Grace and mercy - can they be found in a classroom?

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to some talks in a class about film reviews. One girl had made it clear to me that, even though she knew a week ago, she was not prepared as she had 'forgotten' about the talk. I explained that it was not my problem, and my usual antidote to this situation is improvisation. 

Choosing which student does the talk (and the next etc etc) seems to vary from class to class, from what I hear, and my method is this: I count the number of students who are present, and then give each one of them a number, at random (not according to their class list) and then ask someone (at random) to choose a number...and the student who completes their talk picks the next one, etc, etc...

Well, on this particular day, the girl was unlucky, her number was chosen...and after about a minute of faffing and giggling about nothing of consequence, it was clear that she really could not (on this occasion) improvise :-( So, I gave a '5' (the worst mark I can give), and believe me, in 8 years of teaching at this school, that does not happen often! So, we continued with the talks...

At the end of the lesson, the girl put her hand up and asked if she could re-do her talk next week...and then I had one of those inspirational moments... ;-) Earlier that morning, I'd taught one class about 'grace and mercy' (as one girl had forgotten her book - the usual punishment was to sing a song in front of the class, but today I felt gracious...so, I let her off, and explained the meaning of 'grace')...here was a moment to teach.

I asked her to come to the board and wrote two words on it - 'grace' and 'mercy'. I told her that if she could explain the meaning to me of either word, then I would allow her to do her talk again next week, and the 5 would not stand. She looked intently at the words. This was the 'stronger' group of the class, so I was hopeful... After a few seconds of deliberate thought, she said...'Grasssss....is that the thing that cows eat?' It was the cue for some sniggering from a couple of classmates. No, it was not - that is 'grass' ;-) One of her classmates correctly explained that grace and mercy were roughly the same thing - to get something we don't deserve. 

I asked her to remain standing with her back to the class, and facing the board. OK, I would give another chance - I would let her classmates vote if they felt that she deserved grace today. I asked those who thought she did to put up their hands...as I was just finishing counting (and she would have lost...) the girl turned around... '5!' I said. 'I never asked you to turn around!' 

I hope the lesson was effective...

And you know, a few days later, I had exactly the same situation...another girl tried to plead ignorance that she'd forgotten about the talk etc etc... And incredibly, her number was not picked out! Now that WAS grace, and she knew it :-)