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Focus on Transformational Resilience
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 believe that it is an obligation for adults, especially educators, to build environments for children, and especially their students, that foster the development of the latent ability to be #resilient that resides in each child.
I believe that there are steps that each person can take to support the advancement of #resilience skills, and this simple graphic is representative of those actions that can be taken to build these skills in our children.
Ask yourself these questions and reflect if you are taking steps to build or hinder #resilience development:
1. Am I acting to #engage my students? Meaning, Am I offering relevant interactions that are intended to build their skills, knowledge, creativity and innovation skills?
2. Am I offering #positivity to my students? Meaning, Am I focused on the growth, the development, the advancement of my students, while providing authentic meaningful feedback that encourages my students and inspires them?
3. Am I being #thoughtful in my approach with my student? Meaning, Am I considerate of the unique needs and interests of my students, and I am reflective in my process, and then, in turn, able to be flexible in my approach to connecting with them as individuals?
4. Am I #supportive towards each of my students no matter what? Meaning, no matter the needs, no matter their behaviors, no matter the trauma that they may have been exposed to, do you accept them, without reservation, and do you recognize that they deserve the best you can be?
I believe that working to support our children is the most important work that can be accomplished by educators, parents, and adults. If we don’t, who will? If we don’t act, how will our children learn and grow? If we don’t accept this responsibility, act as mature, well-functioning adults, how in the world can we expect our children to become more advanced well-functioning adults? It is that important! It is the most essential work that we can do! It is up to each of us to build environments for children where they can grow, flourish, and activate the latent ability to be resilien! Please join me in this effort to help our children grow in peace!
Dr. Rob Martinez is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, and is a proponent of supporting #resilience development in all of our learning environments. He would be happy to assist you and your schools in building and fostering environments where #TransformationalResilience can grow!
You can follow Dr. Rob at @ResiliencyGuy on #twitter as well.
A Rememberance of My Father, What a “Beautiful” Man
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.
Father’s Day Tribute
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”
Father’s Day Tribute
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”
Transformational Resilience: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together!
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!
“Sometimes”
Sometimes you need to be reflective on work that you have done in order to think, consider, and grow. Today, I was reminded that the sometimes of our lives are the right here, right nows! Please take time to tell those in your world that you love that they mean the world to you! We do not always get to plan our tomorrow’s, and we need to always be aware of our here and now, and don’t wait for your sometimes!
“Sometimes” by Resiliency Guy #Resiliency Sometimes its about being present in your world, and offering support to those that need it without hesitation! #Resiliency Someti…
Source: “Sometimes”
Transformational Resilience: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together!
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.
Re-examining #Resilience
Take a moment and consider your current understanding of the word “Resilience.”
A Question:
Do you consider your understanding of #resilience to be deep, or surface level? It seems that in our day-to-day culture the word has become more of a descriptor of character or action, rather than as a true understanding that the word more accurately describes a person’s ability to persevere through an adversity, a challenge, a trauma, a life-changing circumstance, and to demonstrate a strength in their resolve that comes from the experience.
What is true #resilience?
It’s not just about winning a sporting event, or getting through a test, or even making it through a day. It’s more about having and demonstrating the ability to recognize that whatever the adversity was, or is, was more than likely not a personal descriptor of the individual experiencing that adversity, but something that has occurred to them, that they have dealt with, and have learned from. Resilience is about overcoming, battling through, surviving, and growing from adversity, and limiting the negative impacts from derailing future success for that person.
What does research say?
Researchers have recognized the ability of an individual to reframe events so that they do not internalize them, and use the adversity as a means for growth and success. For many people these challenges are recognized as launching pads for new ideas, new strategies, new ways of acting, or for new ways to limit the impact of adversity from negatively affecting themselves any longer. The stories are numerous of those individuals who have come through adversity, and who then have not only improved their lives, but the lives of others.
Locus-of-Control
Further, it has been found that those that demonstrate resilience tend to have a firm locus-of-control on where the problem exists, how it came about, and they are able to distance themselves from the trauma. Now, this doesn’t mean that people don’t feel the pain from trauma, or are not affected by it, yet they tend not to own it, ruminate over it, and allow it to remain in their frontal lobe exhausting their energy, resources, thought process, or ability to move forward.
Reframing Skill
So, if the ability to maintain a powerful locus of control, and to reframe events to be able to limit their negative affects on us are two assets that can be utilized to build resilience, then why wouldn’t we seek to support the development of these skills in our children and each other. If people can learn to reframe, if they can distance or remove themselves from traumatic events, then they have more of an opportunity to demonstrate resilience, and to enhance this skill for when they will need it in the future.
Variance
We know that one person’s challenge is another person’s trauma, and that each person may react differently to the same circumstances, and in turn may react on different timelines to trauma, and this makes the point even more important that we must seek to build the resilience of our children, and each other, each day, for we never really know when the next traumatic event might initiate a down-turn for ourselves or someone in our world.
The challenge
Let’s build each other up! Let’s build skills in each of our children! Let’s build resources in our communities! Let’s share the message of supporting the development of Resilience skills in our children! Let’s focus our energies on engaging, supporting, and providing the healthiest environments that we can for all of our children!
Are you with me? I hope so!
Robert A. Martinez, Ed.D, @ResiliencyGuy on Facebook: ResiliencyGuy
Dr. Martinez is the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, and has been focusing on building the idea of Transformational Resilience in people, our schools and our communities. He also co-moderates #Resiliencechat on #twitter each Monday night at 7:00 PM PST.
2015 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 20 trips to carry that many people.
Gratitude, Appreciation and Thankfulness
Gratitude, Appreciation, and Thankfulness
Gratitude, appreciation and thankfulness are personal characteristics that many people have, and I believe that when people allow these characteristics to frame their perspectives they are often more happy within themselves, and about their lives.
I believe that our perspectives are skewed by our experiences, and it is our interpretation of those experiences that provide us the ability to reflect, consider, and then to build our true life perspective that we then use to live new experiences.
A few difficult questions for you as you consider self-reflection: How were your world interpretation skills developed? Do you work on them? Do you reflect on them? Do you simply believe you are correct in your perspective? Do you seek out new ways of thinking? Do you seek out other views to be able to broaden your personal awareness? Do you believe that what you believe should or should not be questioned? Do you seen an alternative to your perspective, and can you view yourself holding that perspective?
To get more to the point, do you hold gratitude for the people, experiences, and life that you hold? Do you really appreciate the people, experiences, and life that you have built? Do you demonstrate your thankfulness to the people who have been and are in your life, for those experiences that you have had that have built who you are, and do you seek to pay it back to those in your world in a positive way?
To grow, develop, and to positively change takes time, and if you actually want to understand and appreciate your life in a more introspective way, it takes conscientious thought, consideration, reflective capabilties, and an understanding that life isn’t what has been done to you, it’s a compilation of the people that have been in your life, the experiences that you have had, and your responses to both.
Yes, you build your interpretation frame. You have the ability to analyze, interpret, and add meaning to each event. Now, sometimes, as children, we have limited abilities to control the people that come into our lives, or the life experiences that we have endured, and yet, as we review, interpret, and add meaning to these experiences as we grow, we can adjust, be flexible, and help ourselves to grow, develop, and take charge of our lives.
I choose to be grateful, to appreciate life, and to offer thankfulness for the people, experiences, and synthesis of both into my life. I choose to believe that I can make a difference, help build a positive world, and work to connect people to the resources that are close at hand that just might help them to grow, develop, and live healthy lives.
Is it a simple trick, is it a simple approach, is it simply that easy? Gratitude, appreciation, and thankfulness, three key ingredients to consider on this Thanksgiving Day, and I hope that you choose to sprinkle liberally throughout your life.
Dr. Rob Martinez, known as @ResiliencyGuy on twitter and “Resiliency Guy” on facebook, strives to connect with people and supports the framework of “Transformational Resiliency.” He will be presenting at the National Conference on Resilience Education in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 5, 2015.
Recipes For Resilience 