How to use this school page:
This is the page to introduce yourselves to the other groups/classes in your Learning Circle and post all your challenge contributions.
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We ask you to share not only the results, but also a report of the learning process: how you discussed, planned, divided tasks, enjoyed working on the challenges etc.
Giving and receiving feedback:
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On this school page (below) you'll find text boxes for the feedback from the other groups in your Circle.
We ask you to give each school feedback, in each of the 4 phases of this Circle.
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If you want to give a brief remark to a group, please use the comment box at the bottom of the school page.
Introduction:
Hello Everyone,
We are students of Senator O’Connor College School in Toronto, Canada. Our grade ten Religion teacher (Mr. Visconti) and teacher-librarian (Ms. Szumilas) have introduced us to this great opportunity that is new to so many of us.
A few things to know about us. We are all 15-16 year old and we are all taking this religion course as part of our public Catholic Education in our province of Ontario. Our school recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, and if you check out the Wikipedia page about our school (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senator_O'Connor_College_School), you might notice we have some famous North American actors, athletes, and musicians that have graduated from our school.
There are a lot of different programs that are offered in our school of 1400 students and nearly 100 teachers. We have sports like swimming, American Football, Soccer, Rugby, Field Hockey, Table Tennis. We have clubs like a Robotics Club, a Video-gaming club, an Anime club, a music recording/mixing club, AND we even have our own Me to We group known around school as “Free the Children.” Mr. Visconti has worked with this group in the past, and was even lucky enough to attend We Day last year at the Air Canada Centre.
Toronto is a very diverse city and our class is a small reflection of that. At our school you will find people from many different backgrounds with many different interests. It will be nice to connect with the other classes from around the world, hearing about everyone else’s experiences, interests and perspectives.
GO BLUES!
Here are introductory reflections about our group:
What makes us happy?
Good Anime
Seeing people and helping people in need out of the goodness of our hearts, content people and joyful reunions and laughing faces
Having fun and laughing with my family and friends
Seeing the beauty of God’s creations in the world
Gloomy weather and listening to relaxing music while drinking iced-coffee.
Seeing that I’ve helped others people or that I’ve done the right thing
Knowing I’m one step closer to achieving my dreams
Food
Soccer
Basketball
Family
Nature
Reading
Music
Pets
Disney movies
Spring
Who or what gives us energy?
A good run once in a while
Motivating quotes and videos
Positive vibes from others
Nature
Music
Food
Naps
Tea
How do we relax best?
Watching favourite TV shows and listening to beautiful music
Laying in the grass under the sky enjoying nature
When I don’t have to do anything and my mind is free of all worries
At night, when my mind is fully awake
Alone, no distractions
Reading
Sleeping
How do we think best?
When I’m calm, well-rested and alone in a quiet space, often with music because that is one of the only times I can actually hear myself and contemplate
Alone, when and have time to myself
With my headphones on sitting on my desk with no distractions
On the bus, undisturbed
In the shower
In quiet spaces
The things we HAVE to do
Go to school, eat, sleep
Clean the house
Walk the dog
Feed my dog
Wash the dishes
Sometimes do laundry,
Be home before my curfew
Do my schoolwork
Balance school, friends, home, and church
Obey the law and school rules
Be hardworking to reach my goals in life
Go to church
Get good grades in order to get a scholarship for university
Strive for my best in all that I do and be grateful for all my blessings
The things we WANT to do
Discover all that the world has to offer, all the good and the bad
Travel the world, have a successful career
Stay out later instead of being home at a certain time
Make money
Make my parents proud
Go to a university
Learn different languages and cultures
Learn how to play different music instruments
Have more pets
Difference between WANTING and NEEDING?
Wanting is:
Need is
BASIC NEED is
Food, Sleep, Family
Human contact
Love
Shelter
Clothing
Basketball
We admire
God, my parents and people working hard
My mother and dog
My grandfather, because he was the highest ranking aerospace engineer in Egypt
Grandfather
Those who have no shame and fear in proclaiming their faith even unto death
Those who have the boldness and courage to go out and testify about what God has done
for them without worrying about what the other people will say
As for people in the public eye, Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut, comes to mind
Malcolm X
Robert E. Khan
Who INSPIRES us or brings out the best in us?
God and the people around me
My parents because of how hard working they are, and how much effort they put making me and my siblings happy
Mom
My younger sister brings out the best in me because she looks up to me as a role model, so I want to be a good influence on her
Some musicians because of how hard they work
Little Brother X by Cory Doctorow
What or who helps us to achieve a goal?
Family, Friends and most of all, God
Faith that I am not alone in my journey and doing my best in what I do are what helps me
achieve my goal
I pray about what I need to accomplish and I know that God will give me strength and guidance
Who is important to us?
God, my family, my friends, my peers, all of humanity
Jesus, my family, and my friends
Cristiano Ronaldo
What is important to us?
Cultivating the ability to help people be happy, and to relieve them of the suffering they experience. My number one aspiration in life is to leave each person I interact with at least a little bit better off than I found them. Sometimes this means taking a lot of time to help someone. Many times it means simply making eye contact and smiling to others as they walk by. This effort is so important to me, because I have become acutely aware of how much pain I feel when I have done things that contribute to the suffering of other people, and how much joy I feel when I help someone to be happy.
That I am honest and help all those I can help and try my best in all that I do. Oh. And Anime.
That I get to see the most I can of the world and humanity
Faith, obedience, righteousness, and love
Not failing
Who do we love?
God, my parents, brother, friends and people who try their best
The people in my life
Who loves us?
God, my parents, brother, family and friends
My classmates
Everyone
Myself
What do we appreciate about ourselves?
I try to look beyond the barriers of everyday life and consider the rougher things that come with being human that people in my situation don’t really like to consider
My passion towards others
That I let myself learn new things, which helps me grow and contribute to the world
That I bounce back from bad days and disappointments
That I always work towards my goals
That I strive to be a better me everyday
I appreciate how I always look to see the good in others no matter what they’ve done because everyone has a chance to change
My hair because it’s so nice
Characteristics that we are proud of
My appreciation for the little things and desire to fulfill my curiosity with courage to pursue opportunity despite my own and other’s objections
My organizational skills, my patience and my ability to listen to people in need
My cheerfulness and compassion toward other people
My positivity and how hard working I get when I talk about my passions
My humour
My honesty
My compassion toward other people
Sincerity, intelligence, being a good listener and reliability
That I forgive people when they make mistakes, even if it’s hard
My selflessness and my acceptance
Kindness, helpfulness, thoughtfulness, empathy
Our dreams for the future
I hope to maintain good relations with past and present family and friends and have a huge, loyal and lind family by the end of my life and lots of connections globally.
To be wealthy, have a good job that I enjoy and to be living lavishly.
My dreams for the future are to get into a good University and become a police officer while still being able to play soccer.
My dream for the future is to be able to share the gospel freely and without fear. My
dream is to have a family with God as our foundation.
Pro soccer polayer
My dream for the future is that everyone in the world will have the same opportunities to reach their full potential.
A dream of mine is to write scripts/plots for movies and tv shows and eventually be a producer or director.
Happiness
Our hopes for the future
To help the middle class in dire financial situations that are usually overlooked by the banks with financial education as a financial advisor
To have the freedom to do what I want, when I want and with who I want
To be able to expand my worldview by traveling and teaching English in Japan and the Philippines
To keep my grades high and keep people close to me
To be wealthy, have a good job that I enjoy and to be living lavishly
What do we expect for our future?
To have control over my own time, money and energy
To be able to help if I want because I can
I expect to go to university after school most likely U of T.
To be studying forensic science
To have a family of my own
I expect my future to be bumpy, hard, and full of tears but I also know that joy and peace
awaits me if I stand firm in my faith
To have lots of money
I don’t expect anything for the future because I don’t want to be upset the time my future doesn’t match my expectations. I just go with the flow of my life and wait for what’s going to happen.
I expect that I graduate with a major of family physician and a master's degree of business management in university
I expect to become a successful aerospace engineer. I also want to own nice houses in Toronto and Vancouver. Any extra money I have will go towards a trip back to Egypt to see my family.
Basketball related
Not Sure
Nothing
Contributions Challenge 1:
Living for others means helping others, therefore contributing to the good of the community. When the community flourishes, the people in it, including oneself, thrive. Helping others indirectly helps the individual by providing a sense of accomplishment, pride, and the improvement of the community that the individual lives in and uses the resources from. We are all part of society, and we should value every member of it - including ourselves. The golden rule implies caring and acting for others as much as you care and act for yourself. Caring for others is part of society, but caring for yourself is important, too.
There are many ways that we can do to help others be happy. Often, we are just afraid of doing or saying the right thing and even though we lose the risk of embarrassing ourselves, we also lose the chance of making a change.
Everyone can be friendly. No wars, no dispute, no profit.
We can make the world a better place by:
Ideas for Challenge One
- Write letters to war veterans
- Spend a day helping at a seniors’ residence
Spend more time chatting with others
- Have a clean-up drive
- go around Toronto to feed the homeless
As a group, we have decided to make sandwiches and distribute them to the homeless people downtown. We are planning to do it in early May. Over 5, 000 people are homeless in the city all year round, including cold Canadian winters.
We are having a Skype meeting with .............. group:
on .............. date
at .............. pm/am
Contributions Challenge 2:
My scenario is about someone who is alone, new to the environment or community and a scenario about others not having the simple thing that common or others can have. A meaningful things that I did to someone are giving them some of the clothes or shoes that does not fit me anymore or clothes that I do not like. Also, meaningful things that I did to someone is that giving or sharing them some foods that I am eating. Another meaningful thing that I did for someone is starting conversation to someone that is alone which I rarely do.
Some meaningful things I have done for someone else is simply helping an elderly take out her trash. I saw that she was struggling to walk to her driveway so I decided to walk to her to take out her trash to less her stress for the day. By doing that she was happy for the help and I felt proud for what I’ve done.
I volunteered at a homeless shelter. I made beds and helped distribute meals. Sometimes I talked to the people that came in.
I usually open doors randomly for strangers and help my family do chores.
Some meaningful things I did for others are helping them with a class if their struggling or unsure, lend a friend an extra sweater when it was cold or raining, give up my seat for an elder, etc.
We are having a Skype meeting with .............. group:
on .............. date
at .............. pm/am
We could not set a Skype date with any of the groups. Since Taiwan is 15 hours ahead of us, when they are at school we are asleep since it is a middle of the night.
We contacted a group from Grigore Moisil, But the dates did not work for them. It would have been a much more authentic experience if we could connect with another circle. It is too bad it did not work for us.
Completion:
The students in our class are from different countries like Chile,China,Egypt, Philippines, Russia,Poland and Jordan. Although lots of them were born here, some of them can't speak English or are not good at it. In the class, we should concentrate more than other students, even though it is tiring. sometimes they don't want to communicate with native speakers. their fluency in English may put them under pressure, and some people will not be willing to chat with them. They are more willing to communicate with people of their own country,but in this case, they will not be able to improve his English. This is a drawback and should be overcome.
When I follow, ‘Think, Act, Do’ is that I will do things better and come up with something that is more creative. It may not come up as a good thing or just how I plan it. At least I get a chance to learn towards things that we have made a mistake for. My eye-openers is that when seeing other people who are alone, does not have friends, and/or not being able to have the simple things that common or other people have. What motivated our group or class is that getting more engaged towards other schools or classes that lives across the country and the things that we observe on our everyday life. I turned ME to WE by improving my skills of communicating to others, and sharing things that I have towards others that does not have it.
When I followed the steps, “Think, Act, Do” my decisions were much more thought out and I was able to conclude on the best outcome possible. As well as it made me feel good with the decisions I have made and my overall emotions throughout the day were positive.
My eye-openers were that doing the smallest things for people can have a big impact on them. That there is no small act of kindness. For example, giving up your sit for an elderly on the bus or walking an impaired person across the street. The littlest things can make someone's day.
What motivates my class is each other. We sit in a group of people everyday and connect with each other and overcome challenges we face together. For example, class work we have to do and figure it out together. How I turned ME into WE is I started to talk to more people about Learning Circle and NGO’s to get more people involved in helping bring the world together as a global village.
What happens when I follow, ‘Think, Act, Do’ is that I will do things better and come up with something that is more creative. It may not come up as a good thing or just how I plan it. At least I get a chance to learn towards things that we have made a mistake for. My eye-openers is that when seeing other people who are alone, does not have friends, and/or not being able to have the simple things that common or other people have. My scenario is about someone who is alone, new to the environment or community and a scenario about others not having the simple thing that common or others can have. A meaningful things that I did to someone are giving them some of the clothes or shoes that does not fit me anymore or clothes that I do not like. Also, meaningful things that I did to someone is that giving or sharing them some foods that I am eating. Another meaningful thing that I did for someone is starting conversation to someone that is alone which I rarely do. What motivated our group or class is that getting more engaged towards other schools or classes that lives across the country and the things that we observe on our everyday life. I turned ME to WE by improving my skills of communicating to others, and sharing things that I have towards others that does not have it.
By following the steps ‘Think, Act, Do’, I was able to think of others more than myself. This made me want to do more things for other people.
My ‘eye-openers’ were seeing how differently other people live. This made me realize how privileged I am. I want to do more for other people now.
We all had the desire to help other people.
My class connected with other people from around the world.We all had the same goal, which was to help the less fortunate. We were all thinking of others instead of ourselves
This project helped me have better and safer decisions that I thought I couldn’t do, it also help me think through things more then immediately doing what I wanted because it helped me control my decisions.
My eye openers are probably the experience I never thought I would have, it’s also the things happening in the world currently (e.g terrorist attacks). It helped me realize the the world isn’t going to be nice every time and that we need to live through cruelties and be here for one another.
I haven’t done much for people but I suppose helping people through the hardships they’re going through can be meaningful to someone.
I think what motivated us to go through this circle is the fact that it could open our eyes and see that some people aren’t living the same life as us, we most likely would just turn our backs to people and continue with what we’re doing. But since this learning circle has us, I did feel as if our eyes opened to see reality and accept the fact that it isn’t always rainbow and butterflies.
I turned ME into WE by learning more and experiencing more.
When I was following the steps Think, Act, Do the things that happened to me was that I Vacuumed completed finishing chores with my myself and as a result she got emotionally excited and told everyone of her Neighbors that I was contributing to helping her around the apartment.
During the time of this event My biggest eye openers were motivation (happiness-changing things differently) , actions, and listening to my mother.
When I did these chores for my mother her emotions were shocking and surprised as I doing them.
Motivation showed my group and class that I should accept myself for my own good-body images and reflections and as well as putting in more of my work and effort towards achieving goals in life
The reasons why I turned to Me to We as a prospect was because it has helped and assisted myself throughout the course and duration of life.
My eye openers were seeing how we are so privileged and don’t use it to the extent and seeing other who aren’t privilege but make the best of it.
My eye-openers was the realization that small acts of kindness can make a big impact on the person receiving the action and the person doing the deed.
•Which meaningful things did you do for someone else?
Some meaningful things I did for others are helping them with a class if their struggling or unsure, lend a friend an extra sweater when it was cold or raining, give up my seat for an elder, etc.
•Describe what motivated your group or class.
What motivated my group was all the good deeds we saw other people do for their community online. We were inspired by them to also try and help our environment.
•How did you turn ME into WE?
I think I turned ME into WE by working in groups towards a good cause.
Evaluation:
Feedback from:
Dear Jury of The Global Teenage Project, my name is Francisca Quintana. I did not get any space to write my reflection because I did not receive any feedback, hence why I am writing my letter here. The overall experience I had with this project was amazing. I had the honour and privilege to peer edit three Romanian students' letters. I learned a lot by reading and giving feedback towards their letters. This experience will forever be in my memory and I am happy to have experienced this along with teenagers globally.
Thank you, Francisca
Feedback from:
Angeli Gem Almonte
Jun 1
The general concept of the Project had a lot of potential in theory, But in practice, it was kind of disaster. There was no formal introduction as to what we would be doing and when, so many of us either lost interest or their sense of urgency. We did not have many opportunities to actually connect with students from other schools due to the difference in time zones. It was difficult to complete all the assigned tasks in the general frame of time because the Project did not anticipate that it would be so much responsibility on top of our own general curriculum. There was also much difficulty in accessing to PeerScholar and the range of applications since we did not really have an idea how to use it. I think it would be beneficial to the Project if you switched applications to one easier to access such as Google Classroom or something of the like that could be easier to access and turn in assignments. Other than that, I think the Global Teenage Project has a lot of potential but still has room to be refined.
Aristotle Bougadis
Jun 1
The time difference was great because we all got to work since we were awake, Connecting with everyone that was the same age as us was cool. The technology needs to be improved because other countries don't have the advanced technology that we do.
Noah Girma
Jun 1
1. We got to communicate with children of the same age across the world and we learned a lot about them as we connected with them.
2. What needs to improve is the technology of communication because it wasn't always the best as we had set backs when it came to communicating with the kids.
3. We need to communicate countries that have the same time zone as us so we are able to communicate with them more efficiently
Keith Jasmir Lejao
Jun 1
What I experienced working together in this global classroom is that we get to look at others introduction about themselves, working on some challenges that are being told to do in the global classroom, evaluating the works that each of us do, and completing things that are given. Also, some schools that are part of the global classroom have completed most of their works. What needs to be improved is that maybe submit or turn in some things in time and maybe have a scheduled Skype from each classes that are part of it but the time difference is hard.. What needs to be changed is that some questions can be more specific.
Joshua Manabat
Jun 1
What worked in this process is spreading the word of this program. It was able to open peoples eyes to how other people are in different parts in the word. What needs to be improved are making the program able to work with everyone around the world. for example, how it is difficult to connect with the other groups as well as the technology is a difficulty in the program.
Marina Michael
Jun 1
1. The general idea of the project was very good, but the execution was not thought out.
2. Instructions could be more thorough and detailed so that more people could understand what they're supposed to do.
3. The platforms that are used (the Wiki and Peer Scholar) should be changed. They were very difficult to use and everything turned out to be a disaster. It was hard to complete assignments and tasks on time.
Francisca Quintana-Aravena
Jun 1
In our global classroom, what worked was our patience and access to the internet. We communicated globally thanks to the web. But, your platform, peer scholar, did not work very well when people tried to log in. There were many issues and errors on peer scholar, so I would suggest improving peer scholar. Overall, besides the issues we had with peer scholar, the experience was definitely an experience I will never forget.
Jerome Rajapakse
Jun 1
1.WE had a chance to proof read others work and got communicate with people of the same age group across the world.
2.Technology, the speed of technology and technology communication.
3. The way we communicate and we need to communicate with a country that has the same or near same time zone as us.
Nadeem Sweiss
Jun 1
what worked?
- The time difference worked out well especially since the time difference was so significant. We had to be aware of the other countries time and plan an efficient schedule to provide both our needs for best timing. We had good collaboration, as it worked out great as well because we all worked together. Everyone did their work and participated as connected as a group as teenagers with similar interests.
what needs to improved?
- My opinion for some improvements is to have a better communication with the other countries. Some of the other countries opted out and didn't complete their work and responsibilities. Also, upgrade the technology as some of the equipment in thee other countries were not very useful. This made it very difficult for the other classes to hand it work on time
what needs to be changed
-the technology should be upraged for better communication
Feedback from: "Grigore Moisil" National College for Computer Science
From what we’ve read those people seem to be very kind and fun. They have so many activities in their high school, we would like to go and make a short visit at their high school. From football to swimming and even watching anime sounds very good to us.
Our feedback for the first challenge is that they are very altruistic and good people who are caring about the others first and only then for them. Their ideas would make the world a better place if they will be put in practice. The layout was great and the photos give us something at we should reflect.
Their activities for the local community and the environment gave us a good example because there are homeless people who need help from anyone and even the little things can make their day better. The others should watch them and learn that everyone should give more from them to those people who need more than many of us.
They highlighted the idea that everything we do for others helps the community to thrive.
Made by: Anghel David
Cantemir Horatiu
Nalbantu Octavian
Peter Bogdan
Sarbu Andrei
Scarlat Nicolae
Spinu Razvan
VERY WELL DONE!
PLEASE TRY TO CONCLUDE YOUR WORK...IT S NEVER TOO LATE!
I SAW MANY OTHER COMMENTS...I DON T KNOW HOW MUCH THEY ARE RELATED TO OUR PROJECT AND TO YOUR WORK..
BUT IT S IMPORTANT WHAT WE VE ACCOMPLISHED...TEAMWORK....WE USED THIS WORD....WE...VERY MUCH!
THAT S ALL THAT MATTERS, EVEN IF WE AREN T PROFESIONALS IN THIS FIELD!
Feedback from:
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Feedback from:
Phase 1 
Phase 2 
Phase 3 
Phase 4 
Comments (3)
Anita Townsend said
at 9:09 pm on Apr 16, 2017
I commend you on your project to help feed the homeless in Toronto. Please be sure to give us some feedback on how that went. I sounds like a very rewarding project. Hope all goes well!
Anita Townsend said
at 9:07 pm on Mar 19, 2017
Welcome back from your March holiday. Hope you had a great time! We look forward to your next postings!
Anita Townsend said
at 12:10 am on Mar 9, 2017
Senator O'Connor School, Thank you for sharing with us all of your reflections on life! Look forward to seeing your work in the wiki!
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