Is your school theme a growth mindset? Are you look for school assemblies and youth motivational speakers that can incorporate the idea of a growth mindset in their message to students? Keep reading for several ideas for school assemblies that may encourage students to have a growth mindset attitude.
What is a growth mindset?
Dr. Carol Dweck is known for coining the term growth mindset as a psychological trait as opposed to a fixed mindset in terms of the preconceptions that people have about intelligence and learning. In education, Dr. Dweck and her colleagues discovered 30 years ago that when students believe that they can get smarter and understand that effort can make them stronger, higher achievement is reached with extra time and effort invested.
In a growth mindset, students believe their abilities can be developed with dedication and hard work. Effort is a key ingredient to successful results. Talent alone doesn’t create success. High achievement is a result of perseverance and practice.
How can you encourage a growth mindset in your students?
Feedback from teachers is one way. Teachers may praise the effort and hard work of individual students (rather than emphasizing intelligence), but are there other ways?
School Assemblies can reach many students all at once, with a shared message. And, can include many talking points for teachers to refer back to in the classroom.
School Assemblies and Motivational Guest Speakers are a live example for students of real people that have put a growth mindset into practice and have successfully achieved positive results.
These School Assemblies may incorporate a growth mindset to encourage student achievement:
- A passionate advocate for education, composer, sound designer and producer Brent Daniels uses his Music Technology program as a vehicle for delivering an important character education message: how important a student’s education, great study habits and positive decision-making are for his or her success in life and any career.
- Respect, Education, Attitude/Activity, and Don’t Bully or Do Drugs are the Four Principles Corey The Dribbler encourages students to live by. Corey teaches the value in reading and how it led him to win a spot on the Harlem Globetrotters. Youth are taught to respect their parents, teachers, classmates, and that bullying is not cool! Corey encourages kids to excel in school while bringing a positive attitude with them every day. Staying active and fit is stressed along with drug awareness.
- In The bGreat Show, Comic Magician Brian Richards will use magic, comedy, story-telling, audience participation, and more to help your students learn about Trustworthiness, Fairness, Respect, Responsibility, Caring, and Citizenship. The message to students is: “Do you want to be great? It begins with you taking the first step!”
- Richard Hight is a nationally recognized artist/speaker who uses the fine arts to help his audiences create strategies for change by turning good ideas into great results. He is on a mission to help students see the possibility of their potential and create new opportunities. Richard’s Art of Inspiration school assembly presentation begins with the dramatic and exciting creation of a stunning illustration on a six-foot canvas (each school can suggest what image will best serve their students – historical figures, patriotic images, school mascots and others, etc.). Students and teachers are WOW’ed by the combination of powerful illustration, spoken word, and music that transpires in a matter of moments. The artwork Richard creates then provides the foundation for his keynote presentation and discussion. At the end of the school assembly, your school keeps the impressive creation to display and act as a reminder of the positive, empowering messages your students learned. He can customize a portion of your event to include Anti-Bullying, Character Building or reinforce the theme of your school.
- Chris “Zondaflex” Tyler will encourage students to stay active, positive and kind for a successful future while having a blast! Zonda Kids Dance combines hip hop dance moves with student success principles that include messages on achievement, motivation, bullying, personal power and so much more. Encouraging all students to get moving and focus on the power of persistence!
- Dare to Draw is an unforgettable, 100% hands-on assembly that encourages students of all ages to participate by stretching their imaginations in adding depth and perspective to their drawings. Emmy Award winning illustrator, author and television show creator and former host of PBS Imagination Station, (and now on Amazon Prime Video!) Mark Kistler will inspire your students to “Dream It! Draw It! Do It!” in harnessing the power of their imagination to make their life dreams come true.
- Violinist Geoffrey Castle puts the violin back on center stage with virtuoso showmanship and a 21st century style. Violin Rocks! Rockstars Do Homework! is a musical assembly that will forever change students’ misconceptions of what is possible with a violin, and within themselves, while giving them a new perspective on the dynamic history of the ORIGINAL lead instrument. Geoffrey Castle uses his unique abilities and experiences to communicate to students a message of self-motivation and using education as an avenue to achieving one’s dreams. i.e. Rockstars Do Homework! Students become empowered to have big dreams and to have the courage to act upon big ideas.
Having a growth mindset speaker is a great way to encourage your students but you should also learn to speak in a growth mindset. Daily encouragement and instilling positivity in students does wonders and then, you’ll find, that the growth mindset school assemblies do more as it enhances what’s already there instead of a drop in the bucket.
Let’s look at some growth mindset speaker tips to use daily:
Encourage self-talk by helping students rephrase. Instead of “I didn’t do well.” you can say to them, “I can do better.” That puts the emphasis on effort and reaching goals rather than beating themselves up for it.
Praising effort as well as goals met. Even when a student misses the mark, it’s important to be a growth mindset speaker by praising their efforts. Some examples are:
“I can tell you’ve been studying, you did much better.”
“I like the creativity of this answer.”
“Let’s keep trying, there are always ways to improve.”
These statements don’t focus on the outcome but on the effort. Calling a child smart can backfire and isn’t a growth mindset speaker tactic. The reason is that when the student faces something they don’t immediately understand, they focus on no longer being smart rather than working to solve the problem. It’s the latter we want to achieve.
Learn from the Growth Mindset Speaker
When in any of the programs above, make sure you watch and listen to how the growth mindset speaker talks to and with the students. If you have questions, don’t be uncomfortable going up and talking with them. Everyone has the same goal, stronger and better-educated students.
Bring those tactics to your classroom and into your daily life, perhaps you could benefit from the growth mindset speaker way in your daily life when talking to yourself.
Many other Academic Entertainment Character Education Assemblies may also incorporate a growth mindset. Contact us for more information, as well as prices and date availability. Call 800-883-9883, email info@academicentertainment.com, or fill out and submit our request information form. Please leave a voicemail if we are on the other line and do not answer! Please check your junk/spam folder for our email replies!
