Humane EDUCATION: Read about Animals, Write About Animals,
Listen to what the Children are Saying about Animals

Teaching Compassion: A Guide for Humane Educators, Teachers, and Parents by Pamela Raphael with Libby Colman, Ph.D. and Lynn Loar, Ph.D. is a simple guide for anyone who wants to really listen to children and actually hear what they are saying. It provides adults with the necessary tools to help children use their voices so they are heard. The book directs teachers, parents and humane educators on different ways to encourage children to express their thoughts, hopes, dreams and fears – it provides mentors with different ways in which to help children express themselves through creativity and compassion. Poetry, stories and drawings give children an uninterrupted, non-judgmental forum for their deepest emotions and most inner thoughts. Teaching Compassion: A Guide for Humane Educators, Teachers, and Parents is published by The Latham Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education and available for $18.95 from Latham at 1826 Clement Avenue, Alameda, California 94501, www.Latham.org and should be in every school, public and personal library.

Buddy-Up! An Animal Response Journal only Takes Two – A young writer and you.
What is a response journal? A response journal encourages written dialogue between a student and someone else, usually a teacher, but can be a parent, friend or mentor. Typically, the teacher/facilitator asks the student a question and the student answers in the journal. The teacher may pencil in a comment or ask another question as a result of what the student writes. An ongoing dialogue can be an extension of that initial question or a series of questions and comments. The safety of the journal can encourage a student to disclose information about an act of animal cruelty or confide raw emotions about pet loss. The purpose of the journal is to encourage trust, not to pass judgement. Stickers, stamps, doodles make nice additions to the commentary. Corrections and critical comments are not part of the journal entries.

Response Journals enable children to develop a casual dialogue with a trusted adult. The confines of journal pages encourage students to write without inhibition, voice their opinions, concerns and fears without worrying what their peers will think or say. Although a response journal is private, it allows the writer to confide in a trusted adult without fear of retribution. It encourages the writer to ask the “dumb” question that everyone else already knows the answer to.

Possible animal response journal starter questions:

If you could be any kind of animal what would you be and why?

Pretend you are an animal who is abandoned, tell your story.

Did you ever see an animal who needed help, what happened?

What animal are you most like and why?

Put yourself in the position of an animal you would like to live with. From the point of view of the animal, write about your life together.
Write about a character in a story that you’ve read. What made you like or dislike that character.

If you were an editor of the book, what one element would you change? How would that change alter the story?

Read a passage of a book in class and ask the students to write about it – did they agree with what happened, did the animal/person react in the same way the student would have responded? How could the situation be changed so the outcome would be different.

Encourage young animal welfare advocates, who may also be budding authors and artists, to create their own books. Read aloud, My Story by Francis the Bird with help from Carla C. Cain. Discuss the author’s approach to telling Francis’ story. How might the book be different if Ms. Cain was the narrator rather than Francis? The story of one baby bird’s struggle to survive, with the help of a little human intervention, will spark several story ideas in aspiring writers. Ask them to recall incidents when they helped someone or when they were helped by someone else. Experiment with voice. Tell a story from an animal’s perspective – What was it like for the dog who is afraid of thunderstorms to be several blocks from home when an enormous thunder-boom shook the neighborhood? How did the dog view the person holding the other end of the leash as they dashed home? When a kitten first poked out of the cardboard carrier and realized that she was home, what did she feel? What was in the room that told her, this is home? Explore the idea of using photographs rather than drawings. How would this book be different if the reader saw drawings of Francis, rather than photographs? Amateur photographers may want to tell their own story through pictures. Ask children to come up with a story idea, give them a disposable camera and a picture story will evolve. For more information on the book, Francis the Bird, visit www.francisthebird.com.

Become an activist – get involved
When Erin Wrenn, a 6th grader learns about animal cruelty while researching a class paper, she quickly puts her knowledge into action. The fictitious Glitter Tent Circus comes to town and Erin’s class is awarded free tickets. Not only does Erin convince the majority of her class to turn down the tickets, but Erin and her friend, David, organize a mammoth fund- raiser – the students plan to buy Lilly, an abused elephant and send her to a Sanctuary for Asian elephants. Many people join Erin and David their efforts, including the teacher who initially organized the circus field trip. The entire community puts forth a tireless effort to raise $8000 – the price tag the circus owner puts on Lilly. Determination, perseverance and a little luck prevail and, in just three weeks, the students raise the money, pay the circus owner and watch Lilly ride off to the Sanctuary in a huge transport trailer. Every person can make a difference and an organized group effort can, in this case, create an elephantine change.

Use this book as a backdrop to create your own classroom, school-wide or community campaign. Choose an organization or animal you want to help. Maybe you want to sponsor one animal’s care at the local shelter or donate bags of bird seed to a wildlife rehabilitation center. Decide how you are going to raise the money to make your goal. The students in the Saving Lilly organized a multitude of fund-raisers, including – car washes, bake sales, snack sales and raffles. They earned money for completing chores, including lawn work, babysitting, window washing and other household tasks.

Students may consider projects that provide services – volunteering time at organizations, manning a booth at an event, or collecting needed goods that don’t necessarily cost money. The Washington Humane Society is always in need of clean towels and blankets that are used for the animals’ bedding and bathing. Students can hold linen drives or form committees to solicit linens from local hotels and department or speciality stores.

Check out Peg Kehret,’s Saving Lilly, (2001, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) and your local library or look for it and other books with humane themes at your favorite book store. Use books as springboards to create meaningful projects that produce positive outcomes.