It's established in Sideways Stories that none of the kids have ever had a nice teacher before. They're terrified of what Mrs. Jewls is like.
Jenny starts crying when the men in the suit ask her why she's at school when the other students aren't. She says she's worried something happened to her friends and teacher. (Fortunately, they said it was Saturday, so she got her dates wrong.)
The moment where Maurecia runs out of favorite ice cream flavors, sending her into a Heroic BSoD. She explains to Mrs. Jewls the problem when the latter notices that she's sad. Mrs. Jewls then brings in ice-cream that is flavored like all of the classmates. This makes Maurecia realize she likes everyone in class, except Kathy.
When Calvin admits he believes he's not as good at art as Bebe because it takes him much longer to draw a picture than she can, Mrs. Jewels explains that it's not how much art you can do but how good the art is, and that if Bebe drew 2 million cats but someone drew 1 cat that was better, "that person has produced more art than Bebe." Bebe concludes (likely incorrectly) from her analogy that her drawings are no good, throws them in the trash, and runs from the room in tears.
Wayside School Is Falling Down
The Miss Zarves arc
The moment where Jason accidentally swallows his goldfish Shark. Everyone laughs with Mrs. Jewls showing No Sympathy but Jason is hiccuping and saying guiltily that he ate Shark when he fell out of the goldfish bowl.
Virginia is in her thirties, but she's doing the assignments that Miss Zarves hands her without complaint. She cheerily tells Allison she's been in class for "thirty wonderful years". Nick, who's in his twenties, says he's been there ten years. Allison is horrified, as she calculates they've been learning since they were practically born or kids.
Allison's stay on the 19th story causes her to get so caught up in Miss Zarves' ridiculous assignments, she forgets about Mrs. Jewls and the other students. Six days later, the memories of Allison's classmates start flooding back. These memories bring her to tears as she gains a new appreciation for all their quirks, which she started feeling frustrated about immediately before Miss Zarves took her in.
Deedee apologizes to Allison when the latter reappears, and she crashes into her by accident. The first time, Allison had popped out of existence so Deedee didn't see her. Allison tells her they're cool because she's relieved to see her friend, and that she's free from the nineteenth story.
John mercilessly mocks Dana for her giggling and crying over animal stories. After Mrs. Jewls sings "Puff the Magic Dragon", John chases Dana around the playground singing it while she's covering her ears and sobbing. It gets to the point where Dana politely requests that she skip storytime because she's sick of being teased.
Dameon's unrequited love for Mrs. Jewls. He knows it's wrong because she's married, and the other kids force him to put a dead rat inside her desk to prove he doesn't have a crush. In the case of O.O.C. Is Serious Business, she doesn't punish him when he confesses. Later, she has a mature response: telling him his love is platonic and not romantic, so she can love him back in that way.
Wayside School Gets A Little Stranger
The Downer Beginning, which explains that Wayside school was closed for months due to the cows. Everyone was sent to schools where they did terribly, not knowing when their version of normal would return.
Todd's reaction to returning back to class; he kisses the building because he went to the worst school of the lot: the reader's. He would take Mrs. Jewls and her discipline board over real life. Most of the class at least are glad to see him.
Wendy's tragic backstory in the third book: She has a third ear that can hear everyone's thoughts. She falls in love with a man named Xavier and reveals her third ear to him. While he says he accepts it, she heard his real thoughts. And then he abandons her, resulting with Wendy's Face–Heel Turn into a secret antagonist until the end. (One does pity Xavier considering he dies alone despite what he did to Wendy.)
In Way-High-Up-Ball, Louis reveals a crush on Ms. Nogard, but symbolically states that "she's up [on the 30th story] while he's [on the playground]." Anyone feeling out of their league can relate to the feeling.
The third book also gives us Mr. Gorf, who, to punish the thirtieth-story kids for destroying his mother, poses as a substitute teacher, then uses his third nostril to steal their voices and call their own mothers using them. Imagine, for a moment, that you're a mother sitting at home. Suddenly, the phone rings, and when you pick it up, you hear your own child shouting horrible, hateful things toward you ("I hate you, Mommy! I wish you would go away forever!"). And you have no idea why.
Another thing to note, that when he announces who he is impersonating (Rondi), the whole class looks at her in curiosity. But they all then overhear the horrible phone call that Mr. Gorf makes to her mother, which results in Rondi crying. And when Mr. Gorf then announces who he is impersonating next (Joe), the class tries not to look at him, all woebegone to bear witness to this display.
