The Conversation
Dawn Thompson
Faith In Humanity Restored! Watch This Teacher's Serenade For Her Quarantined Students
During the coronavirus pandemic some teachers have been going above and beyond to let their students know that they care, and that they're still there for them, even if they don't see each other every day.
When Dawn Thompson, a pre-K teacher at Elijah. G. Stroud Elementary School in Brooklyn, NY, was missing her students, she decided to visit them and tell them how she felt with a song.
Thompson traveled to each of her 21 students' homes in NYC with a speaker and a handmade sign that read, "I'll Always Be Here!" At each stop, she belted out the famous Marvin Gaye tune, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" as the children and their families watched from a safe distance.
While Thompson has been using Zoom to connect with her students each day, she wanted to do more.
"I'm like 'this is not enough," Thompson told ABC News. "I need to see them. I need to let them know that I'll always be here. They're so used to seeing their friends every day and seeing me every day and getting hugs, and now they're confined."
Thompson reached out to the families first to see if they were okay with her idea, and once they agreed, she set out to spread smiles to all of her students, one by one.
"[Thompson didn't just] sing the chorus, but the entire song in front of our apartment," one mother said. "It was great. I mean, I think at that point, [the students] hadn't been in school in a month-and-a-half and that was right when they were realizing they weren't going back anytime soon."
The students were thrilled to see their teacher, and a video of one of her performances even made it into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's daily coronavirus newsletter.
While Thompson continues to communicate with her students through online learning, she said getting the chance to see them in person and connect through song was much more fitting.
"It's not good enough to stand there for a picture. I'm from the Caribbean, from Trinidad, we love music," she said. "Music is a part of our life, especially if you want a song that says something."
What an incredible act of kindness. We're sure Thompson's students were smiling all day after getting such a special, personal performance!
