Virtual Visit Featured Educator
Our featured educator for Digital Learning is David Gordon. David holds a Masters of Science Degree in Special Education, with over 18 years of experience as an educator. He has spent the past 8 years working at the Tomorrows Children's Institute with children with chronic health conditions, their families, teachers, classmates, and school district administrators to ensure the students received the best education possible. He anticipates completion of his Ph.D. in Special Education from Syracuse University by May 2010. David recently launched the Living Through Learning Foundation (LTLF). The LTLF is actively committed to providing any and ultimately every child with a chronic health condition (CHC) the use of technology to stay connected to their peers, classroom, and innovative learning opportunities so that the child never loses their passion for learning and have the opportunity for a semblance of normalcy.
David has this to say about what he sees as the need for children with CHC, "On average approximately 1.5 million students with chronic health conditions are too ill to attend school on any given day in the United States. Unfortunately, the law only requires a total of 5 instructional hours a week for these students. This is not nearly enough educational instruction time. The Living Through Learning Foundation wants to show families, healthcare providers, and educators, another way.
While David was still at the Tomorrows Children's Institute he began collaborating with New York Hall of Science to deliver programming to one of his students. The student was suffering through a relapse of Leukemia and while going through a bone marrow transplant was going to be isolated. She had to take an extended absence from school so David, reached out to us at the New York Hall of Science and set up a series of Safari Montage sessions where we had the opportunity to instruct many of our programs and workshops for her on a weekly basis.
In the beginning, Rowan was a bit timid and used the chat function to communicate with Anthony, the Hall instructor. After a few sessions she began to open up a little bit more. Sooner it was as if she was a different person. She began showing so much enthusiasm in each of our programs. She had great answers to questions and most importantly she was smiling so much more. Anthony had this to say about the interactions, "I really didn't know what level of interaction I would get from her but I was determined to at least get her to smile. To know that you can have such an impact on someone's life is truly amazing." Watch the corresponding video below to get further reactions from Anthony.
David had this to say about the continuing collaboration with Hall now that he has begun his journey with The LTLF, "We know the Hall shares our vision of ensuring that all learners, regardless of financial means or health circumstances, have the opportunity to access meaningful learning opportunities especially when they are too ill to be in class physically. Their willingness to collaborate with us would be a great first step."
The Living Through Learning Foundation is actively seeking school age learners with CHC that we can work with to connect to quality learning opportunities if you know of any children who this may apply to, please contact David at the Living Through Learning Foundation.