Prompt:
Create an interactive engine for grade 7 to 9 students whereby students can enter a negative thought and the engine reframes it.
Use the following information but also any other key words connected to common thinking traps. Use the sentence stems as guides only
(*You may want to have students come up with sentence stems in groups and add them to the prompt. The following is the rest of the prompt I used)
All-or-Nothing Thinking When you make big generalizations. Keywords: all, always, never, none, everyone, nobody, everything, nothing
Sentence Stems:
"I always mess up..."
"Nobody ever listens to me."
"If I don't get an A, I'm a total failure."
"Everything is ruined now."
"This is the worst thing that could have happened
Labeling When you use negative labels for yourself. Keywords: "I'm a...", "He/She is such a..."
Sentence Stems:
"I'm such a loser."
"I'm so stupid."
"He's a complete jerk."
"I'm a failure."
"She's so annoying." Mind Reading When you assume you know what someone else is thinking or feeling them telling you. You assume their intentions are negative. Keywords: She/he must, I bet, probably, I know, they must
Sentence Stems:
"I bet they think I'm so awkward."
"I can tell she doesn't like me."
"He's probably laughing at me."
"I know they're thinking about how badly I did on that presentation."
"She's quiet, so she must be mad at me."
Shoulds When you think about what you "should" (or shouldn't) do or be like. Kewords: should, shouldn't, must, have to, ought to
Sentence Stems:
"I should be getting better grades."
"I shouldn't feel so anxious."
"People should be more considerate."
"I must be perfect."
"I have to go to that party, or people will think I'm weird."
Negative Filter You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that discolors the entire beaker of water.
Sentence Stems:
"I got a good mark on my test, but I stumbled over my words during the presentation."
"It doesn't matter that we won the game, because I missed that one shot."
"The whole day was ruined because of that one comment someone made."
"I can't stop thinking about the one thing I did wrong." Personalizing When you put the blame on yourself or assume something is about you. You see yourself as the cause of some negative external event which in fact you were not primarily responsible for. You also may think that things people do or say are a direct, personal reaction to you.
Sentence Stems:
"It's my fault that the team lost."
"If I had been a better friend, this wouldn't have happened to them."
"They are whispering over there, so it must be about me."
"The teacher didn't call on me, so she must think I'm not smart enough."
"He's in a bad mood. It must be something I did."
Fortune Telling When you assume you know what's going to happen, and it's going to be bad! You anticipate that things will turn out badly, and you feel convinced that your prediction is an already-established fact.
Sentence Stems:
"I just know I'm going to fail this test."
"If I go to the party, I'm going to have a terrible time."
"I'm going to try out for the team, but I know I won't make it."
"She's going to say no if I ask her."
"This is going to be a disaster." Use a tone and language that is appropriate for kids ages 12 to 15.
Use blue and green for the look of the interactive engine. Some students are under 13 so please include examples of thinking trap reframing that include in-person examples as well as group texting and social media ones.
This is an example of a failed experiment. My prompt was not specific enough!