Updates

Wow, I cannot believe I have already been living in Northern WI for a month and a half. Time is flying by and there is only little time left before I am completely done with my placement. Right now I am going to share some non-wolf experiences I have had in the North Woods!

This is a baby kestrel! I had the opportunity to assist Professor Erik Olson with his student's research for the American Kestrel project. I got to climb trees and watch how he does bird banding! 

About 15 feet up in a tree I got to go see these
babies! They were too small to band, but look
how adorable they are. 

Getting to hold a baby girl and boy! 

 So the most exciting thing that I go to do in the last week was, as my captions said, go bird banding with Professor Erik Olson. Olson went to UW-Madison and did his Ph.D. on wolves! He is also a board member of TWA, and how I got this opportunity. Even though I only assisted, which mainly meant carrying a ladder up to a quarter mile and then climb a tree to check if the birds were ready or if there was even birds, I really enjoyed the experience. I had been applying for a lot of Outdoor Education jobs but I think now I am going to aim a bit higher and look for some wildlife tech. jobs. I want to be out in the field, even if it may mean sitting soaked in my pants or walking through poison ivy, that experience made me realize I can't just be an educator. I want to be able to also aid in the research and protection of our wildlife. I am not sure if this program really has prepared me technically for that career path, but I do feel like I have the theory that I need. I understand the human aspects and how to plan for conservation. I want to use that in my future work and not just let it pass by as something I had once learned. So even if I go into an outdoor education job, I already told my husband I will be going to volunteer doing something field like, volunteering on the weekends. Even if that means pulling invasive plants. Also because I am moving to a new area, this is likely where I would need to begin in order to make connections in my new community.

Endless books from the library!

 Onto my continual reading of many wolf books! Well my curriculum in general is looking good. I am feeling proud of my educational database. However, I am still in the position that I am just sifting through all the resources that have somehow landed in my lap. All of these are pretty good and I want to include them! Yet, it is taking me forever! It is good that I am doing this and not starting fully from scratch because many of my ideas have already been written out in lessons. However, not much has been aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core! So I feel like I am contributing to the wolf education community, even if its not original. What I haven't found yet, is much mathematical educational materials! Lucky for the wolf world, this girl is a previous math teacher and has a few ideas of how to integrate math and wolves for the classroom! So once I get done sifting, that is going to be my focus.

Learning about some geology while geocaching 

with my friend Kyle!

Saving turtles crossing the road