Character Development

A student came by my room after school the other day, visibly upset. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he explained that he had misunderstood the information about an after-school meeting: it had ended at 3, but his mom wasn't coming to pick him up until 4. "And the wifi in this stupid school sucks" he added, "so I can't even call her on my watch."

"I'm sorry that happened to you," I told him. "You can use this phone to call, though." I pointed to the landline on my desk. 

He sniffled a little and lifted the receiver, and he was almost recovered until he heard his mom's voice when she answered. Then he collapsed into tears again as he explained the mix-up to her. After a few moments, he hung up. "My dad is coming to get me," he reported, his head down.

"Oh, good," I said. "And don't worry, stuff like this happens a lot," I explained. "There's so much going on here, both during the day and after school; it's easy to get confused about the details."

He wiped his face on his sleeve.

"And it seems like it all worked out, right?" I finished.

He nodded and headed out to catch his ride.

The next day I was teaching a lesson on character analysis. One of the videos we show has a vignette about a student who gets very upset over a minor misunderstanding. In the story, after the student leaves the room crying, the teacher tries to keep the class on track, and says, "It looks like Delores is having a bad day."

"And doesn't the teacher handle it beautifully?" I laughed ironically when we were going back over the details of the plot, acknowledging that she seems a bit heartless.

"What would you do?" a student asked.

"I understand where the teacher was coming from," I said, "because I always feel a little anxious when someone is upset. But I would do my best to be empathetic and helpful."

"Has that ever happened?" another student asked, and I raised my eyebrows because it was the same boy from the day before.

"Sure," I replied, tilting my head to examine his face. He seemed guileless. 

"When?" he asked, clearly looking for a good story.

"Well," I started, "just yesterday somebody came in after school, and they were pretty upset."

His face reddened a little. "I bet you were really nice," he said.

"Thanks," I answered. "I tried to be."