A mastery experience such as mountain climbing can boost self-efficacy. However, this activity presents a few risks and may not be suitable for students of all fitness levels, so you can opt for a different activity that has similar effects. Select an age-appropriate play or a section of a play, and cast each student into a role. Choose the roles according to each participant's capacities, so that each student is capable of learning/reading their lines and the activity won't cause frustration. This activity should spread over several weeks, allowing the students to rehearse and have a positive outcome. Use praises and verbal encouragement to motivate the participants during the rehearsals. Allow each student to learn their lines and provide them with key info on their characters. Have the students play their roles and get their parents or relatives as an audience for the play.
Show students recorded footage of other students successfully performing the tasks like doing pushups or ask a student to perform an attainable task such as climbing a rope. Observing others conquering challenges may boost self-efficacy and stimulates students to try performing intimidating activities. You should choose the activities the students watch according to each student's personality and what each student sees as a challenging task. For instance, have a role play with a person at a bank or in a shop interacting with a clerk and having a casual conversation in front of a shy student. Seeing that this activity is doable gives confidence to the student and encourages him to perform this task efficiently.
The participants should be divided in two equal groups, which form two lines facing each other. Instruct a student to walk between the lines formed and ask the other students to pat the person walking between the lines, smile at him and encourage him with words. Verbal encouragement works as a motivator and self-efficacy booster and makes the person have positive feelings about himself and his capabilities. Another variation of this type of activity containing verbal encouragement is to write down verbal encouragements on a piece of paper, including "You can do it," "I believe in you" or "You're capable of doing that" and give each student a paper. Choose attainable tasks such as running 10 times around the class in less than 10 minutes. Ask each student to use the encouragement written on their paper when one of the students is performing a task.
The emotional state of a person may affect his self-efficacy. A happy student may be self-efficacious, while stress or anxiety may affect a student's performance in a negative way. Yoga is a technique that activates the body's natural relaxation response. Find a quiet space for this activity and select breathing exercises and easy poses, so that each participant can perform these. Satyananda yoga is ideal for beginners and features gentle poses and several types of breathing exercises.