Working at the Zoo…
Believe
it or not, working at a zoo for the past two summers has really given me the
opportunity to fine tune my teaching skills.
The most obvious connection between working at the zoo and teaching is
that I actually TEACH the public about the animals. On a daily basis, I interact with guests
(mostly children) and educate them about the animals and answer any questions
they may have.
I am teaching a family about rabbits during a birthday party.
Running birthday parties
was also a great way to practice my classroom management skills!
I
also often work directly with the animals in the zoo. Working with animals is very similar to
working with children. Here are a few
aspects of working at a zoo that also apply to working as a teacher.
1.
You
must be able to think on your toes.
Things change every second and it is extremely important for a teacher to be
very flexible. This also applies when
working with animals because they are so unpredictable and you must be able to
react to any action. For example, while
I was teaching children about ducks during a birthday party, the duck decided
it would be a good time to go to the bathroom on me. Obviously the children reacted to the event
with screams and laughter. I took this
unexpected action to be a teachable moment and explained to the children why
birds must go to the bathroom so often because of their need to be light enough
for flight.
I am teaching a child about what our budgies (small parakeets)
eat.
1.
You
must have patience. When
dealing with classroom management, it is very likely that students will not do
everything correctly the first time and every time thereafter. Therefore, I am a strong believer in practice
and routine to allow the students to understand the classroom procedures and
what is expected of them. Similarly,
when working with animals, it is highly unlikely that they will perform
whatever task you desire the first time they try it. For example, when our stingrays were brand
new they were very nervous about coming up to people. We spent hours each day with our hands in
their pool until they finally got the courage to allow people to touch
them. With this daily practice, they are
now able to come up to almost every single hand that is in the pool.
I am teaching a group of people the proper way to touch a
stingray.
2.
You
must understand that every child (or animal) is unique. Every child has their own special skills
and needs. I believe a teacher’s lesson
plans must be designed using differentiation to best be able to reach all of
the students in the classroom. I also
think it is important for teachers to learn about each student’s interests
outside of the classroom and dreams for the future and use this knowledge to
create lessons that will grasps the student’s attention. Similarly, animals (even of the same species)
all have their unique needs and personalities.
For example, we have six wallabies and some of them are relaxed around
people and this allows me to have zoo guests pet these wallabies. However, other wallabies are much more timid
and I must make special circumstances for them so that they are not too
stressed in their environment.
I am teaching a family about the differences between wallabies
and kangaroos.
As
you can see, working at the John Ball Zoo has allowed me to further my teaching
skills by working daily with children of elementary age as well as working with
animals who have some of the same basic needs as children.