Abigail Welcome to our assembly. Do you remember the assembly year 3 shared with us. They taught us that we can grow our own brains. Neurons in the brain have to connect frequently so that we can make sense of our world. Today we are going to explore our brains further. First we ll start with this gentleman. Do you know who he was? Yes that s right Thomas Edison. A Victorian inventor. Alexa Not just any inventor but the man who invented the lightbulb, and 1,093 more inventions. If you think he was born clever and had lots of talents. You would be wrong. Thomas Edison understood how to fail! Byron Thomas Edison failed 10,000 he made 10,000 different light bulbs before discovering the one that worked! He said : Charlie L I have just found 10,000 ways that did not work. You must learn to fail intelligently. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. One fails forward towards success. Charlie O Charlie Zammit Many people believe that there is only one way to success. But Edison understood that we have to intelligently fail, to be open to our mistakes and to learn enthusiastically from them. This can be hard after all sometimes when we get things wrong our feelings of disappointment can overwhelm us. Edison s view of his mistakes or failures is characteristic of a person with a GROWTH MINDSET. Someone who believes they can grow their brain. Daniel Cookson Brain one: George/Georgia/ Harry// Isabel/James/ James/ Joe/ / Louis On the other hand there are people with a FIXED MINDSET. Here we have two brains. One with a GROWTH MINDSET and another with a FIXED MINDSET. Let s look at the difference. We believe that Talent can be developed and great abilities built over time We see mistakes as an opportunity to develop We are resilient we never give up just like Sadie spider We believe that effort creates success We are always thinking about how we are learning and how we can learn even better!
Brain 2 Matthew/ Natasja/Sadie/ Shaun/Sofia/ Sophie/Timmy/ Tyler/William/ Logan We have a fixed mindset: We believe: Talent alone creates success, you have to be born talented, you either have it or you don t Challenges are uncomfortable, so we like to avoid them We hate making mistakes Garthie We think it is more important to look smart in front of other people, we hide the things we find hard Which brain reminds you most of yours. Don t worry we can sometimes allow ourselves to grow and sometimes we fail and believe we simply can not do it. That is why the teachers here at school keep encouraging us to grow our brains. Corey To help us develop a growing mind, the teachers have made up stories of creatures that have approaches to learning typical of a pupil with a growth mindset. Today we are going to tell you two stories. Bobby bee enthusiastic learner and Clara the clownfish curious learner. Group one put on flower faces Matthew Bobby was a bee who liked to relax all day long. He also loved sipping nectar, but the trouble was, he never knew how to find the flowers. He just followed the other bees and copied their direction, but he often got lost and ended up going hungry. This made him scared of even going out to search. James S is bobby bee. The other children Growth brain bees Natasja Now, the other bees knew the rules to a special dance. This dance was so special because it actually told them where to find the flowers which contained lots of yummy pollen and nectar. BEES DANCE Sadie Betty Bee saw Bobby looking fed up and asked him why.
Betty Bee Why are you so sad Bobby Bee James S I just keep on trying to find the flowers but I just can t figure out the dance so I just don t know where to fly to! Come on Bobby come and learn the dance. James Sadie Shaun No thank you it looks boring The dance didn t look boring at all. It was fun. Bobby was just uncomfortable with failing and he didn t want to look silly in front of the other bees. After all it all looked really complicated! Come on fly with me I will teach you. Bobby reluctantly agreed. Betty said he must listen carefully to what she was showing him - so that he could learn. So Betty began to dance Imagine the hive is a clock and the sun is at the top at twelve o clock. If the nectar is in the direction of the sun we go straight up the hive. Betty waggled to the top of the hive. If I waggle in a figure of eight then the nectar is far away in that direction. If I go round and round in circles it is very near. Also the louder I buzz, the nearer it is! Sofia James Bobby could feel his neurons connecting as he tried to take in what Betty was saying and doing. It is tricky, but I am enjoying this, he thought as he jiggled around next to Betty. So if I go round and round towards 6oclock on the hive, what does that mean? Does it mean it is close by, but in the opposite direction of the hive? Well done your getting it!!
Sophie Bobby was really proud that he was beginning to understand the learning. Betty tested him on a few more to make sure. Then he practised dancing some directions himself. He did a couple wrong at first but he didn't feel silly because Betty was so kind and supportive. Don t worry everyone makes mistakes!! Now, its time for you to go and find some nectar and then we will see if you can dance the direction to me. Timmy Bobby found some quite far away in a 3 o clock direction from the hive and he wanted to drink it immediately. But he knew he must practice and practice to embed the learning that Betty had helped him with. So he went back to the hive. He danced out the directions to Betty using the waggle dance and a soft buzz, in the three o clock direction. Even if he got it wrong this time he felt it didn t matter because he was definitely getting better and could imagine his intelligence growing mi- Tyler Betty watched carefully, then off she flew. Bobby followed to see if he had danced the directions right. Sure enough, she flew straight to the Logan William Bobby was so proud of what he had learned. Now he was in the learning zone and it was FUN! He wanted to get better and better and make his intelligence grow more! So over the following weeks he learned more dances and improved his skills. Eventually, he was made into a special bee called a Scout. This meant that because he had tried so hard with his learning he was now an expert and could tell all the bees where to find nectar. He used what he had learned every day of his life! And he enjoyed every minute of it! Why not decide to enjoy every minute of your learning like Bobby George Bobby bee changed his mindset from FIXED I can t do it, I don t want to fail, I don t want to make mistakes in front of others to a Growth mindset, ready to make mistakes and enjoy learning.
Georgia Listen carefully to your teachers they are always full of good advise and try the following: If you hear yourself say: I CAN T DO THIS Instead say I CAN@T DO THIS YET I@M NO GOOD AT THIS Instead say I CAN BECOME BETTER AT THIS WHAT MARK DID I GET Instead ask WHAT CAN I DO TO IMPROVE? Harry Isabel People with a Growth mindset are also CURIOUS. They want to know why things happen and they watch, observe and seek answers to their questions. Thomas Edison was super curious, and ended up inventing new things because of it. Here is our second story Clara the curious Clown Fish. Clara lived in an anemone with her mother. She was a very curious clownfish. She always found things so interesting. The day came when mother decided Clara was old enough to go off and explore away from the reef with her friend Bessie Butterflyfish. Sophie James T "You old enough to swim out on your own now. But stay curious and stay safe girls!" Clara and her friend raced towards the shore giggling and wiggling. (clara) James T James T Timmy "Stop!" Clara was great at noticing things and had spotted two hooks on thin ropes, dangling and swaying in the water. I wonder what those strange silver things are! Before they ventured closer, curious Clara decided to ask questions to find out more. Sid the seahorse was collecting rocks nearby so Clara asked him if he knew what the hooks were for. Sometimes I see men throw them into the water on the end of sticks, I have no idea why. Now why might they do that?
Joe She began to think of possible reasons. What if the hooks are a type of garbage they are getting rid of? But why are they attached to wooden sticks? What if they are the humans' pets? But why would they throw them in the water? What if the hooks are dangerous in some way? Group 2 swim along Shaun and Matthew have the hooks. They catch Tyler and Logan Joe Louis Just as Clara was thinking this, a shoal of angelfish were swimming towards the hooks. Suddenly, there was a flurry of movement. The hooks disappeared. When the water settled, Clara was sure that there were some angelfish missing from the shoal. Bessie butterflyfish was being daring, swimming really close to the shore. All of a sudden, the hooks appeared again right beside Bessie. Clara screamed! She had seen the pattern! She had made the connection! Bessie fish (Natasja) swims near the hooks (clara) James S Abigail Alexa Bryon Corey Garthie Charlie Z "BESSIE NO! KEEP AWAY FROM THOSE HOOKS! THE MEN WANT TO CATCH YOU. I HAVE FIGURED IT OUT!" Thank goodness Bessie heard her! She darted away from the hooks just in time. Thank goodness Clara was so curious and managed to keep her friends safe from the fishermen. So why don't you be curious like Clara clownfish? Ask questions, notice things, look for patterns and connections, think of possible reasons, research and ask what if.? Your ability is not FIXED. Your talent is not set in stone. You have the capability of GROWING your Brain! To grow your brain you have to learn how to learn! Be curious ask lots of questions, look for patterns and connections Enjoy learning have fun, work hard, practice. Never give up, try try and try again. Be resilient. Fail intelligently, ask what can I do better? Concentrate, block out distractions, do one thing at a time.
Daniel To find out more about Growing your Brain come along to our open evening this Thursday! Charlie O Together let us pray to God to help us on our learning journey so that through life new knowledge brings us closer to him. Charlie O PRAYER Charlee Charlee Thank you for watching our assembly. Father of Light and Wisdom, thank you for giving me a mind that can know and a heart that can love. Help me to keep learning every day of my life-- no matter what the subject may be. Let me be convinced that all knowledge leads to you and let me know how to find you and love you in all the things you have made. Encourage me when the studies are difficult and when I am tempted to give up Enlighten me when my brain is slow and help me to grasp the truth held out to me. Grant me the grace to put my knowledge to use in building the kingdom of God on earth so that I may enter the kingdom of God in heaven. Amen.