The episode begins with Miss Getrude making the students do gym class in the rain, ignoring the students' concerns about getting sick. Later, Josh, Elliot, Janice and Victoria discuss how Gertrude has been taking things too far, and deciding to suggest making a student board to try to improve things. They go to ask Malcolm about it, explaining the concept to him as he is unfamiliar with it. Malcolm decides to give it a try, first testing it out on one class, and if it works out well, they'll extend it to other class. The students suggest gym class.
When Gertrude learns what is going on, she tries to talk Malcolm and a few of the other teachers out of it, but finds they're on board with the idea. Josh, Elliot, Janice and Victoria begin working on a list of improvements for gym class, while Gertrude laments her failures, before coming up with an idea to try to take matters into her own hands.
While heading over to deliver their suggestions for improvements to Mr. Malcolm, the four students come across a newly installed slushie machine. On Josh's suggestion, they give it a try, before heading to Malcolm's office. The students begin explaining their ideas, before suddenly losing their voices in the middle of it. Malcolm suggests they write down their ideas.
On their way back to write down their ideas, the four wonder why they suddenly lost their voices, with Elliot suspecting something is wrong. They run into Gertrude on the way, who thinks this is the end to the student board. The students get to the library and begin writing their list of suggestions for improvements. As they finish the list, Gertrude heads back to Malcolm's office to check on things. She meets up with Gilbert, who informs her that they're going to submit their propositions in writing.
In response to this, Gertrude attempts to steal the list, but the four humans run away. They flee into a nearby closet to evade her. Once a sound from within alerts her to their presence, she decides to lock them in. The students realize that Gertrude was the one who took away their voices to sabotage their student board, using the slushie machine from earlier. Locked in and unable to speak, the students are surprised to see their own shadows suddenly come to life and escape the closet.
The shadows follow Gertrude, while the four stuck in the closet try to figure out what to do. Elliot paints Elsa's name on the wall, reminding everyone of her ability to read minds. Focusing their thoughts together, the four of them call out to Elsa. Elsa hears them calling their name and gets into telepathic contact with them. They tell her where they are and that they need her help.
While Gertrude tries to come up with a difficult obstacle course for the students, the four shadows go out of their way to pester her. In the meantime, Elsa finds the closet the four humans are locked in, and they explain what Gertrude did to them. Elsa goes off to find Gertrude, who has the key to the closet.
Gertrude thinks she has escaped the shadows, but they catch up to her and continue scaring and pestering her. She continues trying to evade them, but they keep catching up to her to scare her some more. Elsa eventually catches up to Gertrude and asks for the key. Gertrude finally realizes that the shadows belong to the four humans and that they'll keep chasing her if she doesn't return the key. Elsa manages to get the key and learn how to restore their voices.
Once Elsa has freed them, their shadows return to normal, and she informs them that to get their voices back, they just have to gargle vinegar for an hour, much to Victoria's disgust. Some time later, the students finally present their changes to Malcolm, who approves. They ask if Gertrude will agree too, with Malcolm saying he's sure she'll agree without a shadow of a doubt. As the students celebrate their success, Elliot's shadow gives Janice's shadow a kiss.
This episode provides examples of:
- Break the Haughty: The kids' shadows inflict this on Gertrude after she robs them of their voices and locks them in a closet.
