My flower is from the Hawthorne area near the UBC campus. I park my car there every time I come to campus and I always see this particular flower. To be honest I don’t have a great interest in nature, but flowers have always intrigued me.

With the recent change of season and weather, it was really neat to see this flower standing strong. Before I took this flower, there weren’t many left, so the imagery of this beautiful flower lounging in the cold cloudy day illustrated a very deep juxtaposition for me.

I learned a lot from this juxtaposition but one that stood out to me is that like this flower, many of the children and adults I will meet will be very resilient despite the weather conditions surrounding them. My role as an educator is to take the time to acknowledge their strength, beauty and warmth and embrace them in all that I can do.

When I look at this flower, I truly wonder if children, especially the ones who don’t vocalize their emotions and thoughts would be easily noticeable for me. How can I along with other Teacher Candidates make a positive reinforcement in supporting our students during practicum who are dealing with bad weather conditions?