Every child has a favourite teacher. For some of the children we know, her name is Teacher Michelle. Michelle Shargey is the principal of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital School.
Michelle has attended training in order to assist the teachers at the Red Cross School to facilitate the ‘new normal’ that every teacher around the world has had to cope with in a time of uncertainty.
“We’ve spread our wings far and wide,” she observes as she begins to list the many ways in which her team has innovatively adjusted their teaching methods.
Michelle remarks that it has brought about a very interesting perspective, especially when “people think that, because of Covid, our days are free”. That is certainly not the case for Michelle and her staff. With back-to-back meetings, constant lesson planning and teacher training, restructuring and learning new skills and new platforms, the teachers often sacrifice their weekends to stay on track.
“We definitely miss the interaction of meeting with each other.”
The reduced number of patients per class has made things much quieter, and lonelier. Going to the Hospital School is something that these children look forward to because it means meeting friends, learning in an environment that recognises their strengths, and being encouraged, no matter how difficult their days may be.
Turns may have to be taken. But this is where Michelle and her team excel: making new plans when old ones are no longer on the table.
Adhering strictly to Covid safety protocols, Bedside Teaching is implemented with joy and fervour and welcomed with both patience and enthusiasm. Our world may have changed, but our children have not. Like their parents, our teachers are the ones who see the unceasing exuberance and indomitable spirit of hungry, young minds.
And like their parents, our teachers continue to work for children’s right to learn and expand their minds and build a bright future.
When one little girl was not let back in her school, because the school was not capable of meeting her needs fully, Michelle personally stepped in to take up the challenge, and championed a worthy education for a worthy mind. This meant that remote learning and teaching would become the core platform for both teacher and little one to embrace.
“This is the way forward,” Michelle beams.
And when Zoom was not accessible to patients, WhatsApp became the next best step.
Making education an accessible priority has always been an essential element of both educational recovery and recovery itself.
Michelle talks proudly about some of her most memorable recovery stories; like a young lawyer in the making who still turns to her teacher when problems need to be solved.
Still in contact, still offering support, still educating, this educator does not stop – because education never stops.
There’s a prize at the finish line for many of our children and our teacher; an education in self-worth and possibility, and the opportunity to run the marathon that is their lives.
Creating a safe and fully supportive space for both healing and learning is more than a priority for the Red Cross family; it is the Hospital’s veritable reason for existing. While doing so, friendships are born and very special connections are made; lives are changed, forever.
Our children are your children. And they want to say Thank You to all the teachers at the Children’s Hospital School for never giving up, for always being there, for their dedication and their kindness and their understanding, and mostly for not focussing on the hurdles, but the finish line. Our children want to say Thank You to all the teachers who help them run the race. Our children want to say Thank You for the chance to be champions every day, even in the smallest way.
Help us support the teachers who support the children.
Help us say Thank You to them today!
*Photos were taken prior to Covid-19
