Teachers reaching out to students with messages

Now in week three of no school, seven-year-old Ryan Haines sure is missing his friends at Dr. A.T. Leatherbarrow Primary School in Hampton.

In fact, the list of things he's missing keeps growing — gym, art class, playing outside with his friends, the library, choir, Lego club.

"I miss everything," he said by phone from his Bloomfield home.

He also misses his Grade 2 teacher, Mary Kierstead. That's why he was so happy to see her face and her message to students as part of a YouTube video from school staff.

"It really brightened his day," said his mom, Katie Haines. "He had a huge grin on his face" as he called out the names of those he knew.

Haines and other parents are praising teachers who are reaching out to home-bound students and re-establishing connections that were lost when schools were closed more than two weeks ago in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.

When Dr. Leatherbarrow teachers got together online last week, they tried to come up with a way to let the students know they were thinking about them.

Principal Lisa Jardine said they decided on a video message on YouTube with each of them holding up a message. The teachers were so eager to get the message out that the video was ready to go the following day.

Teachers let students know, in both official languages, that they miss them — with the occasional mention of being active, staying safe and even helping with household cleaning.

At the end of the video, children were invited to send their own messages back to the teachers and there was such an overwhelming response, said Jardine, that vice-principal Sara Creighton put together an eight-minute video collage of them and posted it today.

Jardine estimates that about half the students in the kindergarten-to-Grade-2 school sent in photos with their own messages for the teachers. They also let them know what they've been up to for the last two weeks. Some have been having lots of outdoor adventures, some are learning to bake, one helped build a deck and another learned to ride a bike.

Jardine said teachers were grateful for the updates and to hear that students were keeping busy as best they can.

"We certainly understand that not all learning takes place in the classroom," she said. "We're cognizant of that every day at all levels but particularly at K to 2, they need to be exploring and using their hands and being outside as much as possible to learn as well. So it's nice to see so many of the photos that we're receiving have children outside actually doing things like learning to ride a bike."

Jardine said it's particularly important for younger children.

"In many ways, we're kind of like a parent figure to them at that age. Sometimes they inadvertently call us mom in the classroom," she said.

"But it's that kind of relationship. We teach them everything from how to eat independently at lunch time to tying their shoes and how to get dressed independently. It's a lot of life skills that have nothing to do with academics."

She said every teacher in her school has reached out to their students' parents, and in many cases, they were able to speak directly to the students.

"You can hear the smile in their voice on the telephone," said Jardine.

While the primary purpose of those calls is to reconnect and check in on families, "it's also for our own mental health," she said.

The kindergarten teachers at Forest Hills Elementary School have been posting daily messages to their students online since school closed more than two weeks ago.

Teacher Bryan Raymond said he also uses an app called Remind, which is designed to help teachers stay in contact with students. He said he exchanges daily messages and photos with almost every one of his students, through their parents.

On Monday morning, one of the parents asked if he could phone her son. Raymond said he was more than happy to reach out.

"He was joyful," said Raymond of the exchange. "He and his family were all really appreciative."

In fact, six-year-old Kendrick Bassey was so excited that he wanted to share the experience with the rest of the family. He passed the phone to his older sister Kayla, then his dad, Bassey, and finally to his mom, Atim, who said Kendrick's excitement lasted the entire day.

"It was very heartwarming," she said and is grateful to Raymond for taking the time to reach out to the family.

She said her son looks forward to his teacher's daily message, funny pictures, and other activities.

But Raymond said he gets a lot out of it, too. He said hearing the boy's voice and his excitement also lifted his spirits. He's now working on a way to get his class together for a video chat so they can stay connected and lift each other's spirits.

Denise Miller said a recent phone call from a Hampton High School teacher "meant the world" to her 14-year-old daughter, Hunter.

The Kingston Peninsulas resident even tweeted about it.

"My daughter's teacher from Hampton High, Erin Duncan called her here at home the other day to check in. This meant the world to a freaked out Grade 9 student in these strange times. Just wanted to pass this on that they may not be on the clock, but are still awesome."

Miller said the last three weeks of social isolation has been difficult for Hunter.

"There's no play dates right now, so it's just nice to have that phone call with a familiar voice, letting you know that there's still some normalcy in the world."