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Scenario Cards -- Emotional and Social Literacy

All scenarios use fictional characters. Students should never be asked to identify themselves in these scenarios.

The Signal Misread​

Scenario: Alex had a terrible night's sleep and skipped breakfast. At school, a friend says something slightly teasing. Alex overreacts and storms off, furious. Later, looking back, Alex realizes the comment was not a big deal.

Discussion:

  • What inputs might have affected Alex's processing capacity?
  • What does the amygdala hijack have to do with this?
  • What could Alex do differently next time?

The Story Generator​

Scenario: Morgan sends a message to Riley and gets no response for two days. Morgan starts thinking: "Riley must be mad at me. Maybe I said something wrong. Maybe Riley doesn't want to be friends anymore." When they finally talk, Riley explains their phone broke.

Discussion:

  • What narrative did Morgan construct?
  • What was the actual evidence vs. the story built on top of it?
  • Complete an Input/Output Audit for Morgan's situation.

The Trust Drain​

Scenario: Casey promised three times to return a book to Sam. Three times, Casey forgot. Sam stops asking to borrow things from Casey.

Discussion:

  • What was happening to Sam and Casey's trust ledger?
  • What would Casey need to do to rebuild it?
  • How many "deposits" does it take to offset one broken promise?

The Mismatched Goal​

Scenario: A group project: Alex wants to finish quickly, Morgan wants it to be perfect, and Riley just wants to have fun making it. The group keeps arguing but no one knows why.

Discussion:

  • What is the "system mismatch" here?
  • How could the group make their goals visible?
  • What would a protocol for this situation look like?

The Group Pressure Switch​

Scenario: A group of friends decides to skip a class. Sam does not want to, but says yes anyway because everyone else is going. Sam says "I had no choice."

Discussion:

  • Did Sam have a choice?
  • What is the alignment problem in this situation?
  • When is it worth holding ground against group pressure?

The Rumor Chain​

Scenario: Alex told Jordan: "I heard Riley was in trouble." Jordan told Casey: "Riley got in trouble for something big." Casey told the whole class: "Riley got suspended." Riley was actually just asked a question by a teacher.

Discussion:

  • How did the signal change as it traveled?
  • What verification protocol could have stopped this?
  • Who is responsible for the damage?