00:00:00.000class is in session. Hey, everybody, and welcome to unlearn 16 classes in session and class is
00:00:10.160really in session because I'm in my classroom right now. And I'm doing simultaneously as I
00:00:16.600am doing this podcast, I am doing a live so I can answer questions as we go. And everybody can
00:00:25.240sort of give their opinion or throw in their questions and talking about Metro Prep Academy
00:00:32.040and what we're doing here and how we're doing it. I was thinking about doing this podcast a little
00:00:38.960while ago and I'm like, oh, I don't want to do it. I don't know how to do it properly. And I don't
00:00:43.460necessarily if I want to admit all of the stuff that I'm going through at this time. But then I
00:00:48.160thought, yes, doing a podcast about fear is probably one of the most important things that
00:00:57.020you can possibly do. Understanding that doing something you are scared of has a level of power
00:01:05.600that you've never seen before. And I think to talk about what I'm afraid of and to talk about
00:01:12.720all those things is by far the most important thing, right? So guys, listen, I've been a teacher
00:01:20.500for 22, going on 23 years. And right now, Ryan and I and an amazing team at Metro have helped
00:01:31.520save Metro Prep and are starting this school. Even though we have these beautiful foundations,
00:01:37.700I am starting in a vice principal role, director of admissions role. Ryan is principal. He was vice principal for a very long time. And we are taking everything head on. We are taking the things that had beauty and that had use from sort of previous years.
00:01:57.020And then we're making brand new things as we go along and including new ideas and including new possibilities as we start this process.
00:02:09.540And that's what's terrifying, in all fairness.
00:02:12.820What's terrifying is the idea of the unknown.
00:02:16.300The idea of not doing things the way you've always done them.
00:02:20.020because for the most part, that kind of monotony breeds a level of comfort, right? I joke all the
00:02:30.100time. I joke all the time, guys. And I say, monotony is the spice of life. I love it.
00:02:35.800You want to know why I love it? Because I know what to expect and it makes my heart like calm,
00:02:40.660but that's why we jump into monotony. And then when something crazy happens, we don't know how
00:02:47.260to handle it, right? So now at the beginnings of transitioning into all of this, and it's really
00:02:54.600not change as a problem, it's a transition. It's all kind of scary. So I am going to do podcasts
00:03:01.740and lives from here. And I'm going to be wickedly honest about every single step we are taking,
00:03:08.880what's happening. I would love it if you guys give me any feedback that you have
00:03:13.700in the comment section because I think this is the most important thing to talk about
00:03:20.520is talking about this kind of transition and how terrified I am.
00:03:31.660Guys, I am terrified right now. I'm terrified and excited at the same time. I'm going to give
00:03:39.020you a metaphor. When I learned to surf, I always wanted to surf because I love the ocean and I love
00:03:44.700what's in it. And always, let's be honest, surfers just look cool. Right. And I learned how to surf
00:03:49.920as I was learning. There was something, if anybody's a surfer in here, there is something
00:03:55.240terrifying, like mortal, like morally terrifying. Like at any moment, if you've been turned by a
00:04:02.860wave, you know that it's scary and you're high up and you're going fast. And at the exact same
00:04:09.420moment, it's this level of calm I've never felt, right? And that's how I feel right now.
00:04:19.840Starting this school and being at the precipice of this beautiful, beautiful thing,
00:04:25.680I feel that exact same feeling right and now I need to take it step by step now there's a lot
00:04:33.820of things about starting a new school especially in Toronto that you have to take into account that
00:04:39.360I never wanted to know guys insurance I don't want to know about it insurance photocopiers picture
00:04:47.300day organizing forms for class trips I mean all of these things these administrative things that
00:04:54.980I got to just like segment out of my, somebody else handled it, right? Now sitting where I'm
00:05:01.400sitting, what I realize is this, you need to sort of understand the big picture.
00:05:08.980If you're going to actually run a school, right? If you're going to actually run a school,
00:05:17.720you have to understand all the moving parts. You don't have to be an expert at all the moving parts.
00:05:22.980But I think in a lot of cases, people get really good at their narrowly focused job and just do that and nobody else does it. And I think that has some problems. It has problems kind of in the same way. This is where I'm envisioning it because I've spent so many, so many days in the emergency room with my mom. It's kind of like having specialists.
00:05:42.020it's kind of like having specialists in the medical field, right? Heart specialists,
00:05:48.940neurologists, nephrologists, whatever. They have these specialist fields, but nobody's
00:05:54.320really taking account of the big picture. And if you can't take account of the big picture,
00:06:01.020the system itself will start to fracture some of it because you fix the heart, you hurt the
00:06:06.320kidneys. You fix the kidneys, you can hurt, you know, inflammation issues, whatever the situation
00:06:13.060is, right? So I need to jump into this, even though I don't necessarily want to know everything.
00:06:22.260And again, we have a beautiful team that's going to become experts, that's going to become the
00:06:27.360cardiologist and the nephrologist. However, you need to have somebody sitting at the top. You
00:06:32.740need to have somebody as seeing the whole picture. Does that make sense? You need to have a whole
00:06:39.520picture. And right now, I'm telling you right now, the whole picture is overwhelming, is
00:06:46.880overwhelming, right? I got curriculum, I got teachers, I got backend stuff of website creation
00:06:54.980and all that kind of stuff. I have admissions process, which by the way, I'm completely changing
00:06:59.300and I'm putting that TikTok up tomorrow or up later today. All of these things that are there
00:07:04.620and all of these balls in the air, right now it feels like a bit like a tidal wave because I don't
00:07:09.000have anything on lock. But right now is the time to get it on lock. And even better, now's the very
00:07:19.000important time to understand what are the most important things to have on lock. And here's the
00:07:25.580hard part. I've been a teacher in the same school for 23 years, right? There is no way that 23 years
00:07:34.400has been perfection, but we all have been socialized. Oh, you guys are going to love it.
00:07:38.760It's going to come fully around to my name. We have all been socialized to do things in a certain
00:07:43.600way. I have been painting today for everybody looking at my hands right now. We're painting
00:07:48.080green, socialize in a certain way. And metros always kind of run in a very specific, you know,
00:07:57.080method. And the hard part right now is unlearning that. Not throwing it all out, but unlearning,
00:08:04.480okay, what works? What's powerful? What's powerful for today that maybe, or what isn't
00:08:12.380powerful today that was powerful 20 years ago, right? Everything has to change.
00:08:18.080And everything always changes. So a truly brilliant person, which I do not claim to be,
00:08:25.960a truly brilliant person isn't there because they know everything. A truly brilliant person
00:08:31.560is there and is brilliant because they understand they don't. And they understand how to differentiate
00:08:40.120from good ideas and bad ideas. They understand when to put their ego down, when to put their
00:08:44.900idea down, when to listen better. And I'm getting better at that. Now, I'm getting better. I'm not
00:08:52.300great, guys. I'm not great, but I'm getting better at that. And I think that's the very important
00:08:58.220part. So right now at the beginning of this school, right, I have all of these amazing people
00:09:03.880in different places, in different parts of the country, for crying out loud, trying to bring in
00:09:08.820new ideas. And I'm not going to lie. Sometimes I'm like, nah, I don't want that one. I don't like
00:09:14.660that one, right? I don't like that idea. Or that idea conflicts with the stuff that's already been
00:09:20.280socialized in my head. So I got to figure out how to put that stuff down. And Ryan does this
00:09:27.720beautifully. Ryan, I think, is better at this than I so far. I'm getting better. I'm getting better,
00:09:35.420but he's better at it so far. But I'm definitely going to be talking about things like admissions.
00:09:40.740I'm talking about things like, what kind of culture do we want to create? I'm talking about
00:09:45.280things like, this school is going to be great, but it doesn't have to be perfect for every single
00:09:53.240student. There is no way to do that. There is no way that one school can be perfect for every
00:10:00.000student's needs. Here's the key, I think. The key is figuring out what can you do well, how can you
00:10:08.540do that and be honest about what you can do and how you can do it. Does that make sense?
00:10:17.520Because I think so many schools, private and otherwise, promise the moon. Well, they promise
00:10:23.120the moon. They promise the moon because they want you to come to their school. And I don't even mean
00:10:29.700that in a negative way, like, oh, just pay us the money. And no, no, no, no, no. I honestly believe
00:10:35.360that most schools are understand and want to understand their students and want to give them
00:10:41.180everything they possibly can give. Here's the problem. I don't know how many schools are really
00:10:48.040being truthful with themselves about what they're good at and what they're not. Does that make sense?
00:10:55.360I think you need to understand what your school does well and what it doesn't do well. And sometimes
00:11:04.540you need to bolster what it doesn't do well and also understand, okay, but maybe that can't be
00:11:10.340our thing because you can't be all things. If you can't be all things, right? If you can't be all
00:11:17.760things, admit it. Admit it. Don't over promise and under deliver. Admit it. I honestly even
00:11:26.520believe that parents would appreciate that so much more and might even be more likely to send
00:11:32.060their kid there because they're like, oh, then you're not trying to pretend that you're
00:11:36.960everything. No. No, I'm not. I'll tell you what our core values are. Are you ready for
00:11:45.660it? Because I think this could be a tagline. We're a school of character, bracket S. You
00:11:53.260with me? We are a school of character, bracket S, meaning the point of this school is what's in here
00:12:02.140and what's in here is so unique and so powerful and so full of potential that we have to make
00:12:10.080space for the S. We're a school of characters, right? That's who we are. That makes sense to
00:12:19.420me. Teaching the student, not the curriculum makes sense to me. Understanding the student and what
00:12:25.860they need and how you can pull that out and how you can increase what they're good at or no,
00:12:31.460they're not so good at, you know, and, and big them up for the things they're great at.
00:12:36.200We're a school of characters. That's where we start. Right. And I understand marks matter.
00:12:43.720Listen, marks are going to matter for everybody. Why? Because that's how you get into university.
00:12:48.720Here's my problem. Let's all admit, let's all admit right now, standardized tests don't work.
00:12:56.580People are throwing them out left, right, and center, number one. Number two, marks and marking
00:13:02.000systems differ from school to school. They are somewhat subjective. The way you teach to a test
00:13:08.880is somewhat subjective, right? But admitting that is okay. Can we just admit that? There's no
00:13:17.820objective way to do anything. I just don't think it exists. Stop admitting this pretense of
00:13:28.180objectivity. And then you can start to understand that getting at learning is a process, not an end
00:13:37.560result. And if it's a process, not an end result, then the marks are important and you will allocate
00:13:44.400them. But my judgment, this is people in high school constantly will come in to Metro and
00:13:50.900they'll say, how many kids go off to university? What's your percentage, right? And our percentage
00:13:55.260is very high. Here's my problem. You're judging us by the wrong metric. If you want to judge me
00:14:04.760as a teacher or Metro as a school, as we start this amazing adventure, don't judge us by how
00:14:12.280many kids get into university? Because to be honest, that is pretty consistently accessible.
00:14:22.360Judge me, judge our ability to educate, judge our ability to empower by how those kids do
00:14:31.220when they leave my classroom. How do they do in college, university? How do they do if they've
00:14:38.440started their own business, how do they do? That is where judgment lies, not did they get into U of T.
00:14:49.620Did they get into U of T? That's not the end. Otherwise, schools just be handing out 97s.
00:15:01.660When I say you're getting into universities accessible, I mean markwise, number one.
00:15:07.620Number two, we're also in Canada. Like when I'm talking to you right now, I'm speaking from
00:15:12.940Ontario and our educational system is very subsidized post-secondary education. So on
00:15:21.880average, tuition, tuition to an Ontario school is seven grand a year. That's accessible. I don't
00:15:33.440think it's perfect. And there's OSAP and there's loans and all of those things. There's Ontario
00:15:37.420grants, but seven grand a year is accessible. It's not like the United States, right? $7,000 a year
00:15:47.540is not like asking for $50,000 like in the United States. Now, does that mean you'd have to work for
00:15:54.200it sometimes depending on your family? Absolutely. Absolutely. Ontario actually gives out Ontario
00:16:00.140based grants that charge no interest until six months after you graduate. So you can have access
00:16:06.320to that money too if your family doesn't meet certain economic criteria. So we have lots of
00:16:12.160avenues for that. I am not claiming perfection, but I am saying way better than the United States.
00:16:19.760Right? Now, if you want to live away from home, that's different. That's different. The bulk of
00:16:27.140money that you are going to spend is going to come in having your own place, right? Having your own
00:16:34.240place, living away from home, paying for your own food, all that kind of stuff, right?
00:16:42.200This isn't my office. Everybody's like talking about, this isn't my office, it's still my
00:16:45.780classroom. My office is yet to be created. I'm going to show you as I create my office. I have
00:16:51.820some good ideas, right? But the goal of this, of here, is to prepare kids. And the number way,
00:17:03.300number one way, again, if it's a school of character, my number one way of preparing
00:17:08.520students has to start at here. How do we start with their heart? How do we start with their
00:17:14.200character? How do we start with their confidence, with their esteem? How do we empower them?
00:17:20.100Because if we can empower students, they will do amazing things, just get the heck out of their way.
00:17:28.060If I empower students, then when I sit down and I truly empower them, and I sit down and I say you have to take a test, their anxiety doesn't take over.
00:17:42.160They know the mental game that needs to be played to do so.
00:17:45.560not just memorizing what the dates of the wars and who the most important people were.
00:17:51.540That's the goal. So if that's the goal of education, I'm not going to judge kids on the
00:17:57.320basis of the marks they have coming in and the standardized tests that they wrote,
00:18:01.920because I am going to assume we're not at their potential yet. How do I know how I can,
00:18:09.140how do I see their potential? How do I see what they can do? Because what they can do is so much
00:18:16.440more important than what they've done. And I'm so exhausted. I'm so exhausted of judging kids
00:18:22.140on the basis of what they've done already at a school that I never even was a part of. And I
00:18:27.200don't know the culture. I don't know their subjective ways of marking. I don't know their
00:18:32.020home life. I don't know anything. So I'm not going to judge them based on that. I want to judge them
00:18:37.540based on what they want and how hard they're willing to work. Also understand, you guys have
00:18:45.180been watching me a long enough time to understand, I'm not handing out participation ribbons up in
00:18:49.400here. I'm not. You have to get the job done, right? If it's grade nine math, you have to get the job
00:19:00.080done. I'm not just passing you through to pass you through so you don't have to repeat it.
00:19:04.240But what I will do and what we will do is figure out every conceivable way to help you
00:19:13.020get grade nine math. That's the bottom line, right? That's the bottom line.
00:19:21.680Because I'm not in the business of passing for the sake of passing, but I'm also not in the
00:19:27.160business of a grade being the only indicator of what you can accomplish. It's just what you've
00:19:33.600already accomplished. That's it. You have so many more great things to do. And creating space to do
00:19:43.200that is incredibly important. And there's a lot of kids would say, you know, oh, I just all this,
00:19:48.940all the core classes that you have to take and you have to take and you have to take a math and
00:19:53.880you have to take a science, you have to take history. Yeah. Yes. I also believe in that. I
00:19:59.080believe having a well-rounded student and a well-rounded soul is incredibly important. I
00:20:05.120believe that the courses you're great at, you should take, and the courses that you're not
00:20:09.420good at, you should still figure out how to better yourself in them. You don't just chuck them away
00:20:16.080like they're, you know, wasteful of your time. No. You need to do everything. And you need to
00:20:24.920have a structure and a system that enables you to do everything. That's the point. And we get lost
00:20:33.660in literacy tests and interim marks and midterm report cards and blah, blah, blah. And we lose
00:20:41.180sight of empowering the student. Having said all of that, guys, I have looked back at my career
00:20:50.300And there's many a student who I didn't reach. I know. I know. There are students that I haven't, I never got to. I never figured out what I needed to tap into. I never, whether it be their home life, whether it be their academic history, whether it be a learning difference, I never figured out.
00:21:13.080I haven't, there are students that I haven't gotten at.
00:21:17.600And that's why, and that's why at this school,
00:21:20.520we have a bunch of different teachers.
00:21:22.180They don't always teach the same way as I do, right?
00:21:26.800Name of the school is Metro Preparatory Academy, right?
00:21:43.080I want to make sure that kids can really understand how powerful they are and can really understand that getting a 62 in math isn't the end of the world.
00:21:56.820It could a 62 in math, given the right effort, could be everything in the world.
00:22:04.060A 62 in math with a kid with maybe some learning difficulties when it came to math.
00:22:13.080um maybe some you know elementary school trauma when it comes to what teaching methodology when
00:22:19.800it comes to they just think so far out of the box that they can't quite get to how they can
00:22:25.000conceptualize math a 62 in math for that kid is freaking you throw a parade throw a parade
00:22:35.240but a 62 in math when you don't do any work you don't come for extra help you barely study well
00:22:40.120i'm not impressed because it's a school metro prep academy is a school of character
00:22:46.840did you come to the table with everything you got i'm throwing your parade
00:22:53.880but i'm not gonna pat you on the head for a 92 if i know you didn't give it your your all
00:23:02.440right i'm not i'm not giving you a pat on the head unless i know you put your heart and soul
00:23:12.140into the game and i think that part is incredibly important and that part people aren't talking
00:23:18.360about enough we're constantly talking about the end of the you know the end result and this is
00:23:26.740where if we were serious about mental health in this country, we would start talking about
00:23:32.580how mental health is really, mental health is really talking about in a serious way outside of
00:23:41.040mental health medical conditions. The foundations of mental health is about esteem, confidence,
00:23:47.820and empowerment. That's it. Esteem, confidence, and empowerment. Start there. Schools should
00:23:56.540start there. It's a school of character, right? I think all of this are the things that I can
00:24:11.580help change and personify and expand at this school. Some of you guys are asking what school
00:24:22.080it is. It's called Metro Prep Academy, Metropolitan Preparatory Academy. It's located in Toronto.
00:24:31.180This school has been open for 42 years. And recently, in March, actually, my mentor and
00:24:40.980the owner of this school, Wayne McKelvey, passed very suddenly. And then very suddenly after that,
00:24:46.860we were told it was going to close. Thank you, Dean. And looking at that,
00:24:56.140Ryan and I looked at each other and said, no, thank you.
00:25:01.740Percentages of kids that go to university, and again, I'll answer it. It's easy. It's like 98%,
00:25:06.30099%. Now, Metro Prep is an academic school, meaning that we are a preparatory school for
00:25:14.940college or university. That's the point, right? That does not mean we don't have kids who go to
00:25:22.540college. That does not mean that we don't have kids that go into the trades. We do. We absolutely
00:25:27.300do. But we're prepping for what is expected at sort of a university level. And funnily enough,
00:25:35.920a lot of kids have been told up until they come here what they can and can't accomplish,
00:25:41.920what they can and can't do. I've had kids sit here in grade 10 and 11 and their moms look me
00:25:48.340in the face and say, well, for their school, they put them in general courses in grade nine. I'm
00:25:52.800like, what? They put them in general courses before they even saw what that kid could do at high
00:26:01.160school. And again, I'm not saying that general courses don't have their place. What I am saying
00:26:08.620is you took away options from that kid you told that kid what they can and can't do like an applied0.99
00:26:14.540course yeah you told that kid what they can and can't do in grade nine what what a crock of garbage
00:26:24.540and i've had those same kids that came here maybe did an extra year here
00:26:29.900and went off to do incredible things at colleges and universities
00:26:33.260absolutely tons of discrimination in different courses they look at you and they go oh you're
00:26:41.660good at this this and this oh what were your marks in grade eight you're over there please0.98
00:26:46.300line up to the left oh you got those marks please mark line up to the right what a crock of garbage
00:26:53.900what a waste and again none of this is saying that the trades and college aren't amazing
00:27:02.840avenues for kids and for individuals to go down. What I am saying to you is this, I'll be damned0.98
00:27:09.280if I let one of my students be pigeonholed, be restricted, be limited by me saying, you have to
00:27:18.040do this. You're only capable of doing this channel. Forget you. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous.
00:27:28.240and there's a lot of kids guys and most people that are in this chat right now are teachers0.85
00:27:34.100you understand that kids blossom and and they click in at different ages some of those kids
00:27:41.740click in in grade 2 grade 6 grade 9 some of those kids click in grade 11 and if you've given up on
00:27:50.000them and you've said they're only capable of that whatever that is and you've closed all other doors
00:27:57.440you've limited their potential you've limited their greatness what a waste0.90
00:28:04.860what an absolute waste I have taught kids that are definitely on the autism spectrum that
00:28:14.300definitely lean towards a side of of autism that is heavily judged in our society and those kids
00:28:22.880they've gone on to accomplish insanely amazing things. How dare we at some point relegate them
00:28:33.160to the periphery? How dare we? How dare we? Right? Dyslexia is another way, right? A lot of kids
00:28:44.600aren't even, um, if they haven't got tested, we don't even know what kind of dyslexia, how can we
00:28:50.680help mitigate it? What can we do over here? So if we can't do any of those things, and we just
00:28:55.700ignore it, well, then you just judge that kid for not being able to read and write properly.
00:28:59.840Not smart enough. What a waste. It takes time. It takes work. It takes many different perspectives0.94
00:29:10.400to understand who a student is, what they are capable of, and what challenges they need to
00:29:17.420overcome. Cause I also promise you this. I also promise you this kids, everybody, myself included
00:29:25.080need to overcome something. I promise you that I promise you, we all have learning differences
00:29:32.400and difficulties. And, and what my age bracket would have done is figured out, okay, I'm not
00:29:38.480going to do any of that, or I'm going to do this a little bit more in order to overcome. We didn't
00:29:43.960get, we never got addressed. We never got helped. We never got any strategies because we were never
00:29:49.200identified. Now I will also see this. I do not believe in identifying learning difficulties
00:29:57.060and not working on them. Dyslexia. Let's take that for an example. Somebody who is dyslexic.
00:30:05.540I have watched, I had a student who was horribly dyslexic, probably one of the worst
00:31:12.320Whatever's holding you back, isn't that my job, the school's job, to figure out how to make it better, how to increase it, how to make you better than you were yesterday?
00:31:24.800Isn't that, if that's not my job, I don't understand what is, truly.