Lesson Five: weblinks for humane education

[Melinda Cox]

Social Media: Lesson Five                                                          Melinda Cox

 

I’m part of a grassroots group called the Alaskans for Animal Welfare (AAW).  Quite honestly we are a small group of people that are sick and tired of driving to and from town and seeing the ongoing animal abuse in our community and nothing being done about it.  We helped to petition our local borough legislative assembly to place an animal welfare proposition on the ballet.  We succeeded with the assembly, after several months of testifying but yesterday our local elections were held and the proposition passed by only 13 votes. 

 

Part of our mission at AAW is humane education.  Therefore I’ve concentrated my efforts in this class toward that goal.  Here are some websites I’ve discovered…some rather obvious and a few a bit more obscure that we and others can use. 

 

If you are a teacher please consider including humane education, lifelong giving and philanthropy and the overall theme of compassion and empathy in your teaching goals.

 

 

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• Learning to Give:  http://learningtogive.org/

 

This is a website I’ve never heard of before and it is a wealth of information not just for my passion of animal welfare but for all themes of philanthropy.  It offers free teaching resources for K-12 students.  From their website:

“Vision: All youth are educated and equipped for lifelong engagement in philanthropy as givers of time, talent, and treasure for the common good.

 Mission: Learning to give equips K-12 teachers to educate students as philanthropists with knowledge, skills, and action to make a better world. We connect students' civic lives to academic learning.”

 

• The American Humane Association:  http://www.americanhumane.org/ 

Their mission is to protect children and animals and their goal is to significantly increase the number of children and animals protected from harm.  This protection would significantly enrich the quality of these lives.   This is done through education, advocacy, rescue and promotion.

 

• Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals–Angell Animal Medical Center:  http://www.mspca.org/programs/humane-education/information-for-kids/

The MSPCA was founded in 1886 making them the second-oldest humane society in the United States.  In addition to a seemingly wonderful humane education program they are highly involved “…in animal protection and veterinary medicine.  They provide direct care for thousands of animals each year.”

 

• This link is located in the webpage of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  http://www.mspca.org/programs/humane-education/resources-for-educators/lesson-plans.html

I’ve included it separately because it is a wonderful link to many different lesson plans for humane education from elementary education to adult education.  I didn’t want this link to get buried its homepage website because it contains a wealth of information. 

 

• This is an over 100 page document that lists a large quantity of books and materials to teach and enhance humane education.  http://www.uft.org/files/attachments/humane-ed-resource-guide.pdf

   

 

I can’t impress enough how important it is to teach humane education.  As educators we all see children of all ages that lack empathy in varying degrees.  I am a very firm believer that in addition to teaching the academics, all educators have a moral responsibility to teach children to learn respect, understanding, and compassion.  These websites will give you a wonderful place to start.