Uncategorized

#STRIVE To Foster Resilience In Our Children

Posted on Updated on

In these times of unrest, turmoil, and struggle, our brains might consider that the work we do as educators is too difficult, too exhausting, possibly unfulfilling, and/or that we simply can’t meet the needs and expectations of everyone who has an opinion about education. Well, rest assured that there is hope, there is a way, there is light that will brighten the next day, and there is you. You, the one with an unwavering passion to do what is best for the children you aim to serve. I know it, I believe it, and I want to foster that passion in you.
I simply ask that as you get up each morning, as you contemplate the next child you will encounter, be it your own, or the child of another, and that you #STRIVE to foster resilience in that child. “What does this mean?”, you might ask. Well, it’s a pretty simple acronym for approaching your work! #STRIVE “#Serve, #Teach, #Relate, #Inspire, #Value, and #Engage. Let me explain, just a bit more:

#STRIVE

When we #STRIVE to foster resilience in this manner we take control of the things we can control. We focus our energies on improving ourselves, and allow our hope, our light, our energy to seize the day. We target and use strategies that will build resilience in children, and align our thinking with the needs that are presented for us. Simply #STRIVE and you will get and keep your groove. Simply #STRIVE and you will re-ignite the passion that for your work, which is your life, which is where your hope evolves. Simply #STRIVE and success will come to you.

#SERVE

#Serve:  Focus on and commit to provide and deliver service to all stakeholders that are part of your community, especially students, their families, the community that they live in, and any and all collaborators that are part of your system of support. As we deliver this service to others quite frankly the gains in our hearts, our minds, and our souls are priceless to our existence.

#TEACH

#Teach:  Teach what is needed by your children/students. Target Social Emotional Learning and compassion and understanding of others. Teach them to think critically, to use resources and technology, to stretch theirs, their friends, their group’s thinking. Teach them to communicate, to collaborate and be a colleague, and to accept differences of opinion and perspective.

#Relate

#Relate: Connect to them through Relationships, Resilience, Responsibility, Resources, Relevance, Resolve, and allow your relationship with them to resonate to have meaning, to propel their desire to connect with others so that they can add meaning to their lives. When people connect by way of mind, thoughts, feelings, souls, and yes, even physically, the human experience becomes much more powerful and meaningful. By being people first, then student and teacher, parent and child, the relationship becomes all the more important to both parties.

#Inspire

#Inspire: We often diminish the impact we might have on people, yet, when asked to think of someone who inspired you, you more than likely would think of a teacher, a parent, yes, another human. So, consider how you might inspire each person you connect with to advance their skills, talents, for the benefit of themselves and their community. As an educator I suggest using innovative approaches to do it. Use thought-expanding, creative, inclusive lessons, and engagement strategies to connect with and expand upon student’s ideas, ingenuity, thoughts, interests, and motivation. you do have the power, you are human, and you can inspire others!

#VALUE

#Value: I think Michelle Obama said it best, “Value everyone’s contribution, and treat everyone with respect.” When you demonstrate and respond to the value that each person brings to our world with due respect for their differences and personal perspective you provide a safe place for them to grow. By valuing the differences that inherent in each person, and by accepting the unique offerings of each person, without judgement, you further demonstrate that you don’t measure someone’s worth by your values, and that you simply value them. By demonstrating that we value each person, we teach that valuing each person is an abundantly better strategy to our children than devaluing people.

#ENGAGE

#Engage: Take steps to understand the interest, motivation, needs and desires of the children that are in your world. Build your skills to inclusively connect to each person that should be part of your learning community, and bring them into the fold into order to demonstrate your passion and commitment to each person within your community! When we have one, ten, twenty, or more individuals engaged in thought, activity, creative efforts, whatever, not only do we build the skills of each, we provide opportunities for synergy to occur. Breakthroughs do not usually occur in a vacuum, they often occur when ideas are colliding, when exponential growth is allowed to exist, when energies are high, and risks are occurring in a safe zone. Be engaging!

Commit to #STRIVE

My dear colleagues, as I conclude this blog post I ask that you #STRIVE to foster resilience. I ask that you commit to yourself and your development as much as you commit to your children/students. I ask that you #Serve, #Teach, #Relate, #Inspire, #Value, and #Engage the children/students in your life, because you and they are more than worth it!
inspire
Dr. Robert A. Martinez, “Dr. Rob” is known far and wide as @ResiliencyGuy on #Twitter and #Periscope. He is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, and has focused on #Resilience development for a number of years. He seeks to build an understanding of #TransformationalResilience and how each educator and parent has an important role to fill in the development of children.
You can follow him on linked in as “Robert Martinez, Ed.D.” on twitter as @ResiliencyGuy on Facebook as @ResiliencyGuy and on his blog resiliencyguy.wordpress.com

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

#Resilience Reflection – Each Moment An Opportunity to #Inspire

Posted on

As we enter into December 2016, I ask you to #SPARKLE “Share Positive Actions Reflecting Kind Loving Encounters.” If we are share the #SPARKLE that we find in the world we can brighten the world!

ResiliencyGuy's avatarRecipes For Resilience


As many of you might be aware I focus a lot on the issue of #resilience development, its importance as a personal skill for all, as an essential asset for our students, and as a trait that can be nurtured in each of us.

Well, I heard a story of a student at one of the elementary schools in my district, who, a few days ago was identified by a teacher as simply sitting alone during the day, when he should have been in class engaged in a learning opportunity. She explained that this boy appeared to be seemingly lost in personal thought, and possibly in need of a friendly smile or kind interaction. The teacher sharing this story with me said that she was drawn to this young boy to check on his welfare.
She shared that once she said “Hi” to him, he seemed to be generally fine…

View original post 721 more words

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

Seeking Balance, and Allowing Resilience to Lead You Forward

Posted on

When stress and anxiety are provided a window of opportunity into your heart, mind, soul and body, they quickly focusing on creating imbalance in your world in order to be able to invite their close friends depression, anger and frustration to the party. Seeking to find and keep your balance, and allowing your resilience to support you in moving forward, are ways to limit these windows of opportunity that tend to pull us even farther off the balance we seek.

Is there a sure-fire way to avoid stress, anxiety and their friends from attempting to tilt you over? Of course not, and yet, if you take action on several or all of these steps to build your resilience skills you will be better able to walk tall, keep your alignment more steady, and ward off these mental beasts that seek to tear you down.
A few simple excercises to stay in balance:
-Be thankful: Yes, be aware of what has been provided to you, what you have access to, and that you can use to take care of yourself. Be it food, shelter, clothes, or even crumbs, consider that you have something. If you have family, loved ones, a job, a place to call home, a place to visit, you have something to be thankful for, and 
-Be kind: Taking a moment or two to provide an act of kindness, to care for someone else, or to provide something to someone that needs a pick-me-up.
-Be active: By getting your body going (walk, jog, run, ride, bend, stretch…) you inform each and every cell of your body that you are alive. You let your whole system know that this life must be lived, that you want to be part, and that you are readying yourself for your next great adventure.
–Be present: If you work, be at work, and take care of the things that work calls for without allowing yourself to be engaged in, for lack of a better word, “DRAMA” that pulls you away from your work. If you are at home, be at home, be there for those that need and depend on you, yes, that is your life, these are the people you love, and they deserve the very best of you each opportunity you have to be with them. By being present, you remain an active part of your life, their lives, and show them the way to engage, stay in control, remain calm, fight your way through, and to be ready for a new day! 
–Build your skills: Personal, professional, creative, or even athletic skills must be targeted and focused on. If you recognize you should, and want to improve in a given area, you must put in the work to advance your skills. If it’s by becoming a better person, well, maybe you start by reading a little blog such as this, or it’s by taking a class, or it’s just by having a conversation with someone you know. If it’s professional, again, focus on the area of need, target that specific skill set you have identified, and get yourself going. If you want to develop a new part of yourself, there are literally millions of ways to “Google” it, and then take action. It is your life, you are the lead of your own show, and you can modify the script as you see fit.
BOLD CRAZY SENTENCE: You, are only the you, you believe yourself to be, and if you want to be a new you, well then identify a path, take a step towards your journey, and seek to become the new you you long for!
Here’s hoping that you each find your balance, that you seek to engage in being: thankful, kind, active, present, and that you build your skills accordingly. While I can’t guarantee that the stress and anxiety won’t be able to find you if you engage in these behaviors I can tell you with assurance that you will have more skills at hand in your resilience tool kit if you do, and that you will be more able to right yourself should you feel yourself tilting one way or another.
So, with that, Happy Thanksgiving to each and everyone, and I do hope that you reflect and plan on bringing the best you to each and every day. Remember, some of the best days of your life may have not happened yet.

 
Dr. Martinez is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District and is also known as @ResiliencyGuy on @twitter. He can be found on Facebook at “Resiliency Guy” and is Co-Moderator of #Resiliencechat that occurs each Monday, at 7:00 PST on @Twitter 

This entry was posted in Education, Inspirational, Love and Emotion, Resilience, TransformationalResilience, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , .

#Resilience Reflection – Each Moment An Opportunity to #Inspire

Posted on


As many of you might be aware I focus a lot on the issue of #resilience development, its importance as a personal skill for all, as an essential asset for our students, and as a trait that can be nurtured in each of us. 

 

Well, I heard a story of a student at one of the elementary schools in my district, who, a few days ago was identified by a teacher as simply sitting alone during the day, when he should have been in class engaged in a learning opportunity. She explained that this boy appeared to be  seemingly lost in personal thought, and possibly in need of a friendly smile or kind interaction. The teacher sharing this story with me said that she was drawn to this young boy to check on his welfare. 
She shared that once she said “Hi” to him, he seemed to be generally fine, and though indeed, he was lost in thought, he came around after this brief interaction. He re-entered the learning environment, and this simple action changed the direction of his day. He readily accepted the friendly gesture, re-engaged in the lesson at hand, and enjoyed the remainder of his school day.

 

You might ask, what’s so special about that? Well, in my work as a school psychologist, as site administrator, and even as an administrator in Human Resources, I often try to focus on the little things that might go unnoticed in our day-to-day activities with children and with each other, and I seek to positively impact those little things to make a stronger impact on the big things. 
What I noticed about this simple story was that the teacher telling me this story took notice. She noticed a boy, seeming lost to his thoughts when he should have been engaged in his class and learning opportunity. She noticed that he needed a kind, reassuring, guiding voice, to re-engage him in his learning environment, and she took action, and he responded. She noticed that a child, a human being, had removed himself from his opportunity to learn, place where he could advance his knowledge, participate with his peers, and have an opportunity to change his life, and she knew that she needed to make a difference for him. She didn’t wait for him to care before interceding, she took action!
 

Let me return to the story for a moment. At the end of that day, the boy was participating in class, connecting with other students, and even hugged this teacher prior to leaving for the day. A simple interaction by a teacher brought about a significant change to a situation where a student had removed himself from his learning environment. Indeed, this story could have gone so differently. If the teacher might have judged this child, took his detachment personally, or felt that some form of punishment was needed to “get his attention” this situation could have been escalated quickly, could have deteriorated this boy’s thoughts about education, and possibly confirmed for him that people don’t care. Again, it could have gone badly.

 

A few days ago I went by the school to meet this young man. I talked to him about his #resilience. I asked him about the other day, and he remembered. I shared with him that I thought that he had the power to make positive choices each day, and that he truly demonstrated resilience that day by returning to class, by participating, by taking hold of his own education, and that I believed that he has the ability to build on his success. I asked him if I could check in on him next month, and he said, “Sure.” 

 

I share this story with you because I see it as a significant reminder that no matter where we work, no matter what our formal job or position is, that we can all work as individuals to positively impact our students every day. Whether it’s through a kind, reassuring, guiding voice, whether it’s by providing the most engaging lessons and instruction that we can each day, or even if it’s safely driving our students to and from schools if we are a bus driver, we can all positively impact our students. We can all afford a smile, a kind word, a positive engagement moment, or even simply by lending an ear to a child.  It doesn’t cost a lot of money to be #kind, #compassionate, #empathetic, and to make a connection. In fact, it cost nothing at all, except for your time and energy to do so.
I challenge you to take advantage of each moment that you have with children/students and let’s strive to make a connection with them whenever possible. I implore you to let children know that you care, and that you are there to assist them in building their personal skills and assets, especially their #resilience.

 

Each Day an Opportunity to #Inspire!
Dr. Rob Martinez is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, and is known as @ResiliencyGuy on @twitter He strives to build the capacities of his employees in fostering #resilience across his District. Follow Dr. Rob at @ResiliencyGuy on #twitter and #intagram, and on Facebook at “Resiliency Guy”

This entry was posted in Education, Guidance, Inspirational, Resilience, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , .

Focus on Transformational Resilience

Posted on

Had the opportunity to listen and speak with Delaine Eastin, former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction on Thursday, October 20, 2016. She is so knowledgable, witty, intuitive and focused on building better educational systems and environments for all of our California children, and she spoke eloquently about the need to focus on a child’s socio-emotional development as an essential component to their development.  She provided #inspiration, and was extremely #motivational, and I believe that she would be a strong proponent of #TransformationalimageResilience.

 

My focus is on #Resilience development, and my concept is simple to comprehend. I believe that each person has the capability to support others with developing #resilience skills. I also firmly bel…

Source: Focus on Transformational Resilience

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

A Rememberance of My Father, What a “Beautiful” Man

Posted on Updated on

If you happen to follow my posts on WordPress, Facebook, or Twitter, you know that I was able to spend an incredible day with my father, Eugene “Queno” Martinez, this year. We laughed, ate, talked, cried, and shared simply the most amazing time.

Unfortunately, not a week later my dad found himself in the hospital with pneumonia, had a stroke, became incompacitated and passed away on June 30, 2016. It’s been a very difficult couple of weeks for my family.

This last weekend my entire family was able to gather to pay our respects, hold services, be together, and celebrate his life. I was asked to say a few words at his service, and a few of my relatives asked that I share my written words with them.  Though during the services I went off-script, I still wanted to share these written words with them, and you, as I hope there might be some meaning here that resonates with you.
Good morning,
I’m Rob Martinez, Queno’s youngest child, and on behalf of our step-mother, Dolores, myself, my siblings, Tomas, Patricia and Henry, and our entire families, we thank you so much for being with us today as we reflect on the amazing journey of our father, Dolores husband, Eugene “Queno” Martinez.

Our father had a wonderous, amazing life, and personally, after deep reflection I have come to better understand many of the roadblocks that he faced, and simply crushed through, during his almost 90 years of life!

His life was one filled with twist and turns, and though he had been faced with many adversities he persevered through it all to become simply an amazing example of a hero to many of us here, and to others across California. He did so much for so many for so long, and well…

I wanted to make this just a bit interactive, so bear with me as we try something:

By a show of hands, and please keep them risen, who has ever done any of these with Queno?:

-Picked fruits or vegetables, worked with him building something, a freeway, garage, extra room, pinewood derby car, or worked in the yard with Queno?

-Been fishing, played golf, gone on vacation, traveled in a car for hundreds of miles with children?

-Shared a Pepsi, lunch, burrito, or had dinner with him?

-Gone to, listened to, or watched a Dodger game with him?

-Been to church services, a wedding, a baptism, or any other religious service with him?

-Been with him as he held one of his grandchildren, or/any baby for that matter, and seemed to communicate directly to the baby’s heart, mind and soul with a subtle, soft voice?

-Sang, danced, laughed, giggled, watched a movie, been to a swap meet, or stopped at a yard sale with him?

-Whose ever had him come see them in a sporting event, performance, graduation, parade, or any other activity?

-Who has had ad the pleasure of being provided BBQ, guacamole, menudo, or simply was fed by him, and treated like a king or queen by him?

Who has been able to sit and talk about life, passion, hard work, love, and who knows that he deeply cared for you?

Well, I gotta tell you, my hand would have been up for all of these, and by the show of hands today, I think these rememberances for each of us adds to his life’s legacy. Each of us has unique memories of our father, and each of us has those special times where we might believe that Queno was only thinking about us at that very moment, and you know what? You would be correct.

He had that amazing ability to give love to so many at the same moment that this is why I believe that we each felt so special when we were able to be with him, or even have a quick phone conversation, and even if we were not able to be with him, we just knew that he was thinking about us. So, now it’s up to us to carry the legacy of our father with us, and live our lives, with him being just a little closer to our hearts..

My dad was known for a few sayings,

“Think twice mijo!” Which I think he said to my brother Henry a few more times than he ever said to me. It was his way of reminding us that what we do matters, that what we do has consequences, good and bad, and it was his way of getting us to realize that we can have an impact on our lives, and the lives of others.

He also would say, “if you follow your passion you will never have to work a day in your life.” Which some have credited to some some other famous person, but I’m sure it really was my dad who said it first. He meant that if you truly believe you can accomplish something, let no one, or nothing stop you. He was the Nike guy, before Nike was an idea, “Just do it!”

He was known to also say to each of us, “Keep going to school, keep learning, even if it’s just one new thing, keep learning.” He truly believed that education was the key to success. He returned as an adult man to graduate high school, and continued to learn about different things, and technologies throughout his life.  He was so happy that I returned to school at 46 to obtain my Doctorate degree.  Heck, he even had Apple TV so he could watch his beloved Dodgers.

Several of us were so fortunate to spend this last Father’s Day with him, and for those of you who may be on Facebook you probably saw a little fun video we posted that we shared with everyone that focused on his hand-built BBQ -yes, brick by brick, at almost 90, he build that BBQ. I was also able to share with my dad a written post that I wrote the morning of Father’s Day, where I shared some of his amazing accomplishments over numerous obstacles.  Yes, I was also able to share those sentiments with him the next morning, and he laughed greatly at the video clip, and teared up after reading my post.  He was astonished that over 500 people at that time (now closer to 700) had seen our video, not even a day after it was posted. I told him that we had made a positive impact on people, and that made him smile that sly little smile of his.

The day after Father’s Day, we had the opportunity to talk about his accomplishments, as I saw them, and he simply looked at me and said to me, “I just tried to do what was right, I love you kids, I love my family, and I love my wife, I love my life.  I can ask for nothing more. God has been good to me.” He also said, “I just tried to be good.”  The humility of my father was extraordinary. I don’t think he truly understood the impact that his life had on others the brothers and sisters he helped raise, his own children, the literally hundreds of relatives that felt so much love from this man, the thousands of acquaintances that he might have coached, provided scouting tips to, taught how to work, learn a trade, raise a family, the miracles truly go on, and on. I believe that if we follow his example, and just try to “Be Good” each of our lives, and our collective lives will be better.

So God, as I conclude today, a little request if you will: Please be good to our daddy, Dolores’s husband, friend and caregiver to all, and a simply amazing man. Please, please  make sure he has a cold Pepsi at the ready, the ability to watch the Dodgers, a fresh tortilla for snacking, some dancing music, and watch out, because as we know my dad, we can all predict, that he will work his way into the number one Angel position in short order, I just know it, since he’s that kind of guy!

Daddy, I love you, we all miss you, and we know that you will continue to guide us when you can! We thank you for our “Beautiful” life, and for being the beautiful person you were.

Love you always,Robert

Dr. Rob Martinez, is known as “Resiliency Guy” on Facebook, is on Twitter as @ResiliencyGuy and works as the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , .

Father’s Day Tribute

Posted on

I frequently speak about issues of #Resiliency, and sometimes I focus on my personal resilience, and yet, as I reflect on the journey of my almost 90 year old father, I have come to better understand the roadblocks that he has faced, and crushed through his years! His life has been filled twist and turns, and though he had been faced with adversities he has persevered through it all.  This list is not an exhaustive list, and contains some of those challenges he has faced:

-Not being allowed to go to school with the white kids.

-Being provided limited scope of educational curriculum (Indian basket making – for real).

-Having to work since he was 12 years old, and picking all kinds of varieties of fruits and vegetables all across California since before then.

-Having to drive his father and mother around with no license, in a car that was far from perfect, since his parents couldn’t drive.

-Working in a canning factory far away from his family as a young teenager in order to send money back home for the rest of the children in the family to survive.

-Not being to graduate high school, until returning to adult school in his thirty’s.

-Serving in the military, under age, until being called home to care for the family after his father had passed.

-Returning home to care for many of his younger brothers and sisters, in many ways as their father.

-Experiencing the loss of the love of his life, my mom, in 1977!

-The loss of his home due to unforeseen circumstances in a bad relationship.

-Powering through to find the new love of his life, a wonderful women, who has added so much to his life over the past 25 + years!

-Working for and with his profession as an operating engineer for 50 years!

-Being self-taught to be a butcher, carpenter, electrician, masonist, landscaper, and all around Jack-of-all-trades in order to make ends meet!

Caring for many, providing love to all, and always being an encouraging person to each person he met.  He is an empowerer!

Never taking a drink of alcohol, being a man of faith, and always placing family above self.

My father has consistently told each of his children, his grand children, his nieces, and nephews to follow their passions! He would say, “If you follow your passions you will never have to work a day in your life!” And, he would follow up with “Continue your education, even if it’s one class, keep learning!”

These are but a few of the challenges that he has faced in his life, and there are many more, and still he has provided so much to so many. 

Dad, I love you! I thank you! 

I am often called @ResiliencyGuy and Resiliency Guy, and even “Dr. Resiliency” and as I consider all of this, I think you have been a fine role model for me to learn from, as you have overcome so much, to be able to offer so much to so many for so long. You are a true blessing to me and to us all dad! 

Love you, Robert
Dr. Robert A. Martinez is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-suisun Unified School Sitrict and frequently posts on Twitter as @ResiliencyGuy. He can also be found on Facebook as “Resiliency Guy”

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

Father’s Day Tribute

Posted on

I frequently speak about issues of #Resiliency, and sometimes I focus on my personal resilience, and yet, as I reflect on the journey of my almost 90 year old father, I have come to better understand the roadblocks that he has faced, and crushed through his years! His life has been filled twist and turns, and though he had been faced with adversities he has persevered through it all.  This list is not an exhaustive list, and contains some of those challenges he has faced:

-Not being allowed to go to school with the white kids.

-Being provided limited scope of educational curriculum (Indian basket making – for real).

-Having to work since he was 12 years old, and picking all kinds of varieties of fruits and vegetables all across California since before then.

-Having to drive his father and mother around with no license, in a car that was far from perfect, since his parents couldn’t drive.

-Working in a canning factory far away from his family as a young teenager in order to send money back home for the rest of the children in the family to survive.

-Not being to graduate high school, until returning to adult school in his thirty’s.

-Serving in the military, under age, until being called home to care for the family after his father had passed.

-Returning home to care for many of his younger brothers and sisters, in many ways as their father.

-Experiencing the loss of the love of his life, my mom, in 1977!

-The loss of his home due to unforeseen circumstances in a bad relationship.

-Powering through to find the new love of his life, a wonderful women, who has added so much to his life over the past 25 + years!

-Working for and with his profession as an operating engineer for 50 years!

-Being self-taught to be a butcher, carpenter, electrician, masonist, landscaper, and all around Jack-of-all-trades in order to make ends meet!

Caring for many, providing love to all, and always being an encouraging person to each person he met.  He is an empowerer!

Never taking a drink of alcohol, being a man of faith, and always placing family above self.

My father has consistently told each of his children, his grand children, his nieces, and nephews to follow their passions! He would say, “If you follow your passions you will never have to work a day in your life!” And, he would follow up with “Continue your education, even if it’s one class, keep learning!”

These are but a few of the challenges that he has faced in his life, and there are many more, and still he has provided so much to so many. 

Dad, I love you! I thank you! 

I am often called @ResiliencyGuy and Resiliency Guy, and even “Dr. Resiliency” and as I consider all of this, I think you have been a fine role model for me to learn from, as you have overcome so much, to be able to offer so much to so many for so long. You are a true blessing to me and to us all dad! 

Love you, Robert
Dr. Robert A. Martinez is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-suisun Unified School Sitrict and frequently posts on Twitter as @ResiliencyGuy. He can also be found on Facebook as “Resiliency Guy”

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

Transformational Resilience: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together!

Posted on

On Friday, April 29, 2016, I will have the privilege of presenting some of my work on Transformational Resilience to a number of Northern California colleagues at the Association of California School Administrators, North State Conference #ACSA1234 held in Reno, Nevada.  I am thrilled to be able to share “My Story”, discuss the importance of knowing “Your own story”, consider the impact we all have on “Student Stories”, and then to support the entire group with building perspective on how we are impact each other on a daily basis to build, “Our Story”

 

I hope that as you seek to support those you work with, those you love, and yourself, you consider just how important you are to the world and those in it. My best to you all.

 

Resilient Individuals:  Individuals who demonstrate resilient behaviors tend to be able to recognize and manage their personal perceptions and feelings, and are cognizant o…

Source: Transformational Resilience: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together!

This entry was posted in Uncategorized.

Transformational Resilience: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together!

Posted on

  
 
Resilient Individuals: 

Individuals who demonstrate resilient behaviors tend to be able to recognize and manage their personal perceptions and feelings, and are cognizant of their personal locus-of-control. They can perceive and understand feelings of others, understand that they matter to others, and also see that they can make a positive impact on the world. They tend to believe in themselves, reach out to others when required, and accept help from others. They insulate themselves from self-blame, and deprecating behavior, make peace with negative events, and live a healthy life. Meaning they eat well, get their rest, excercise, and accept change. 

The tricky part is of course building environments that support and promote health living, engage minds, create places where these skills can develop and flourish, and where resilience thrives! Is it doable? Can we create healthy environments where it becomes the norm to develop resilience skills? I surely hope so, and with some specific strategies we can all be on our way to these types of schools!

Action Steps For All Educators, Parents, Students:

-Encourage the Development of Positive Attitudes: By connecting with students, and providing positive feedback, encouragement, connections, and communication we can elicit healthy responses. We can keep barriers from building that stifle growth, positive attitudes from developing, and connections with other people from propelling students forward.

-Increase Support Networks for All: Ensure that each person in the environment has someone to be with, talk to, chart with, share with, and create a culture where listening to others is a premium behavior that is rewarded, over and over again. How many times do we see students talk at each other without really listening? The skill of listening has been demonstrated to be a consummate winner in evolving our societies. Listen people, just listen!

-Encourage the Building of Trusting Relationships: By fostering mutual respect for each other as people first, whether the relationships is between students, students/teachers, parents/teachers, etc. It is imperative that we build a culture where each one recognizes that we are there because of the others that are present. An old South African saying, “I am because you are,” shared often by Bishop Desmond Tutu, means that I exist as part of your world, and we are in this together. Let’s build schools where we are all in this together!

-Increase Student Engagement: We must build schools and deliver instruction for the students we have, and in response to their needs. We must be flexible in our methods, styles, instruction, curriculum, performance, measurement of success, supports, and work to provide meaning to the learning that matters to our students. If we continue to treat students as they have always been treated, then why would we expect a different result? The time is ripe for change!

-Foster a Positive and Inclusive Ethos: Our students need to be connected and belong to their environments. Hence, we must work to ensure that each student not only feels a part of their school, but that they truly identify themselves as being part of the school. By including them in decisions, acting on their interests, celebrating their diversity and uniqueness, and authentically connecting with them first as people, than as supporters of their development we provide more opportunity for them to belong to, not just attend school.

-Enhance Extracurricular Activities: The days of after-school sports need to be modified in order to provide both #Access and #Equity to all students. During the day school clubs, technology, activities, sports, visual and performing arts, drama, (and the list goes on), must become a thing of the present to support our students with having opportunities to engage, connect with, and pick up a multitude of talents. Especially for our students who may be marginalized, and/or who cannot afford after-school activities, we must ensure that their opportunities are provided and enhanced!

-Make it #FUN at Every Level: Schools, school communities, classrooms, extra-curricular activities, staff meetings, must all have a component of fun! If not, then what is the purpose, really? As humans, we laugh, we giggle, we smirk, we guffaw, we snort, we are silly beings, and if we are not engaged and having fun, we generally look for something else to do. So why, not? Why not make it all fun? Why not take your class outside to hunt for moon rocks (ala Dave Burgess, “Teach Like a Pirate” guy? Why not bring some wild music into the classroom, and see how it livens up the place? Why knot? (The word knot was used to see if you were paying attention, and to make you laugh!)

-Develop Life Skills: Possibly through internships, service-learning, taking leadership roles in the classroom, or at school, or volunteering to help younger kids read, or by simply being a buddy to another student, there are ample ways to help students realize that their life skills matter, that they can have a positive impact on people in their worlds. As students develop it could become so easy to simply allow each one to believe that they are the most important child in the world, and if we work just a little bit, we can help them realize that they could in fact become the most important person in the world to another person who needs them. If we did, we sure would have some tremendously skills children on our hands. 

Summing up: I do believe that as educators come to not only recognized the need for these types of supports, and that we collective begin to act on them to build the types of schools that are surely needed, we can positively change the world, one student, one classroom, one school at a time. And, if we really get to it, we can change our communities for the good that much faster!

Dr. Robert A. Martinez, AKA “Resiliency Guy” on Facebook, and @ResiliencyGuy on #twitter @twitter strives to support the ideas of Transformational Resilience #TR to all who come in his path! He co-moderates #Resiliencechat on Monday evenings on #Twitter at 7:00 PM PST. Join him in his quest to create schools where children can “Grow in Peace!” He is currently the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District. 

This entry was posted in Education, Guidance, Inspirational, Resilience, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , .