Literacies Profile

For the past year I have been fortunate enough to work part time as a pound keeper at the Pawtucket Animal Shelter in Slater Park. Having been an animal lover my whole life I thoroughly enjoy going to work each day and love what I do. As a pound keeper my responsibilities include maintaining shelter cleanliness, feeding and caring for the animals at our shelter, and assisting in animal adoptions. My work at the animal shelter has enabled me to become literate in caring for the animals at our facility.  

Since I was a child I have always loved animals. When I was eight years old I emailed the same animal shelter that I now work for inquiring about becoming a volunteer. They responded saying that I was unfortunately too young to volunteer but to get back to them once I was old enough. Here I am many years later working at the same shelter where I have been able to become a skilled animal caretaker. I have acquired the skills necessary to become literate in caring for animals through learning from others, practice, and patience.

When I started working at the animal shelter I knew that there were many things I needed to learn. The most important thing I needed to learn was how to properly care for the animals at our facility. I learned how to properly clean, feed, handle, and maintain the overall well being of the animals at our facility primarily from my co workers who were very patient with me. I observed what they did while they gave me advice and answered any questions that they had about their process. Practice was also very important in my process of learning how to become literate in animal care at the shelter.

Once I had learned how to properly clean, feed, handle, and maintain the well being of the animals at the shelter I needed to practice to fully become literate in these areas. I remember feeling overwhelmed when learning how to do animal adoptions because there were so many things that needed to be done throughout the entire process. It took me a few months however I eventually learned how to complete the entire animal adoption process on my own through repetition and practice. While practicing these skills required in caring for the animals at the shelter I learned that patience is also key in becoming literate in a particular skill.

At the animal shelter we get mostly stray animals that are sometime extremely scared when they come in to the shelter and have never had any type of human interaction. One of my jobs is to try to socialize these animals and get them to be comfortable around people so that they can go up for adoption at some point. For some animals this can take some time and we need to move very slowly with them. The best feeling is when they finally let you pet them and give them the love that they deserve. Through this process I’ve learned that patience leads to great things and is key in literacy.

I have learned that the skills of learning from others, practice, and patience that I have used to become literate in animal care can be applied to virtually every aspect of my life and are skills that I try to always practice every day. They will be especially useful for me in my future as a teacher because these are important skills that all teachers should possess to be an excellent teacher. Who would have ever thought that getting paid to pick up poop and play with dogs and cats would help me to someday become a good teacher?

If anyone is ever interested in adopting from the Pawtucket Animal Shelter here is a link to our Petfinder (which is not always up to date due to the high turnover rate of animals at our shelter): http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/RI13.html
Also a link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PawtucketAnimalShelter