Student Portfolio Diane Delaney

I chose to look at the student portfolio of Diane Delaney. Diane is being treated with ALL or acute lymphocytric leukemia. After some treatment's she went into remission and returned to school. This allows her the opportunity to be apart of school life again but she still has to do check ups throughout the year. The treatment can have several side affects so she will miss out on school sometimes. Her biggest concern is that children won't treat her like everyone else. The reason I selected to read about Diane was because my mom had a child in her 2nd grade classroom two years ago that passed away from cancer. I was able to see how she made sure other children didn't look at him differently and kept him apart of the classroom activities and lessons, even though he wasn't there. I think this portfolio is different than what we always talk about in class and gave me to opportunity to look at something that could at any point happen to us as a teacher.

When my mom had a student like Diane in her class she made sure the class understood what type of cancer he had. This gave the children time to sit at circle time and discuss what the student was going through. They were able to ask questions and clear the air before the student came back. I even think that a teacher could talk to Diane and see if she would like to explain it to the class. This may depend on the age level but it would Diane the time to sit down with the class and the other students to see she still is the same Diane. Children have lots of "Why, How, When, etc." type of questions and these would come up in this type of situation. A discussion would be very beneficial---or even incorporating a children's story about this.

Since Diane may miss out on school, it will be important to make her still feel included and not "different". One strategy my mom used was making the class (figuratively speaking) "come to the hospital or home" and have the student (Diane) "come to the classroom environment". When my mom would send home homework for the student she attached other things the children made. My mom would go into the hospital or home when her student was out for a check-up and set up the room filled with things the class made (this would be things the student liked; sponge bob, spider man's etc.) For Diane this could be animals since that is her big interest. To make Diane feel apart of the classroom she would be connected through a telephone device. Technology is huge now so this would work :) my mom did this as well. She could listen in on classroom lessons and feel apart of the classroom. These students want nothing more than to be treated the same and seen just as who they were like Diane expressed...so we as teachers need to do that.

The website I found was http://www.childhoodcancer.ca/educators-guide/practical-strategies this website gives strategies to teachers who have children like Diane in their classroom. Some of the strategies they mention are;
Communication: This not only makes them feel included but the teacher will "get to know" the students and their strengths and weaknesses at that time.
*Contact the Support Team
*Visit the child at their hospital and school (like my example above)
*With parent permission let the school and classroom know about the child's condition (also like my example)
The website also shows what could be things that could happen when they return to school what to do, how to handle it, and technology or ways to keep them connected at all times.

Check it out :)