Noble Deeds (Demo)

Shadow Puppets

  "..It's at this point that we can clearly understand that when an electron is ripped out of this little shell here, the total electric charge of that outer shell decreases. The positive charge in the nucleus remains the same, because we didn't lose a proton, because..."
  I waited for at least one of my students to pick up on my concepts and complete my sentence for me.

  Silence filled the room for four seconds at the very least.
  "Because if we changed the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom, we would have..."
  I tried again.
  The repugnant silence hung in the air for a little while longer, sticking its tongue out at me and letting me believe I was terrible at my job.
  Finally, Peyton came to the rescue.
  "...a different element," she croaked quietly, and sunk nervously in her chair.
  "That's right, Peyton! We wo-.. Peyton, are you doing well?" I suspended my lesson to check on the well-being of the student which I pretended not to favor.
  "Oh..oh, yeah, I'm fine.."
  "I don't thiiink sooooo..." I chimed, with a singsong voice and a persuasive grin.
  "Really, nothing is wrong, I promise, Doc." 
  "...Okay. I believe you. Thank you for answering my question, Peyton. Guys, you should participate in class more often, like she does! We're all friends here, right? Of course, I'm right! My job is to help guide you towards the right state of mind on this subject, not to bite you for giving the wrong answer, right? Absolutely! Shall we continue?" I held my arms out and cocked my head to the side with the hope for a response.
  The silence hung from the ceiling from its greasy tendrils and grinned maliciously at me, waiting for me to crumble under the pressure and anxiety it was throwing at my head like sticks and stones.
  "You guys need a bit of work on this," I chuckled casually, "Shall we continue?"
  "Yeah." David piped uncomfortably from his seat.
  "Excellent! So, as I was saying, the charge of the protons remains the same due to the fact that we don't lose any protons, because that would make it ano-"
"Another element!" shouted the usually timid and shy Jimmy, as loud as he could; seemingly so proud of himself for being able to finish my sentence.
  I dropped my posture and giggled uncontrollably.
  "Yes, exactly that, well done, thank you," came my reaction, along with the recollection of my posture and pride. The silence scowled at me and sublimated into nothingness, awaiting its inevitable and vengeful next visit.
  "It would make another element. But now the charge isn't neutral! There are now less electrons, in this case, and the protons are going to do the same amount of work that they always did. Therefore; the protons are going to pull more strongly at the electrons, and bring them closer together, which means that turning an atom of an element into a cation causes the considerable size of the atom to..."
  "D..decrease?" asked a shy David.
  "Excellent, David! See? I bet all of you were thinking that in the back of your mind, but were like 'Noooo! What if I'm wrong? However shall I make it up to Doc if I get the answer wrong? God forbid I take the chance,' but that doesn't help you out at all. I'm not going to despise you if you get a question wrong; I haven't even despised the students last year who sent me death threats... Well, okay, I did get them suspended for that, but that's not my point; that's against the student handbook, asking a question is not, and you shouldn't be so nervous about being a little behind! We all learn at our own pace here; this is my second year of teaching, I still need to work on the way I present my information to you, sure, but you have to ask me about what you don't understand in order for that to happen. Everyone else around you is probably wondering exactly what you're wondering, but maybe they don't have the guts that you have! Maybe you'll be their hero for asking a question, even if you get it wrong! Because I'll be here to help you get it right. I guess I just don't understand why everyone's so afraid to let me help them; to let me do my job. Probably because the fear is totally irrational, but hey, if it takes you a few mistakes or a bit more maturity to learn that, then that's okay. I'm here when you need me."