Teaching With Purpose
Exploring the Role of the Adult in the SKILLZ Learning Environment
Take a few moments to pause and reflect. Let your mind return to the carefree days of your youth. Perhaps the rustling of autumn leaves crunching beneath your feet as you smell the crisp, cool air stirs your soul. Or maybe it’s the scent of pines trees and sugar cookies that make you grin.
Can you picture it?
Now take a step a little deeper into the memories of your childhood and see if you can pick out the teacher, coach, role model who had a profound impact on the course of your life.
Maybe it was the teacher that saw your gifts and talents that no one else could see. The coach who saw your potential helped you persevere through the challenges you face both on and off the field.
Can you see them?
Can you still hear their words of encouragement, kindness, and wisdom speaking to you? Can you still feel the swell of emotions and gratitude you had when they stood by your side and helped guide you towards a greater purpose than perhaps either of you realized at the time?
These precious souls that blessed our lives, these trusted adults who made the purposeful decision to have our back, maybe even when no one else did, are not easily forgotten.
Their impact on our journey has left its unique and beautiful stamp on our lives. And for that, we should be grateful to have had that wonderful person in our lives!
While my mother and Grandmother had a tremendous impact on my life, my 11th & 12th-grade math teacher, a subject I disliked immensely, helped me improve my academic performance. So much so that today, 44 years after I graduated high school, we correspond on a routine basis.
What is the Role of a Teacher?
As the world continues to reel from the pandemic and the impacts it has had upon our lives, we are seeing more and more children, teens, and adults struggling with their mental, emotional health and well-being than we could have ever anticipated.
These struggles for children and teens especially are further amplified as their natural processes of growth and development continue.
Their developmental windows, seasons of increased physical, intellectual and emotional growth are all still occurring as changes in school routines, extracurricular activities, and other areas of their lives shift unexpectedly.
As parents, educators, coaches, and role models, now more than ever, we need to be: Supporters, Nurturers, and Guides.
Let this truth sink in!
If it weren’t for the trusted adults throughout your life that took the time and effort to pour a little bit of themselves into you, would you be who you are today?
As Martial Arts Instructors, we take very seriously the responsibility for and the impact we have on the lives of every one of our students.
For some of you reading this, when you came to us that very first day, you saw something in the instructor, felt something in the atmosphere, and knew that we were meant to be a part of your child’s and family’s story.
And for that, we are so very honored and blessed!
We strive to be the role model your child needs us to be in each class! Because no child or parent should ever walk through their incredible life’s journey alone. We are honored to walk alongside you and your child, teaching with great, intentional purpose, on and beyond the mats!
There are four main steps to Teaching With Purpose:
- Connection
- Attunement
- Collaboration
- Education
Connection & Attunement:
We professionally practice the elements of Connection, bonding with your child, meeting them where they are at, taking the time to learn what makes them uniquely unique so that we can be better Attuned to their needs.
Collaboration & Education:
We are constantly furthering our education in Childhood Development through programs like the SKILLZ Certified Trainings provided by SKILLZ Worldwide.
In addition, we choose to surround ourselves with colleagues such as educators, social workers, and therapists who help nurture and support our understanding and knowledge base so that we may step with purposeful intention to assist every child we serve physically, intellectually, and emotionally socially.
Far beyond the awesome ninja spinning kicks and Superman punches beats the true heart of our mission and purpose; Supporting, nurturing, and guiding today’s youth.
If your child needs a few more supportive, caring, and attuned adults in their lives. In that case, a robust child development-focused program like ours that blends science and psychology in a fun, martial-arts-themed environment might be precisely the thing to help your child.
Eric Rangel-Ribeiro is the proud owner alongside Joshua Fracker, Barbara Robinson and Bernard Robinson of Resilient Martial Arts a World Taekwondo, Kali & SKILLZ Lifetime Gold academy in Midlothian, Virginia. Eric is also a brand ambassador for SKILLZ Worldwide and specializes in working with members of the local Neuro Diverse community. As a leading advocate for adapting Martial Arts Classes for people of all abilities he has partnered with another Martial Arts School owner and each week hosts a show to help other school owners across the country implement programs for Neuro Diverse members of their community.