RightFit

On December 13, 2018, Dr. Asaf Gilboa and Dr. Rosanne Aleong went to visit us to hear our thoughts regarding the work that we were currently doing which is the Pro-pro Chart, as aforementioned in the past blog. The process would be: Dr. Asaf and Dr. Rosanne would have time to sit in each group separately to help them express their thoughts and insights freely and without restrictions from each other. This would help us screen the information in a direct communication given by each of them without them framing each other's thoughts, for as we later on discovered, the two of them also have conflicts going on and have their own parts/themes they want to highlight.  We talked to Dr. Asaf Gilboa later after we had talked to Dr. Rosanne. In a short period of time, we found out two things from Dr. Asaf. First, he exhibits that the majority of the students coming into the institution are under the category of raising their hands, estimation of 90% and 10% under tappin...

Orientation/Recruitment geared towards applicants from TORONTO who we may know VERSUS students we do not know that may be from OTHER INSTITUTIONS/OUT of PROVINCE/INTERNATIONAL. Our newest task is to distinguish the tensions and find out who benefits by each tension and create a draft pro-pro chart. Later, Baycrest will visit us to check out where we are, and if we are on the right track. Before creating a pro-pro chart, we defined what the two tensions meant, one side for people who we may know and one side for people we do not know. Defining what they mean will help us have a better understanding of the two tensions. Next, we had to establish our stakeholders. We asked ourselves, who would benefit if the institution hired someone they know? Who would benefit if they hired someone they do not know? We decided to pick the RRI, students that get tapped on the shoulders and students that raise their hands.  Students that get tapped on the shoulders are students that are...

Jamison wearing the maroon dress shirt, Nogah on his left. An addition to our trip to UofT, we were given an opportunity to interview Jamison Steeve. Mr. Essabhai and his previous classes have been going to UofT for interviews with other people. He would ask for someone who has an interesting and outstanding career. The purpose of the interview is for us to have guidance or a role model in life. Especially in terms of leadership and career choices. Hopefully, by doing the interview, we acquire a lesson that we can use in our own life. The best candidate is Jamison Steeve. The day before we interviewed Jamison, we were told to email Mr. Essabhai some questions. After, he gave every group a printed out sheet with questions. It was funny to see more than half of the questions Mr. Essabhai printed out, were created by Joshua and Christine. Most of the questions were answered even before it was asked. Jamison had an amazing quote that stood out to us, "Every job has a tax, ...

The University of Toronto invited us for a workshop with Nogah Kornberg. Nogah would improve our process of integrative thinking. Nogah had a great idea by answering any questions so we get comfortable. With that thought in mind, Joshua asked, "Who is your celebrity crush?" There were a lot of giggles and the atmosphere went from serious to foolish. It definitely helped our group connecting with Nogah. After the questions, Nogah gave us an activity. Create ideas to support student well-being at John Polanyi, write it down on a sticky note and stick it on a chart paper. She explained how no idea is a bad idea. If you have an idea, then write it down and explain to your team about your thinking. With all of the ideas, we came up with, we split them into 3 groups. Seen before (Top right), could be fun (bottom) and out of this world (Top left). We amazing ideas such as mandatory therapy/counseling, creating a system where you have friends in all of your classes and more. ...

Mr. Essabhai gave us the most nerve-racking task ever. Meeting Taddy Blecher. He is a management consultant and educational entrepreneur. Before we met him in person, we knew he created a free university in South Africa, and he featured in Roger Martin's book, Opposable Mind Ch 7. When Mr. Essabhai announced we were going to meet Taddy Blecher, we were all nervous. We pictured a scary, intimidating man. When you actually meet him, we swear to you, he is the most passionate man alive about  the education system in South Africa . He  would give students the interest, excitement, and motivation to be part of his journey .  He came into our classroom and observed what we have been doing for the past few weeks. Causal models, pro-pro charts, system maps, and data dumps. Then, we all gathered around and talked about our school system, what makes this class unique and what's happening in South Africa. With the passion that he has, without a doubt, he emer...