Module Introduction
Researchers have defined forgiveness as a process, beginning with the choice to let go of resentment, negative judgment, and negative behavior towards the person who has harmed you. Forgiveness does not require you to excuse, condone, forget, or reconcile with the person who has harmed you, nor does it require them to apologize. Indeed, the offender doesn’t even need to be aware that you have forgiven them.
Forgiveness is intended to bring you peace of mind and free you from corrosive anger. It helps you to recognize the pain you have suffered without letting that pain define you, enabling you to heal and move on with your life. With time, some experts suggest that you may even begin to cultivate positive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors toward the offender—including compassion, generosity, and love.
Ultimately, forgiveness is a choice one makes for oneself—one that can take time to fully be realized, but in the end it is worth it.
For educators, forgiveness can help restore harmony in the classroom and amongst colleagues, allowing everyone to move forward from conflicts.
Spark Interest
Take this Forgiveness Quiz to learn about your forgiveness tendencies. Consider taking it a few times, thinking about different people or different transgressions each time.
Reflection
- Did your answers differ depending on who you were thinking about? Who did you find it easier to forgive? Did they share common characteristics or behaviors?
- What situations do you find it more difficult to foster forgiveness for? Have you thought about why that might be?
Learning Objectives
In this module we will:
- Understand what forgiveness is and is not
- Explore the importance of self-forgiveness
- Recognize the benefits of forgiveness for well-being and teaching
- Explore ways to overcome barriers to forgiveness and ways to more easily and authentically express and feel forgiveness towards oneself and others
Module Resources
This toolkit includes additional resources, including classroom lessons and practices organized by developmental level, staff meeting activities, videos, podcasts, articles, and professional learning opportunities, as well as supporting materials for group facilitation on the topics of "Forgiveness for Adults" and “Forgiveness for Students”.
Individual Exploration
Forgiveness is an act for oneself, to bring peace of mind and detachment from the harm.
It is crucial for educators to cultivate forgiveness as it fosters an environment of empathy and understanding, allowing them to approach students’ mistakes and colleagues’ transgressions with patience and support, ultimately promoting a positive learning and working atmosphere.
What is Forgiveness?
In this first segment, learn about forgiveness, how it is defined by researchers, and how it relates to your teaching. [19:41]
Reflection
- Do you find it easy or difficult to forgive, in general? Is there anything that makes it easier for you to forgive someone?
- Reflect on a situation where you struggled to forgive a student or colleague. What were the barriers you faced, and how did overcoming or not overcoming those barriers affect your interactions and the overall classroom atmosphere?
Why is Forgiveness Important for Educators?
In this next video, learn what researchers have discovered about how forgiveness can benefit educators. [7:00]
Reflection:
- Is there someone you recently forgave for hurting you? How did it feel to finally release those feelings and begin to move past them? Did this action free up any mental or physical energy for you?
How to Cultivate Forgiveness
In this final video, learn how educators can intentionally cultivate forgiveness. [13:38]
Reflection
- Reflect on a time when you had to forgive a student or colleague. What challenges did you face in that process, and how did it impact your relationship and the learning environment?
Links from Video (in order of video)
- Letting Go of Anger Through Compassion | Greater Good In Education (Adult) Practice thinking about a hurtful event in a different way and offering the offender some compassion to begin letting go of the anger or hurt you might hold. (less than 15 minutes)
- Expressive Writing | Practice | Greater Good in Action (Adult) A simple, effective way to work through an emotional challenge. (15 minutes)
- Active Listening (Adult) Connect with a partner through empathy and understanding. (10 minutes)
- Common Humanity Meditation | Practice | Greater Good in Action (Adult) Build compassion and interconnection by seeing your similarities with others. (10 minutes)
- Shared Identity | Practice | Greater Good in Action (Adult) How to encourage generosity by finding commonalities between people. (10 minutes)
- Forgiveness Meditations by Jack Kornfield (Adult) A collection of meditations to help you forgive yourself and others. (variable time)
- Fierce Self-Compassion Break (Adult) Cultivate the clarity and courage to protect yourself from harm. (5 minutes)
- Self-Compassionate Letter (Adult) A brief practice to help you stop beating yourself up for flaws and mistakes, and practice self-compassion instead. (15 minutes)
- Developing the Courage to Speak Up | Greater Good In Education (High school-Adult) Students use a “Courage to Speak Up” heuristic (a reflection tool) to raise their awareness of how they respond to prejudice—and to help them to develop the capacity to address moments of prejudice in an academic setting. (less than 15 minutes)
- Mindful Breathing: A way to build resilience to stress, anxiety, and anger (Adult) A mindfulness practice to help build resilience to stress, anxiety, and anger. (5 minutes)
- Gratitude Meditation (Adult) Feel grateful as you reflect on all the gifts in your life: Feel grateful as you reflect on all the gifts in your life. (10 minutes)
- Three Good Things (Adult) A way to tune into the positive events in your life: A way to tune into the positive events in your life. (10 minutes)
- Assessing Your School Climate (Adult) Teachers identify and reflect on the attitudes and behaviors that members of the school community are exposed to every day at school, potential impacts on these members, and actions they can engage in to mitigate any harm. (less than 30 minutes)
- Building Collaborative Classroom Norms (Middle school – High school) Students co-create norms that foster a welcoming class environment and ensure safe discussions among peers, and develop a personal goal to help implement the norms. (less than 1 hour)
Module Resources
This toolkit includes additional resources, including classroom lessons and practices organized by developmental level, staff meeting activities, videos, podcasts, articles, and professional learning opportunities, as well as supporting materials for group facilitation on the topics of "Forgiveness for Adults" and “Forgiveness for Students”.
A worksheet to help you practice forgiveness with a forgiveness meditation from Jack Kornfield.
Group Facilitation
Before facilitating groups, spend time in individual exploration in order to experience and embody the learning. And if you haven’t yet explored our introduction to SEL in California, make sure you explore those resources.
Module Resources
This toolkit includes additional resources, including classroom lessons and practices, staff meeting activities, videos, podcasts, articles, and professional learning opportunities, as well as supporting materials for group facilitation on the topics of "Forgiveness for Adults" and “Forgiveness for Students”.
A revisable, turnkey powerpoint slide deck to use for professional learning sessions on the topic of "Forgiveness for Educators".
A powerpoint slide deck with welcoming and closing activities to include in professional learning sessions.
A worksheet to help you practice forgiveness with a forgiveness meditation from Jack Kornfield.
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
Do you want to dive deeper into the science behind our GGIE practices? Enroll in one of our online courses for educators!
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