A quiet moment...

...interrupted by me when I said, "This might seem like a strange request, but I really like taking photos of people sitting on the dock. Could I take a photo of you without showing your faces?" They hadn't noticed me but I thought I should ask their permission.  They enthusiastically agreed!  I thought it would be okay with her profile since they had given permission.
A walk in the drizzle, nice to be out early before it started pouring.
Krista called and asked if I'd proofread her paper from one of her 4th year courses. Absolutely! I always love reading her papers and talking to both girls about their studies. What a powerful piece of writing this paper was! I had to read it aloud to G, and we were both very moved by it. The topic was School Criminalization, not a term I was familiar with, and neither was the term "school-to-prison pipeline."  She discussed racism in schools and how students, mostly people of colour, are "...removed from schools due to 'misbehaviours' and placed into correctional facilities."  This didn't come as any surprise to us, just the terms were new. I could feel her outrage as I read, and I had to read it aloud to G. Her concluding sentence: "I plan to continue reading and educating myself about school criminalization to ensure that my classroom will always be a safe place for every individual." I have no doubt that she'll will be an outstanding teacher and will make a difference in the lives of her students.  We've had plenty of discussions with her about our teaching experiences and the racism we've encountered in our work in multicultural schools. It was always our goal to make our classrooms safe places, knowing that we couldn't control what happened in the students' lives outside of school but that we could control what happened in our classes.  My many years working in Indigenous education with Indigenous student teachers who were determined to make a difference gave me hope that things could improve. Krista gives me that hope as well. So proud of her.