencies are trained in also providing levels of service that seek to guide, support, and assist with making healthy choices.
Hope, Inspiration and Goal Building:
There is a difference between providing mental health services to ensure that individuals are developing positive mental health strategies, and in building individuals who aspire to greatness, through a positive style of living, have internal hopes, dreams and goals, and who want to make our world better for themselves and others. Some might say that religion is the owner of this arena, yet, I would say that the ideas of supporting each person to have hope, be inspired, and to develop meaningful, relevant goals, can also be owned by individuals, our educational institutions, health organizations, and community and service-oriented groups. Yes, hope, inspiration and goal building can come from a variety of sources, and we must build opportunities for more positive to exist in our world than negative.
Legislation, Rules, and Governance:
If you are still with me, thanks! Here is the tricky part!
We must continue to build a new way of thinking that will create a tipping point in the mind of our collective bodies of legislators! It appears to me that many of them have solidified their beliefs that there are simply far too many people who have bought guns in the past, or who will buy guns in the future, who back the National Rifle Association (NRA), so strongly, that they can never rise up against them!
This must change! As a society we own the responsibility of helping them to see there is a different possibility, a new paradigm, a different perspective. We must help them see that they do not need to continue to be beholden to the NRA. They do not need to sustain their mis-beliefs that everyone feels the need to own a gun, and that somehow, these weapons of mass destruction that were created to cause ultimate death and destruction to enemies on the battlefield of our governments, must be allowed into the hands of our average citizens!
This must change! Real and complete background checks, limits on types of weapons, registration and review of licenses to continue to own weapons, safety training, and possibly even gun buy-back programs for destruction of weapons are some ideas. I am not fool hardy enough to believe that we can rid the world of guns, but for the love of God, we must have real limitations that seek to protect the masses, rather than to protect the rights of some, that are not truly rights listed in our constitution!
Safety:
School facility funding is far too low, and practically nonexistent from the federal level, and simply doesn’t meet the needs of a society that needs to protect its most valuable resources, our children. When each district in each state is left to its own to design and to pay for the design, development, construction, and safety of schools, there becomes another field of inequity for the children of our marginalized communities. If we truly believe that we must have consistent levels of security at each of our schools, such as: closed perimeters, access through a limited secure entry, guards on the outside of our schools monitoring the perimeters, safety locks to protect those inside at any moment, school-wide communication systems that can be used by many at the drop of a hat, then we need an enormous infusion of dollars to accomplish this! It is far too easy to say, we need these things, and then to leave the responsibility to local authorities to fund these ideas, with no new resources. Dear legislator, put your money where your mouth is, and invest in all of our schools to ensure the safety of all of our children!
This issue hits home!
Far too often we see these horrific scenes play out on our televisions, and far too often, we see the aftermath, the arm chair quarterbacking, and the retreat to old ways of thinking to protect our perspectives.
What I call for is a new way of solution building.
I ask that you ask, “What’s missing?” Take time to review, before jumping into a solution that is based in your current perspective, and seek new ideas, all ideas, to combat these types of heinous acts at all levels. Please, now is the time! If not, us, then who? If not now, then when? If not you, then who? We all must own this problem. If we do, then we have a better chance at working together to solve it!
Let’s take the lead of our children, who have had enough
#NeverAgain
Let’s work to let the life our children live be the measure of our success!
Dr. Rob Martinez is the Superintendent of the Mt. Diablo Unified School School District, and is well known as “ResiliencyGuy” Please follow in on @Twitter, @Instagram, and @Facebook as @ResiliencyGuy
What’s Missing? Can We Solve the Problem of Gun Violence in Schools?
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via What’s Missing? Can We Solve the Problem of Gun Violence in Schools?
A year, and a few months later, and here we are again! Students are risking and giving their lives to protect their classmates, and yet, millions of adults remain quiet, apparently powerless, and unmotivated to take the smart actions to ensure that guns never are able to get into the hands of our children; to take actions to ensure that each child is provided the positive mental health supports they need; and the political acumen to force our politicians from both sides of the isle to end the ridiculous stance of continuing to allow weaponry to be as easy to purchase as a pack of gum! #Enoughisenough #Simplyputnoguns
#Transformation My #OneWord for 2019
#Transformation – My #OneWord for 2019
My one word for 2019 is #Transformation, and here’s my thinking on why you should also consider this word on a deeper level as well.
Many times, people make resolutions as they start a New Year. They resolve to do something they don’t do at the present moment, or they resolve to become something they want to be, or they even decide to stop doing something they don’t like doing that they perceive as negative or unimpactful.
In many cases, people start out with great success on their resolutions. Then, they tend to lose interest, and or the old habits they have honed for years, that they had become so accustomed to, ease their way back into their daily lives, and they return to their pre-resolution behavior.
I chose #Transformation because I believe this word adds some ownership to the importance of the desired change that I hope to be part of in the coming year. I believe that to focus on #Transformation means that not only do I want to continue to grow, develop, build my skills as a human being, I want to become more. Yes, I want to become more than my purposeful change.
I want to become more involved in my world, more connected to others in my environment, more engaged with my surroundings, more of a positive impact on my world, and I want to have these changes be meaningful to me, and others in my world. I want my heart to be filled with love each day. I want my mind to be contemplative of a life and future of success. I want my soul to be calm with my choices. I want my actions to be recalled as being positive, correct, important, and successful.
Possibly, by doing so, not only can I positively enhance my personal thinking on issues, but I can truly impact others to think differently, gain perspective, see a better world that they want to create, and in some way transform their thinking, their feelings, their connectedness to the world, and ultimately their actions.
If I am successful whatsoever then my #Transformation is not, simply limited to myself but could positively impact our world. Now, my end goal is not to takeover other’s thoughts, as some fear that Artificial Intelligence (AI) might seek to do in the future, it is to help others use their talents, thoughts, intelligence, to consider their importance in the world, and act in a way that creates the positive impact they also want to make in their worlds.
I often think that people forget their importance, they tend to think in groups, whether they are on social media such as Facebook, or in group settings, and they forget that their individual thoughts matter, that they are truly the only ones in their mind, and that their ideas, just might be the ideas that can change the world!
Some might ask these questions:
Is it lofty to think that if I were able to create a positive impact on the world that it would be a good thing?
Is it self-indulgent to believe that if I focus, strive, and work towards helping others see the world as a place where positivity can create more positivity that my actions are a waste of time?
Is it self-involved to consider the possible positive impact that could occur on society if I were to be successful in getting just one other person to stop, think a little deeper, think twice as my father would say, and consider an alternative to meanness, violence, anger, hostility, self-doubt, frustration, depression, negativity, or ill thoughts directed at anyone?
Is it really that important that we teach children that it is their responsibility to be nice, be kind, be compassionate, be caring, be thoughtful, be intentional, be purposeful, be considerate, be conscious, be a part, be in the moment, be a positive actor in the world, and be themselves?
Well, I can deal with those who might ask these types of questions and even doubters who often think we should just believe what everyone is selling, especially, if one, at least one other person, says, “I’ll try. I’ll try to be more thoughtful, more contemplative, more connected, more of the person I want to be.”
The Point!
You see my friends, I believe that #Transformation happens on a deeper level.
I often write on issues of #Resilience, and I speak on the importance of the heart, mind, soul, and actions, and I believe that if you really want to transform that your focus must occur in each of these areas.
Your Heart: You must choose to focus on love, empathy and understanding that will connect you to others in your world. This could be family, friends, and or others who need you, or you actually might need them. We must connect with our hearts as humans.
Your Mind: You must use your thoughts, intelligence, and contemplative nature to see a positive future, the impacts of your decisions, the consequences of your ideas. Connect to others, your work, use your talents, and use the synergy from these connections to build a place where you and others can grow in peace.
Your Soul: On a deeper level you must have faith in something or someone. Faith in yourself, others, something that connects us to each other. Some believe in God, religion, or a structure of thoughts that helps them keeps moving us forward. I believe that it doesn’t have to be one way, or another, but to help yourself be a larger part of this world, I believe that it helps to believe in something.
Your Actions: This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where you are seen by the world. This is where what you do is acknowledged by others as who you are, so I say to you, make your actions count, make them meaningful, make them memorable, make them positive, own them, and enjoy them! Your actions become your book cover, your chapters, your paragraphs, your story, so make sure that they are written well!
Is this post deeper than you anticipated? Is it top level stuff, and your brain is seeking to go deeper? Are you thinking that I have completely lost it? Well, let me ease your thinking. Yes, it’s a little deep, yes, I want your brain to search for more answers, and no I have not completely lost it.
Basically, let your heart, mind, soul, and actions be your guide. And, work on building the information in each of these areas so that your guide is well-built, well-educated, has resources, and can help you be a better you!
#Transformation for 2019, my one word. What’s yours?
Dr. Rob Martinez, AKA “Resiliency Guy”
Dr. Rob Martinez, is a 32-year educator, and is becoming well known as “Resiliency Guy.” He focuses on building educational environments where children can grow and develop in peace, and often says, “Let the life we help others live be the measure of our success.”
He is available for #keynote addresses, educational consultation, life coaching, and recently authored and published, “The Story of Sparkle and Shine” as an Amazon Kindle E-Book.
He is currently authoring, “Lead with Resilience, in Your Heart, Mind, Soul and Actions.” And “Robbie the Resilient Caterpillar.”
#POWERFUL words, #POWERFUL choices, #POWERFUL actions! Find your words to become a #Learner, #Leader, #Lifer! So a year later I decided to walk through my #powerful word selection, and this is what I came up with today: #Positive #Outstanding #Warrior #Engaging #Resourceful #Fun #Unbelievable #Loving. So, several of my word are the same, and several have transformed, and that’s okay! -It is very important for each person to reflect on their personal power code, and then reflect on that code in order to empower themselves to take the actions that matter. Here’s hoping that you rethink your power, and live it to the fullest!
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Father’s Day Tribute
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I wrote this piece two years ago, and my father was still here with me. I simply have a hard time realizing that he is gone from this world, and yet, I know that he is at peace. As I shared in this piece, I know that through the trials and tribulations that occurred over my life, and during the times that I shared many of those with him, he was teaching me. I didn’t always know it at the time, yet, he was guiding me, and steadying me for some future challenge that would call for #Resilience. Each of us go through our days wondering if we are going to make it, and I think that the most #Resilient of us actually are more prepared to encounter the next great unknown, often due to the challenges we faced as children, young adults, and/or due to an event that might have just happened. I have initiated a few books over the last couple of months, and the ideas are flowing in my mind, yet, are not all down on paper, and yet, I can hear my father’s voice telling me to keep going, to keep striving for success, and to never give up!
The children’s book is focused on building a Recipe for Resilience, the book on leadership will more than likely be titled, “Lead with Resilience, for your heart, mind, and soul” and the more in-depth book focusing on my ideas about the overall importance on #Resilience will help individuals learn about issues of #Resilience through stories of my life, those in my family, then will take readers on a personal journey of their own resilience, which I hope will lead them to an understanding that each of us can impact the resilience development of others.
I share this with you because, I bring it back to my father, and to my mother, who passed away so many years ago. Both of them have an indelible impact on my life, and one that I hope to convey to you through these books, and my spoken words.
Simply put, I hope to help others with building their #Resilience, and support each of you in becoming an individual who recognizes that sometimes the simplest of acts can make the greatest change in a person’s life.
I plan to keep blogging as well, and to share my progress with you all.
Ask Yourself, Who Am I?
We all tend to move so fast through our lives, both professional and personal, and often I see individuals lose sight of themselves due to the perceptions of others. On the professional side it could be those with whom we work, or those that we lead, and unfortunately, the perception is sometimes developed from those that disdain us for doing the things that are right on behalf of those we serve.
It is during these times that we must stop, and take pulse of ourselves. We must, stop, and reflect. We must stop, and ask ourselves, “Who we are?” It is an exercise that when done with frequency can help you to develop that internal strong perspective that can guide you through any challenges that may present themselves to you. Here’s my example of a quick reflective piece of writing that I actually penned over five years ago:
Who am I?
I believe that public education is a moral imperative that cannot be achieved without conscious, purposeful, thoughtful actions by many with focus on our children.
I believe that by striving to build relationships that are built on trust, accountability and care, we, as educators, can lead by demonstrating collaborative efforts, teamwork, and passion to provide the best for students.
I believe that through building and seeking to understanding perspectives and differences we further broaden our grasp of the issues and are better positioned to seek solutions to issues and concerns. When we seek to understand cultural competence, and the appreciate the unique differences in our children and their families, we are more emboldened to work on their behalf to provide access and equity so that they may grow and develop in peace.
I believe that that through hard work, we can bring about change that matters for children, their families, and the greater good within our communities.
I believe that through practices that share knowledge, teaching skills and targeted strategies, and through examination of our practices, without fear of losing ourselves in change we can build a broader, more sustainable foundation for all educators upon which to reach our goals, and support students in reaching theirs.
I believe that when wrongs are occurring in our systems, no matter who is committing the wrongs, they must be addressed. When we allow inappropriate actions to go unnoticed we are complicit in allowing these behaviors to become the norm, which can destroy the foundation we are trying to build.
I believe that we each own a responsibility to work on providing for our children, and that to use them as leverage to get our way is an action lacking in integrity.
I believe that when caring, compassionate adults purposefully work together, we can improve opportunities for all children. I believe that if we consistently work together then we are better able to provide educational environments that are engaging, positive, thoughtful, and supportive of children, their families, and our greater community.
When students are held to high standards, are supported to tap into their latent resiliency that is ever present, we, as educators, can say that we are creating educational environments where Transformational Resiliency occurs!
Settling is not an option!
Advancing mediocrity is not an option!
Acting in incompatible means to accomplish these goals is not an option!
First believe, then act, then believe again!
Summary:
Again, I wrote this over five years ago, and I like to think that no matter what comes, if I know who I am, and I work to align my actions, thought and deeds to this, I am on the right path. Sure, I make mistakes, and of course sometimes feel the pressure to see myself the way some naysayers might, yet, through practice, and resolve, I reflect one more time.
So, I ask you, one more time, “Who are you?”
Dr. Rob Martinez, AKA “Resiliency Guy” is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District. He speaks on issues of #Resilience development, #innovation and changing school systems to focus on each child as a unique being. Follow him on @twitter and instagram as @ResiliencyGuy.
What’s Missing? Can We Solve the Problem of Gun Violence in Schools?
Heart, Soul, Mind and Body
Recipes For Resilience 