Assembly Objective:
- How do we find a good ambition for want we can achieve in life? This assembly explores the biblical parable of the talents and considers how we can use our talents to help others.
Film:
- Justin and the Knights of Valour (eOne, 2013) certificate PG. Click here to buy the DVD online.
Bible:
- Matthew 25:14-28 (Contemporary English Version)
Supporting Values Education:
- The value of Individual Liberty affirms each person’s right to self-determination, but the values of Democracy, Respect and Tolerance call us to live as part of a community. This assembly encourages pupils to consider what they can choose to do with their lives that will make a difference for the common good.
OPENING ACTIVITY
Great talent, no talent! (film clip)
- Watch some clips of people using their talents well (e.g. footage from the Winter Olympics in Sochi or David Beckham apparently kicking three balls into trash cans on the beach http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lvRv2mnYLU) and some of people going for auditions and failing.
- Discuss what makes some people good at what they do, and others terrible. Talk about the importance of having realistic dreams, and helping others work out what their gifts are.
FILM CLIP
- Play the clip from Justin and the Knights of Valour (eOne, 2013) certificate PG. Chapter two:
- Start time: 04:40 (‘Justin, honey. What’s wrong?’)
- End time: 07:32 (‘That’s your first challenge, but you’d better hurry, Justin.’)
- Clip length: 2 minutes 52 seconds
- Justin longs to be a knight like his grandfather but his father, a lawyer, refuses to allow him to be anything other than a lawyer. In despair, Justin visits his grandmother who understands that he is growing up and knows what he wants to be. She shows him his grandfather’s armour, and for the first time he notices that the sword is missing, lost when he died. She tells him that when he was a boy, Justin’s father had told his father that he wanted to be a lawyer, and his father had hugged him and told him he’d be whatever he wanted to be. His grandmother also tells him that the king had told his grandfather, ‘Carry this sword with strength and prepare your heart for goodness. Never use it to do harm or in anger, but always to defend the good and the just.’
TALK
Download the Justin and the Knights of Valour Assembly PowerPoint for use with this talk.
Scripted Talk
- As the children are entering the room, play When I Grow Up from the musical Mathilda (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0tRDhEmdO4) or video some members of staff saying what they wanted to be when they were at primary school.
- [PowerPoint slide 1]
- Welcome to our assembly everybody. Take a good look around the room. You can see lots of boys and girls. Imagine if we came back here in twenty years time and all sat in the same places. Look around the room again. You might see teachers, scientists, dancers, doctors, website designers, sports stars all sitting in our assembly hall!
- All of us have dreams about what we’d like to do when we grow up. Why don’t you turn to your neighbour and tell them what you’d like to be when you grow up?
- If you have time you could ask for one or two children to share their answers with the whole group.
- Lots of interesting jobs! What do you think you need to do to become what you want to become? Take suggestions – work hard, practice, luck, dedication.
- [PowerPoint slide 2]
- There is a word that’s used for when we are determined to achieve our goals or dreams. The word is ‘ambition’. If someone asks what your ambition is you can tell them what you’d like to do with your life. To fulfil your ambitions, goals or dreams you need to work hard but you also need to be good at the thing you’re doing. You need to have some talent. How many of you have ever watched the X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent and have seen people on it who have plenty of ambition but no talent? It’s funny to watch them, but it’s also quite sad to think that they will never achieve their dream and that nobody has helped them work out what they are good at.
- [PowerPoint slide 3]
- When you have a talent for something, it’s really important to use it well. Sometimes people are too lazy or too shy to practise their talent, but if you want to get really good you need to keep trying. Top footballers can shoot goals from far away and at strange angles, and they’re really talented, but they’ve also spent hours practising. It’s the same with dancers. They make dancing look graceful and easy, but actually they have spent years learning.
- Jesus told a story about a rich man who gave some money to his workers then left on a long journey. In the story, the money is sometimes called ‘talents’. Let’s read it together.
- [PowerPoint slide 4-9]
- Read Matthew 25:14-28. Invite four children to the front to help you tell the story. Give the ‘landowner’ three bags of chocolate coins to give to the ‘servants’. Ask them to act it out as you read/paraphrase.
- In the story the three servants received different amounts of money, and some of them used their money wisely. They made more money for their master. The third man wasn’t very wise, though. Because he was afraid he buried the money in the ground until his master came home! Jesus told the story to help people understand that God gives human beings different talents and gifts and abilities. The important thing is what we do with the talent we’ve been given. So, if we’re good at Maths we should work really hard to be the best we can be at Maths. It’s the same with sport, or art, or music. When we have a talent, we should use it to be the best we can be.
- Let’s look at a film clip about someone who had talent.
- Watch the clip from Justin and the Knights of Valour (eOne, 2013) certificate PG. Chapter two:
- Start time: 04:40 (‘Justin, honey. What’s wrong?’)
- End time: 07:32 (‘That’s your first challenge, but you’d better hurry, Justin.’)
- Clip length: 2 minutes 52 seconds
- Justin longs to be a knight like his grandfather but his father, a lawyer, refuses to allow him to be anything other than a lawyer. In despair, Justin visits his grandmother who understands that he is growing up and knows what he wants to be. She shows him his grandfather’s armour, and for the first time he notices that the sword is missing, lost when he died. She tells him that when he was a boy, Justin’s father had told his father that he wanted to be a lawyer, and his father had hugged him and told him he’d be whatever he wanted to be. His grandmother also tells him that the king had told his grandfather, ‘Carry this sword with strength and prepare your heart for goodness. Never use it to do harm or in anger, but always to defend the good and the just.’
- Justin had ambition. He wanted to be a knight like his grandfather. He probably had the talent for the job. He was brave and willing to learn. But his father didn’t want him to be a knight – he wanted him to be a lawyer. His grandmother was a very wise woman, though. She knew that nothing was going to stop Justin going after his ambition to be a knight. In fact, she knew that Justin would be a good knight.
- [PowerPoint slide 10]
- Did you listen to what Justin’s granny told him about the sword? She told him that he should carry it with strength and prepare his heart for goodness. The sword should never be used to harm anyone or in anger, but always to defend the good and the just.
- Justin had talent. Justin had ambition. And Justin’s granny wanted him to use his talent and his ambition for good, not selfishly. She wanted him to make the world a fairer, better place.
- If you have a talent for something and you’re very ambitious about it you could easily use your talent selfishly. You might decide to work really hard so that you can make a lot of money and spend it all on yourself. Or you might think that it doesn’t matter if someone else gets hurt so long as you achieve your ambition. Justin’s granny had good advice. When we’ve been given talents we should use them to help others by sharing the good things we have and always defending people who need our help. As well as talent and ambition, it’s good to learn to have a good attitude.
- There’s a verse in the Bible that talks about that too. As we finish our time together, let’s look at the verse and think about how we can use our talents to defend the good and the just. How can we make the world a fairer, better place?
- [PowerPoint slide 11]
- Reflection.
- Show the slide with the words from Philippians 2:3-4. You could also play the song from Mathilda again.
Headings and Bullets
- Introduction
- [PowerPoint slide 1]
- Look around the room.
- Imagine if we came back here in twenty years.
- You might see teachers, scientists, dancers, doctors, website designers, sports stars etc.
- All of us have dreams about what we’d like to do when we grow up.
- Tell your neighbour what you’d like to be when you grow up.
- What do you think you need to do to become what you want to become?
- Take suggestions – work hard, practice, luck, dedication.
- Ambition
- [PowerPoint slide 2]
- A word used for when we are determined to achieve our goals or dreams.
- To fulfil your ambitions, goals or dreams you need to work hard but you also need to be good at the thing you’re doing.
- You need to have some talent.
- X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent – some people have plenty of ambition but no talent.
- It’s funny to watch them, but it’s also sad to think that they will never achieve their dream.
- Talent takes practice
- [PowerPoint slide 3]
- When you have a talent for something, it’s really important to use it well.
- People can be too lazy or too shy to practise their talent.
- Top footballers can shoot goals from far away and spend hours practising.
- Dancers make dancing look graceful and easy, but actually they have spent years learning.
- Introduce the story:
- Jesus told a story about a rich man who gave some money to his workers then left on a long journey. In the story, the money is sometimes called ‘talents’.
- [PowerPoint slide 4-9]
- Read Matthew 25:14-28
- The three servants received different amounts of money.
- Some of them used their money wisely.
- The third man wasn’t very wise.
- Because he was afraid he buried the money in the ground until his master came home.
- God gives human beings different talents and gifts and abilities.
- The important thing is what we do with the talent we’ve been given.
- When we have a talent, we should use it to be the best we can be.
- Watch the clip from Justin and the Knights of Valour (eOne, 2013) certificate PG. Chapter two:
- Start time: 04:40 (‘Justin, honey. What’s wrong?’)
- End time: 07:32 (‘That’s your first challenge, but you’d better hurry, Justin.’)
- Clip length: 2 minutes 52 seconds
- Talk about the clip
- Justin wanted to be a knight like his grandfather.
- He was brave and willing to learn.
- But his father didn’t want him to be a knight – he wanted him to be a lawyer.
- His grandmother was a very wise woman who knew that nothing was going to stop Justin going after his ambition to be a knight.
- In fact, she knew that Justin would be a good knight.
- Defend the good and the just.
- [PowerPoint slide 10]
- Justin’s granny told him that he should carry the sword with strength and prepare his heart for goodness.
- The sword should never be used to harm anyone or in anger, but always to defend the good and the just.
- Justin had talent.
- Justin had ambition.
- And Justin’s granny wanted him to use his talent to make the world a fairer, better place.
- Summary:
- If you have a talent for something and you’re very ambitious about it you could easily use your talent selfishly.
- Justin’s granny had good advice.
- We should use our talent to help others by sharing the good things we have and defending people who need our help.
- As well as talent and ambition, it’s good to learn to have a good attitude.
- How can we make the world a fairer, better place?
Photo Copyright for Justin and the Knights of Valour PowerPoint: Slides 1, 3, and 11 iStockphoto.com / Slide 2 Kandor Graphics / Slides 4-9 LUMO Project / Slide 10 Kandor Graphics
RESPOND
- [PowerPoint slide 11]
- Reflection
- Show the slide with the words from Philippians 2:34. You could also play the song from Mathilda again.
Prayer
- I’m going to say a prayer now. If you agree with what I say, and you’d like to make my prayer your prayer as well, then say ‘Amen’ at the end. ‘Amen’ means ‘I agree’.
- Lord God, you have given us talents, gifts and skills. Thank you for that. Help us to use them well, defending the good and the just. Amen.
YOU WILL NEED:
- Justin and the Knights of Valour (eOne, 2013) certificate PG. Click here to buy the DVD online.
- Justin and the Knights of Valour Assembly PowerPoint.
- Three bags of chocolate coins for the story.
Ethos Education 