Night Vision Toastmasters (NVTM)

There is a school of thought in education and child development that is taught in many training programs for teachers that states that IQ is flexible and that intelligence is not an inherent trait.

Carol Dweck is the leading proponent of this view, and in her book Mindset she discusses the disturbing trend of gifted children who grow up fearful of encounters that might challenge their own perception of their intelligence. This fear causes these children to opt out of difficult tasks and results in them being labeled as “lazy” or “not fulfilling their potential.”

Dweck’s solution is for parents and educators to stop praising children for being “smart” or other intrinsic traits that are fixed and start praising children for their effort instead. She believes parents should try to impart the correlation of effort to rewards in order to set up their children with the mental strength to overcome future obstacles. For those of you interested, there is an old but very informative article in NY Magazine on this topic: http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/.

What do you think? Are there geniuses and prodigies for whom everything comes easily? Do you believe that simple effort can make you the next Mozart? Or the next Einstein? And for those of you that are parents or teachers, do you see this effect that Dweck describes, of praising effort vs intelligence, in your children or students?

–Cassie

Hey All!

The theme for this week’s meeting is the Guinness World Records (enough with the Canucks already, right??)

Not long ago, I read an article in the Globe and Mail about a Filipino man who recently broke the world record for being the smallest man alive, standing a minuscule 23.5 inches tall at 18 years old. It got me thinking about other interesting and shocking world records.

During this week’s meeting, I will go over the history of the Guinness World Record organization, share with the group some awesome world records and, if we have time, let you all in on a world record I held for a short, short time…

What World Record would you LOVE to hold?

See you all Thursday!
–Andrew

The theme this week is inspired by two tangentially related events.

One is the story that was in the news last week about the parents who have chosen not to tell anyone (including other family members) what their third child’s gender is. (If you’re not aware of the story, here’s a link to a Toronto Star article for the background.)

My first reaction to the story was pretty much “whatever.” I probably wouldn’t choose to do that if I had a child, but when I read about their 5-year old son’s clothing choices and the social pressure he has faced because of those choices, their decision made more sense to me. Others  feel much more strongly about the need to establish distinct gender identities—read the comments on the website for a snippet of public opinion.

The second event that inspired me is we’ll be holding our club evaluation this week. It’s an opportunity not only to assert that we are free to be who we wanna be, but to discuss how we’re doing as a club and where we want to go over the next Toastmasters year (the new TM year starts July 1 and runs to June 30). Please take a bit of time to think about what you hope to achieve over the next year, how effective the club has been in supporting your goals, and what you’d like to see change or continue. We should certainly be who we wanna be, and we need some guidance as to where we are going.

I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday.
–Sharon

Living in our modern society and equipped with high tech dedicated to helping us to do more in less time, do you have the word “efficient” flashing in your mind all the time? I do.

However, just recently, I started to see it differently, after a couple of events happened in my life.

What role does efficiency play in your life?

See you on Thursday!
–Jenny

Keeping a surplus of food or useful items on hand can ensure survival and comfort in case of scarcity. But sometimes people collect far more than they can reasonably use, or they keep things of dubious value. Some hoarders consider themselves to be collectors, but their collections have taken over their homes and their lives. What makes a hoarder tick?

If you’ve watched the highly popular A&E TV show Hoarders, which recently concluded its third season, you probably already know a lot about the subject, and I look forward to hearing you share with the club what you’ve learned—because I haven’t.

Together we’ll investigate this curious phenomenon and see what we can learn from each other.

See you Thursday!

Cheers,
–Volker

My girlfriend’s dad had knee replacement surgery this weekend, and this will be our theme for the meeting.

Have you ever had a knee replaced, full or partial, or know someone who had this procedure done? Or do you know anyone who has had another joint replaced (a hip possibly)? Are you scared of surgery in general?  Why or why not?
This is a speech-only meeting (no Table Topics).

I look forward to seeing you all at the meeting this Thursday.

—Chris

Do you like what you do? I’m curious: how many of you like what you do for a living? Do you feel blessed to be paid for what you love to do? Or do you loathe getting out of bed for another day in the rat race?

For those of you who are students, are you excited to be on the path to a career you’ve always dreamed of? Or are you anxious about the job prospects out there?

See you Thursday!
—Scott

Are quotations the hallmark of a snob or a tool of a scholar? What is you favourite quote and why?

See you Thursday!
–Sinisa

At this week’s meeting, we will talk about the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world – where they are located, why they are considered to be the best cycling places and where you might even decide to take your bike on your next vacation.

See you all on Thursday!

Jessica

(If you don’t see photos, please click on the post title to see the full post contents.)
This February, a group of Night Visioners took advantage of the free skating at Robson Square. Here are their photos.