Conclusion

I hope that this social media project “Be my voice” is successful. In order to be successful the students need to buy-in to the idea that endangered animals are worth saving. They have to be interested in this topic. I am hoping that I can hook them with my introduction to the topic.  I think the students will be interested in talking about sharks and I hope we can have a good debate or discussion about this idea of fishing and catching a shark. Is that ok? Should we be saving sharks?

I do think these lessons will be engaging because I found them interesting. I created a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a blog for the woodland caribou. I found myself wanting to “play” on these sites rather than work on my project. I wanted to look for information about the woodland caribou so I could tweet some information about what caribou eat. I wanted to make sure what I was tweeting was accurate so it took me a little time to research what caribou eat.  I also decided that the best way to avoid any copyright issues with an image of a Caribou was to draw a picture of one. So I took the time to draw a picture of a woodland caribou so I could have an image to use for my various profiles.  

I did enjoy working on this project and I found some interesting sites when I was researching for various ideas for saving endangered animals.  I really enjoyed to video clip that I found explaining that ranchers in Texas are helping to save endangered African animals because they raise them on game farms for trophy hunters to kill.  I thought this topic would be a great topic for discussion. I had a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that these game farms are saving animals.  I have to disagree because I think whenever you are killing an animal you are not saving it. However, there were some very powerful arguments to support the ranchers.  

I attempted to create my lessons and my problem around the instructional strategy of inquiry based learning. I want the students to attempt solving real world problems. I want the students to find creative ways to create a voice and personality for their endangered animal while learning about the complex issues that relate to why and how animals become a species at risk.

As stated from Wikipedia:

 The role of the teacher is that of facilitator of learning who provides appropriate scaffolding and support of the process, modeling the process and monitoring the student learning.

My role becomes one of an encourager to keep the students motivated and focused on solving the problem.   I want to provide the students with structure at the start and then remove these instructions by the end of the project so the students have the freedom and flexibility to create their own unique solutions.

I struggled a little with trying to find activities for the students that were not highly structured so there would be an opportunity for the students to find their own solutions. I don’t want to tell the students how to make a social media campaign. I want the students to figure that out by themselves. I want them to experiment with how these Web 2.0 tools work and how they link together to share information and increase networks. I will support the students and give them resources if they need extra support or help.  I want the students to form their own opinions and I want these opinions to be based on the facts and information the students learned about their endangered animal.

Finally, I hope the project can answer the question: “How can I be an effective voice for an endangered animal?”  I hope the students offer different answers and/or solutions to this problem. I hope the students realize in hindsight that they have learned a variety of skills including:

·         how to use social media tools;

·         how to create social networks;

·         how to form an opinion;

·         how to voice an opinion with supporting evidence;

·         facts about various endangered animals in Alberta

·         why diversity is important for the planet

·         and what impacts humans have on animals.

In closing I will end with a poem that I found written by  Laurence Overmire from Endangered Species. 

                                   ODE TO AN ENDANGERED SPECIES

Will you not leave us here too long
We have not paid attention
To squander the best of the world
A pity we do not understand
Ourselves
No more you fly in the wind
No more the buoyant ripples on a pristine pool
The splash of color in a worn-tore land
No more
The survivor's sad lament
Yet no weeping will there be when
Your perfect, singular form
Vanishes
The muted salting of a wounded Earth
And all that is and all that ever was will
In some way be
Diminished
For the loss, though unnoticed
Will be recognized
In the stillness of eternal night.