Blog 5                                                                                                    Bilqees Shabbir

Group Presentations is like blending colors

             The most exciting activity during the M.Ed. at the University of Ottawa and definitely the most challenging one has been ‘The Group Presentations’.  Exciting, because the outcome was never what I had expected, not in terms of grades but the collective efforts, and challenging because of the diversity of working styles, attitudes, aptitudes, and temperaments etc. It was a different experience every time and was a symbol of our multiple identities, different choices and preferences and cultural backgrounds.

The final product was always very much like a blend of different colors of paints in which there were ‘violent reds’ and ‘delicious whites’ tones, all half-blended, with bright tones bleeding out and around the canvas and lighter tones still struggling to compromise and create an impression in the big painting.

In a Canadian perspective, it was a very true picture of the society based on compromises, smiles, giving space and creating space, trying to contribute to bringing forward a presentable picture of a civilized, groomed, caring nation, which would definitely take time but is a living reality.