Dr. Robert A Martinez, is well known as “Resiliency Guy” and “Dr. Rob.” He is a 35-year educator, focuses on issues of #resilience and strives to build environments where children and adults can grow and work in peace. Dr. Martinez has continually focused on improving and expanding educational opportunities for students. He strives to advance understanding of resiliency research for all his employees, students, and their families. He seeks to support all District personnel with advancing their personal and professional skills, knowledge, and expertise in working with children as unique individuals with unlimited capacitiesHe has written a blog for years, published the children’s book “The Story of Sparkle and Shine, Never Forgot,” is a contributing author for “100 No-Nonsense Things that ALL Teachers Should Stop Doing,” He new book, “Lead With Resilience” was published in March 2023. In it, he shares lessons from his life and his “Recipe For Resilience”. Dr. Martinez holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Education, both from the University of California, Davis. He is extremely proud to have earned his Educational Doctorate Degree in Educational Leadership and Management with a concentration in Human Resources, from Drexel University. He is available to provide keynotes, consultation, and training on building resilient cultures that create powerful safe places for our children and adults to learn, grow and develop in peace. He believes building resilience in each person, in equitable safe places is of paramount importance.
Trenches story: will make it more personal, young teenager 15 y.o. who was ready to disappear, educators who kept him going to school. Was involved in every extracurricular. He tells it in his book. Edu. saved his life. School was across the street. Dad decided to move. Rob was able to keep @ same school. Got up 4:30 am. School was then 25 miles away. Had a plan of doing it junior & senior yr. Moved schools. More pressure & struggle for him personally. Ran away. Got reconnected at yet another school. Got re-grounded. Kept going. He’s able to support educators, families, and students thru stories.
New book: Published March 1 by Dave Burgess Consulting Recipes for Resilience Can you tell listeners what it’s about? It’s shared in memoir fashion. His story isn’t the most unique. Understand ppl always come w/ stories. Think about lessons more deeply b/c you got. Had ideas about what to share about his life. His mom passed when he was 13. Lessons she shared were important to him. Rob & his brother talked about resilience. Frame ideas while talking about his life, to give examples to other educators, build resolve to change things. It’s not a program- yet a process. [While the book focuses on how educators can positively impact young students—especially at-risk youth in challenging environments—Martinez also encourages adopting these resilience principles beyond the classroom and school district into all our relationships, businesses, and local communities, ultimately improving society as a whole. In doing so, we might manifest a more hopeful, humanistic world for ourselves and future generations, where ideals like love, empathy, support, and safety become not just aspirations but lived reality.] Talk to me about the writing process. Years in the making. Spoke about what educators can do to create the impacts of resilience. He knew Dave Burgess from before 9-10 yrs ago, he’s a member of Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), got Dave to come speak to administrators. Brought him to speak to teachers as well. He said start writing, putting it down. Rob started working with Shelly. He wrote through the pandemic. Publishing process was 9-12 months. Commitment. How did you take the plunge to write book? There was value in it. If you want uncommon results, you want to give an uncommon experience, Burgess says. Almost fell victim to perfection. Focus on essential elements, ways to think things thru. It’s great for PD.
“The Story of Sparkle and Shine”- self-published book he put out over 5 yrs ago. About how 1 person can make a difference, playful story. He’d had a dream. He saw a book in his head. Story of Sparkle and how he spreads positive actions with kind, loving encounters. They started tracking positivity. Got to laptop & wrote out his story. Has read the book to Kindergarten classes or 150 admin. Simple lessons of ppl creating difference.
Writing for #100StopSeries: Wrote chapters for each of the 3 (teachers, administrators, parents). Chapter he wrote for admin was “Know when it’s time to leave”. It was about his own experience, not loving what he was doing, had retirement paperwork in. Found new gig. Loves his new gig. System is doing dynamic things for kids. Admin have to have commitment that it’s not going to be easy. 8-9 months later, left an admin. position, was ready to retire. Got into a position, wasn’t great. Had to re-read his chapter. Stepped away.
Work in HR- how has that differed from the district leadership roles (as st. sup) you have held? He was a school psych for ½ of career, so many of them are inundated w/ testing kids. He built interventions. Helped him through roles of helping ppl be better. Does that administratively. Challenge in HR finding ppl. We have to carry them through. District is 15K students. Does a lot of recruiting this time of year. East of San Fran. Can talk about how he goes about what opportunities they have, how candidates can serve st’s. He wants new hires to call him up about how to want to stay. They have more $ to pay new teachers. Wellness centers @ elementary schools. Expanding restorative practices.
You seem to have a good work/life balance, take many trips w/ your wife. What tips would you give busy leaders who are looking for a better work/life balance? Focused choice to not continue long hrs. Wife was a 25 yr teacher, retired 2020. Fell into teaching throughout college. Wanted to be a vet. Worked in a high poverty school. She took her physical fitness to heart, became personal trainer 2 yrs before she retired. Used her science background to do that. She keeps Rob young. Have been together 42 yrs, married 35. Rob’s a different person than when principal w/ 80 hr workweeks. He doesn’t always have to be person to solve problem. They didn’t want to get trapped in a work-cycle. Even if it’s local, they do long hikes. Attended wine & seafood festival in MX. Going on cruise soon. He simplifies it for teachers who are committed, he wants them to be healthy. His district wants ppl to stay, be happy in district.
Out of everything? sometimes the simple moments can make a dramatic difference. He saw a parent from 18 yrs ago recently. Student became a guide in managing P.E.-his talents lay there. He’s working @ the HS Rob worked at as community resource officer. He took care of business @ the time. Rob had little to do w/ it. We may never see Thanks.
Where can ppl find you online? Lead With Resilience (wordpress.com)-blogs, not updated since Feb. ‘21. Uses Twitter a lot, IG, LinkedIn, FB @resiliencyguy Hasn’t returned to it b/c he’s done a lot with other writing. Dave Burgess, book study for his book coming out. dbincbooks.com Reach out to Rob via email (insert in notes).
View this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4I01NiUhfpY
MORE EPISODES
