Redemption in the Classroom

This past week, I had the chance to watch the movie "Risen", the story of a Roman soldier charged by Pilate to investigate the death of Jesus. In other words, to find the body that would prove the death of Jesus. One of the scenes depicted on the screen came from a passage of scripture in which Jesus re-instates Peter. Prior to the crucifixion, Peter had denied Jesus, yet, in this particular moment taken from John 21, Jesus asks Peter, in spite of the denial, to go forward and feed His sheep. In other words, Peter is allowed to redeem the moment ---take that moment of failure, grow through it and do better. 

Redemption is a powerful gift, and,for those who believe, the most precious gift of redemption was given to us by Jesus. But the gift of redemption can also be exchanged between us from friend to friend, parent to child, or teacher to student whenever someone is allowed the opportunity to rebuild, re-do, or replace something they have said or done. Redemption in the classroom can be as simple as:

• allowing students to re-take or re-do bad grades
• after giving students a moment to reflect on poor behavior choices, inviting them to redeem the moment as they return to class
• letting students have a "second chance" to complete that group work assignment that bombed the day before instead of scrapping the lesson plan altogether
• having students in conflict re-do a conversation in a way that resolves the issue positively

A couple of years ago, I reflected in this blog post on ways we can communicate to students that they are valuable. I talked about planning, preparing, engaging students, but the most impactful way, we can communicate to a student his/her intrinsic value is the practice of redemption. Redeeming the moment, no matter how significant, sends the message that you are worth the effort, worth the second, third, fourth, or fiftieth chance to do better. When a student feels valued by witnessing and experiencing redemption, the learning and growing will take care of itself.