Opening Doors

Rebecca and her colleagues went to traditional lands today, to a long house, for more training about how to work with the Truth and Reconciliation Report.

I went to school with Rebecca this morning  before her departure.  I was attending the third of her crim law classes this semester.

I sit in the second row from the front and am a group of my own. The rest of the class are in groups of sixes and sevens with specific names: The Group of Seven, Hogswarth Professors, Supreme Court Judges, Harry Potter’s Pets, etc. 

She told them that the relationships they build in their groups will be part of their capital as lawyers.  I gain no such riches.

They collaborate on answering the questions in the hand-outs. I work on my own.

Today they were told what will be on the final exam. Not that Rebecca has written it yet. But she gave them the shape of their final exam.

"A closed book exam."

The collective shoulders of the class slump.

"But you may bring in your Canadian Criminal Code Book (CCC)."

A gift. And then someone in the class opens their book (one of the only 2 people who have brought it to class) and says, “There are 50 empty pages in the CCC. Can we fill these in.”

"Yes," she says  "write your hearts out, fill up those pages, and you are also allowed to bring in a cheat sheet – two 81/2 x 14 inch sheets of paper. You may write on both sides in as small as 3 pt if you desire, in fact I urge you to think about the skeletal structure of what you have learned this year and have it on those 2 sheets.  And your book can be as heavily annotated as you choose.  Just no pull out sheets that are yards long, nor any fold out dioramas.”

I don't know if they get her humour yet, but I do.

Arta