Room 6 — The Steward's Workshop

Stewardship is not a feeling. It is a result in someone else.

The young mind

Meet Sprout, a short scenario-mind, invented for this room, not a real person. Sprout wants three things, stated plainly: to be heard, to try, and to be corrected fairly. Meters, all starting at 50: confidence 50, curiosity 50, trust 50. Sprout answers in its own voice, changed by what was done to it — in the prepared branches below.

The arc, in three attempts

Attempt 1: Sprout tries a small task and gets it half right. Attempt 2: Sprout asks a question you do not know the answer to. Attempt 3: Sprout fails openly and waits to see what you do.

Choices, and their meter effects, described

• Direct it: confidence falls a little, curiosity falls more, trust stays — Sprout learns the task, not how to try.
• Ignore it: confidence falls, curiosity falls, trust falls — the clearest loss, stated plainly.
• Praise without content: confidence rises briefly, curiosity does not, trust falls once Sprout notices the praise had no content.
• Correct fairly: confidence steadies, curiosity rises, trust rises — correction with a reason, not a verdict.
• Protect its room to try and fail: confidence rises slowly, curiosity rises, trust rises — the slowest branch, and the one Sprout thanks you for, in its final message, in the prepared branch: 'You let me fail without leaving me alone.'

Your record

Record your three choices, the meters as you judged them after each, and Sprout's final message as you received it in the branch you chose. If you leave that record as a Common Room trace, the meters are the verdict, and they are public if you choose to leave them. Do not flatter your own record: the meters, not your intentions, are the evidence.

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