Jolene Johnson

Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to Curtis Middle School. My name is Jolene Johnson and I am the 8th Grade Counselor at Curtis. This is my fifth year at Curtis; however, I have been in education for 36 years. Before coming to Curtis, I have served school districts in Texas and Oklahoma in the capacity of classroom teacher, elementary school, alternative school, and high school counselor. My philosophy regarding education can best be described with an excerpt from the book, "Lessons for Lifeguards" by Dr. Michael Carrera. "Our efforts in working with teens equal that of a lifeguard. Suddenly (sometimes regularly), someone in the deep water needs help. The person is panicking, thrashing about, afraid of drowning. In an instant, the lifeguard leaps from her perch. She does not stop along the way to seek permission, she does not linger to engage in conversation with on-lookers about the good old days when parents properly taught their children to swim, she never treads water at a safe distance and yells out that she will provide help when proper motivation and compliance are demonstrated. No. Genuine lifeguards have no requirements to be met before they will offer help. Instead, she leaps into action, offering one-hundred-percent of herself." Educators at Allen ISD and Curtis Middle School, in particular, are the very essence of this analogy. We know our work is nothing less than that of a lifeguard. We will be prepared and ever watchful. We will expect resistance. We will subdue if necessary. But, we will never swim away.

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