At HEART, our goal is to bring humane education to all youth throughout the world, and collaborative partnerships have been essential in helping us reach that goal. Most recently, we partnered with The Animal Protectorates (TAPS), and we would like to thank TAPS cofounders Christy Schilling and Shelley Rizzotti as well as TAPS Vice President, Nicole Herft, for helping expand our education efforts.
Recently, we conducted a day long training in LA on how to teach humane education, and with much appreciated outreach efforts from TAPS we were at full capacity. All 40 participants received a free copy of our Humane Education Resource Guide, and we demonstrated how to teach both activities and lessons from the guide.
Attendees especially appreciated the portion of the training that focused on humane communication strategies. At HEART, we advocate the importance of not just teaching the content of the issues, but creating a safe space for dialogue in the classroom. We want students to feel comfortable to express their true feelings and opinions about whatever topic we are discussing so we can have an open and honest conversation.
Humane education, as we explained during the training, is not about telling students what is right or wrong; it’s about providing an opportunity for students to learn and to decide for themselves how they feel and think about an issue. We create these opportunities by providing students with accurate information, fostering empathy, encouraging critical thinking, and offering opportunities for problem solving.
One classroom teacher said, “Thanks so much for today. The humane education curriculum is really great! And I don’t say that often about curriculum. The teacher [who] was presenting was wonderful. I loved that she was such a good role model for teaching empathy and compassion, yet not in a judgmental, pushing-your-agenda type of way. I really enjoyed it…I thought they [the presenters] were really inspirational!” Shortly after the event, another attendee wrote, “thank you again for the most life-altering workshop! It was so awesome and enlightening!”
By the end of the workshop, many of our participants felt excited about humane education’s power to create a kinder, more sustainable world and were eager to bring humane education to the youth with whom they work. If you are interested in bringing humane education to your community, please contact us at: email@teachhumane.org.
