by Jessica Ennis
 Eight-year-old Tyler Rowland is a good student. During first grade, he made the honor roll because his grades were so high. This year, he's had a harder time in school because just two weeks after beginning the second grade at Rutherford Elementary School in West Tennessee, he was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma, a type of cancer.
He needs up to six months of treatment at the Childhood Cancer Program at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, which is nearly three hours away from his hometown and elementary school.
Since he can't go to his own school, school has come to him. Tyler is enrolled in the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital School, a free private school located on the eighth floor of the Children's Hospital.
Dressed in a sweatsuit and house shoes, Tyler carefully takes a handful of tiny plastic clowns out of a container and lines them up, one by one. He uses the clowns to help him count out the correct answer to a math problem in his workbook.
That's where Seely, the hospital school teacher, steps in. Mary Laurens, who received her master's degree at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, is the first school teacher hired by Children's Hospital.
She helps patients like Tyler keep up their schoolwork during their time at Children's Hospital, in hopes that an extended absence won't keep them from advancing.
"School brings normalcy to the patients, and my goal is to try to prevent patients from repeating a grade because of their illness or injury," Seely said.
Often patients are very self-motivated to keep up with their schoolwork because they don't want to fall behind their peers.
Seely can teach every grade and give out any teacher's tests as well as state-mandated tests. She also has about 10 volunteers with teaching backgrounds in a variety of subjects to assist her with the students.
"I typically handle all patients who are in elementary school. If I don't feel comfortable teaching advanced science or math, I'll assign a volunteer to help the patient," she said.
When he's not being treated as an inpatient, Tyler comes from the Ronald McDonald House to Children's Hospital for school as  many times a week as he can for one-and-a-half hour sessions.
The typical-looking classroom is filled with child-sized tables, chairs and bean bags, colorful bulletin boards and is stocked with workbooks and textbooks.
If Tyler and other patients like him are confined to their hospital bed, Seely will go to their room to help them with their studies.
Tyler's mom, Kay Ballentine, says Seely been a blessing.
"He understands that he has to come here every day and he has been really good," she said. "He has always been a good student and he made the honor roll at school last year."
Patients do not have to enroll in the Children's Hospital school to receive services. Some patients just need tutoring after a short absence from school, some need assistance because they are frequent inpatients and sometimes parents need help setting up home care if their child requires an extended recovery. Seely also will be the go-between from the hospital to the school if a school needs to be notified of a student's absences due to hospitalization or medical reasons.
It's a confusing and stressful situation for parents to worry about both the health and education of their child.
"My favorite part is working with families and helping them navigate their way through the school system," Seely said.
Her own family consists of her husband, Bryan, her son, Zim, 4, and daughter, Eliza, 2.
Seely will individually tailor her teaching style to meet the students' needs. Some students respond best while working on the computer, others like writing on the portable whiteboard and blackboard.
She found that Tyler likes to learn interactively. He enjoys reading stories with sound and animation on the computer. When learning about currency, he asked Seely if he could set up a store and put prices on items. In one corner of the classroom, Tyler's School Store is complete with school supplies and a toy cash register.
Seely has found through experience that teaching science by making green "goo" is a fail-proof way to engage her students.
"Kids love the goo. Tyler wouldn't talk to me the first three weeks I was teaching him. Finally, I asked him if we made green goo, would he please start talking to me? The goo worked and he made good on our agreement."
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