jennifer patel

This summer, I got the recommendation to sign Alex up for swim lessons with my district's swim coach. She runs a summer lesson program out of her backyard and takes kids of all ages, Alex being old enough to be in class without me in the water with him this year. My friend said she was tough, but good and that both of her girls were swimming through her program. Most city run programs are Red Cross Water Safety Instructed. I began teaching the program as a high school swim team member at 15 all the way through college. It's a leveled system where the child is encouraged, but ultimately decides the pace of their movement up the levels. If a child was scared or cried, they would be encouraged, but not made to do whatever it was they didn't want to do. When I looked into Coach W's program, it was not WSI, but all teachers were CPR certified. We showed up on the first day of class ready to go and due to rain the days before, I knew it was going to be freezing. Water ha...

As promised .  The last weeks of school are grueling as everyone, students AND teachers, are just trying to survive with each other while anticipating their best summer ever.  This is why I think we should go year round...so that we get steady and spaced out weeks of no school...so that we don't threaten to cross the line to level: "homicidal" every May. When school and the crazy weekend following ended, I went into solid sleep mode.  I napped with Alex in the afternoons and got him to school late for a solid week because we all slept until almost 9 AM (including Ennis). As I reflected back on the last week of school, it was almost seamless, except for one thing:  On the last day of students in my last class, a student couldn't handle himself and when I had him removed, he called me a "fucking snitch" on his way out as he slammed his chair into his desk.  The end.  That was the last day of students.  It stinks that it ended like that...just puttin...

I saw this movie in Austin one weekend with Aubrey.  I actually loved it.  I know, I know...whatever that says about me... Unfortunately, I meant no humor for what I am about to write, and it is more for my co-workers, as we pay homage to one of our most beloved.  To everyone else on the outside, it might seem overly dramatic, but the message applies to all: Doing right must always triumph over wrong. For anyone that has managed to find me (or let me vent to you), it is not surprising that I have mostly been disgusted with many aspects of my job this year. I initially thought it was because I was adjusting to my first year back in the double role of worker and mom.  But then as the year rolled on, it was apparent that dealing with the rare occasional moody toddler was preferable over dealing with work.  This school year has been a horrific unfolding of events that has undone everything we as educators are trying to teach our stud...