Serendipity Semantics
October 27, 2025 – National Black Cat Day
First, I would like to acknowledge that today is NATIONAL BLACK CAT DAY. I am feeling super proud and excited. It’s the first one I have celebrated. Simon joined our little family when I moved into my new place last year in November. We have not been in this house yet for a year, and we have the opportunity to celebrate black cats, more specifically, Simon. She moved into the house on the first day we got possession of the house and she even slept overnight at the house with the kid. She welcomed her new home and we could not imagine life without her. You you, Simon!! It’s your day!!
Second, I was planning to write about my weekend at Vancouver. I went to the CATE (Canadian Association for Teacher Education) Fall Working Conference 2025 at UBC. Because I was so budget-conscious, I opted to leave on the 5:30am flight out of Prince George on Thursday and taught my 8:30-11:20am class remotely from the WhiteSpot restaurant at YVR. Aside from spending a fair amount on UBER and taxi, and early morning start to the day, I really enjoyed the CATE Working Conference. The working conference is intended to be formative, supportive, and mentoring to early scholars (and experienced) to publish a chapter. The topic of this book is about relationality and place-based or land-based learning. I had submitted a proposal in the summer to co-author with 3 recent teacher education graduates. We submitted twice to ensure a clear connection to teacher education and we were accepted to participate. That said, the three “new teachers” were not able to attend the working conference, and I was there to represent the crew. Admittedly, I was not sure what to expect and I did spend some time re-navigating our proposal in terms of approach and methodology. We were grouped with “Working with Indigenous Communities.”
From what I understand, at this point in time, there is a potential to have 26 chapters in this e-book. That means, there were at least 26 submissions to participate in the fall working conference and thus, we were all subdivided into small groups based on theme or commonalities. I thought I would have been put in the “pedagogies” group, but that was not the case. The small working groups are revealed at the conference at the beginning of day 2. The first day was more about gathering and listening to the first keynote speaker, Dr. Jan Hare, the Dean of the UBC Faculty of Education and new Canadian Research Chair for Indigenous Pedagogies. She shared part of her recent work and presented on “Shifting the Curricular Landscape of Teacher Education Through Land Education.” The talk was thought-provoking, and then we went out for dinner at a restaurant on campus. Day 2 was the REAL working day, and Day 3 was more about finishing up any work on Day 2 for any of the small working groups and then reconvening to share our project, feedback, and next steps with the entire group. It was a fast 3 days, and I loved every minute of it. I loved connecting, learning, and feeling connected.
Finally, the heart of this blog post (aside from National Black Cat Day), will focus on Day 2. When I found out my group and theme, I was not certain if I was in the right group. We started Day 2 with a quick check in and then we went into our small working groups. After a few quick introductions, we started to go in numerical order (each blind proposal was numbered) to provide feedback to each author. We were strategic and proceeded to give each author group 18 minutes or so with feedback and discussion. Our small group is the photo above. As each paper proceeded, we started to build up lots of momentum. Each paper topic was so interesting yet interrelated or at least relatable to each of the papers/authors. We had rich feedback and discussion on each proposal. When it came time to stop and watch a panel that was being video streamed in, we opted to keep going with the feedback discussions. Of 7 author groups, we finished 4 in the morning, and then 3 in the afternoon. I felt that we honoured each of our proposals and provided feedback respectfully and wholeheartedly. I was certain after our day together that I was in the right group. I feel very happy and grateful. I could feel the joy growing amongst us.
Midday, we had a wonderful presentation by Dr. Jennifer Tatabe from the University of Auckland, providing a talk titled, “Shifting Ground: Exploring Place and Equity in Aotearoa New Zealand.” It was a super engaging talk and it’s a phenomenon that’s happening everywhere. I loved that talk. Before lunch, UBC Faculty member, Indigenous scholar, and teacher educator Marny Point spoke to the whole group about the territory and the First Peoples Principles of Learning. Even though it was originally intended to be a walking tour, the RAIN was relentless. LOL. All is good. She gave each of us a piece of cedar from her back yard. I just loved it. And, I was reminded of the First Peoples Principles of Learning and the work was are doing in BC education. I also appreciated the dinners out on Friday night at UBC and on Saturday at Hydra in downtown Vancouver. It was an excellent opportunity to connect and meet new people. There were many familiar faces, and many more to meet and learn more about. In the end, I had a tonne of fun and learned lots.
On Friday, I was having a conversation with a colleague and he was sharing a story about how he met a particular person. I said it was SERENDIPITY (definition: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way [Google]). Ooo… I love that definition. He said, it was RELATIONAL (definition: concerning the way in which two or more people or things are connected [Google]). I was taken a back by that response, but I don’t disagree. Throughout the weekend, I continued to think about the SYNERGY (definition: the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects [Google]) forming within the small group and pondered the notions of relationality and serendipity. I am left to wonder, could it be both? Maybe it’s not one or the other, but the intersection between the two terms. Nonetheless, I loved the weekend and feel VALIDATED, seen, and heard at this conference. Thank you small group, and thank you to the facilitators, presenters, and authors for making this event so wonderful.