A Change Will Do You Good

How can we learn and develop through change?

by Claire Law

Suitable for Whole School (Sec)

Aims

To explore the idea of change and to provide space for students to reflect upon the benefits and challenges of change. 

Preparation and materials

• You will need the PowerPoint slides Change accompanying this assembly and the means to display them.
• Video clips as given below and the means to show these:
• Sixty-Minute Makeover theme tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv0u18eFj1M
• Keane, 'Everybody’s changing' (lyrics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz1pJDCbJRM

Assembly

1. Explain that you are going to play the theme tune to a popular TV show.

Show slide 1.

Play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv0u18eFj1M (sound only – do not show the video). Can the students identify which TV show the theme tune is from?

Once a number of students have tried to identify the tune, provide them with the answer: Sixty-Minute Makeover.

Show slide 2.

Explain that this popular TV show is all about sudden and total transformation of a house. At the end of the programme 'before' and 'after' shots are shown.

Show slide 3.

Sometimes the home owner loves it! At other times it is a shock, and – even though they might try to remain polite on camera – they find the sudden change difficult to handle!

Ask students to think of other changes people might seek to make at this time of year, e.g. making a New Year’s resolution to change some aspect of their life: going on a diet, increasing exercise levels, taking up a new hobby. 

2. Is change always positive? Introduce the Keane song 'Everybody’s changing'.

The lyrics of this song are about someone struggling to adapt to the changes around them: people moving away and friendship groups adapting.  
As students listen to the lyrics, challenge them to reflect upon how they feel when things change.

Show slide 4.

At the end of the song, suggest some of the challenges of change: fear of things being different, fear of the unknown, loss. 

3. Look at the wisdom of two important religious thinkers.

Slide 5: First quote from John Henry Newman (19th-century Roman Catholic Cardinal).

Ask students to consider what this quote tells us about change. Explain that the quote is saying that all life involves change, and that change can help to shape us for the better and develop us into better people. However, this change takes time (unlike Sixty-Minute Makeover!). 

Slide 6: Second quote from Mahatma Gandhi (Hindu leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India in the first half of the 20th century).

Ask students to consider what this quote tells us about change. Explain that the quote is saying that change in the world starts with us. If we want positive changes to happen in our world, we must take action and change ourselves. 

Time for reflection

Change happens in life. Although it presents us with challenges, it is also a chance to learn, grow and develop. 
We can change our world by changing our own attitudes and actions.

Show slide 7.

Take a moment to imagine today as a blank page – a fresh start, a chance to make a change to your life. What changes do you want to make today? 

Prayer
Dear Lord,
We thank you that each day you give us a fresh start - a new day with new opportunities to change, grow and develop.
Sometimes it is hard when our situation changes, but please help us to find the strength to cope with difficult changes today. 
Give us the wisdom to learn from change. 
Help us today to make positive changes to our attitudes and actions, so that we might help to change our world for the better. 
Amen.