Based on Silver’s new book, Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8: Teaching Kids to Succeed http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book236799/features
Sometimes when I present workshops on mindsets I like to start with a demonstration that relates to the audience. We either role-play a situation or I read a scenario I want them to react to. Here’s one I recently used with music teachers.
Scenario: Choir Try-outs
Kyra’s music teacher is listening to individual students sing a short solo piece so that she can decide if and where each might fit in with her choir. Kyra begins by telling her teacher she has never sung in public before, but people tell her she is a pretty good singer. Her performance is impressive. She makes a few errors, but she belts out a simple version of Madonna’s “Material Girl” that is on-key and energetic. The music teacher rushes to Kyra, hugs her, and proclaims, “Class, today you have witnessed one of the best auditions I have ever seen. Wow! Kyra, you certainly have a natural gift for singing! You are definitely going to have the number one spot in choir this year. You may take us all the way to the state competition. You have incredible talent!”
The music teacher suddenly realizes every other student is staring at her. She smiles sweetly and asks, “Okay, who wants to sing next?”
My audience usually bursts into laughter as they realize that probably no one will open their mouths after the effusive praise just heaped upon Kyra. And who could blame them?