Video conferencing helps former Woodland student with cancer attend school

By Mary Ann McGann

Warren, NJ – Woodland School fifth graders sat in groups of four and five on Dec. 7, discussing “A Dog’s Life: The Autobiography of a Stray’ by Ann M. Martin as part of a seemingly typical reading lesson.

Not so typical was the video conferencing equipment in a corner of the classroom that allows a former classmate, 10-year-old Peyton Walton, to join in the conversation from her home 200 miles south in Maryland.

“I think the author wants to show what stray dogs have to go through when they are separated from their family,” Peyton says, in response to a question from a fellow student.

Peyton was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer in June as she and her family were relocating from New Jersey to Maryland. She had immediate surgery to remove a large tumor, followed by rounds of chemotherapy and radiation in Washington D.C. and New York.

Hoping to “give Peyton a chance to feel like a normal kid,” Woodland fifth grade teacher Colleen Krumm invited her former student to participate in so-called Accountable Talk sessions, a student-centered approach to reading that encourages students to think more deeply about the text and to ask and respond to higher level thinking questions.

“Peyton is a keen observer and very mature for her age,” says Krumm who taught 4th grade last year.

Peyton and many of Krumm’s current students were in her class. The equipment used to connect Peyton to her friends at Woodland is on loan from Cisco, arranged by Stephen Krause, a Woodland parent who works for the technology company.

“Peyton misses a lot of school and the ability to participate in classroom activities virtually continues her growth and progress so that she can make a smoother transition when she returns to school on a regular basis,” Krumm says. “Her mom always tells me that she really enjoys our sessions and talks about them long after they’ve ended.”