OTTAWA -- Students are at home, and parents are trying to find ways to keep their kids learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One dedicated Ottawa teacher is volunteering her time, using the internet to hold daily lessons for her class.
Madame Martin Gagnon teaches Grade 5 at Michaelle Jean Public School in Barrhaven.
Twenty of her 24 students join her every morning at 10 a.m. for class via video conferencing.
“My daughter is in Grade 5, and I was looking at her, and I was thinking about my students, and in the back of my head I said - I have to teach my daughter, she has to have the tools to be successful next year,” says Gagnon.
She decided that rather than just teaching only her daughter, she’d open up the lessons to her class.
“They were my students before, they still are - I want them here, learning with my daughter for what it is that I have to teach her, so I might as well teach my whole class.”
Grace Roswell is in Madame Gagnon’s Grade 5 class, “I like it, because you get to not miss much of the lesson, and you get to learn at home, and you get to see some of your friends.”
Her classmate Zain adds, “because, if we had no work, we would be behind in school.”
Parents, like Danielle Roswell are thrilled, and look forward to the daily lesson,
“She’s an amazing teacher, I knew that since September how amazing she is, and for her to do something like this, there’s no words - I’m just grateful that she’s taken this on.”
Madame Gagnon is making the most out of a challenging situation, “For now, I feel like this - what I have at home is a band-aid, I feel like this is all I can do for now, and it’s what I’m doing.”
