Fingerboards

Among all the distractions that occur on a daily basis in the classroom, this toy is probably the most annoying.  That's right, a toy.  I expect to have to collect two or three cell phones or mp3 players every class period, usually from the same people everyday.  You would think they'd learn not to have them out in class, but I guess that part of the brain must be the same as the part that learns math because that doesn't happen either.

Back to the fingerboards.  These things are mini-skateboards, you've probably seen them before in the "little" kids toy section of your local bargain store.  You use your fingers to do tricks instead of your feet.  These things have plastic wheels.  I'm sure it doesn't take long for your imagination to figure out what these plastic wheels sound like jumping and slamming constantly, over and over again, by two or three different people onto the formica desk tops.  Its the new version of the pencil and desk top drumming prodigy that every teacher loathes.

Everyday the same three kids start to play with these toys exactly 10 minutes into class.  So I take them.  Where is the disconnect in the brain that keeps these students from making this correlation?  I thought there was something in the human mind that causes you to not touch something hot again after you've touched it once and been burned.  Pavlov can't even figure out this one.  Here we are on the 75th day of the semester and just like every other day, 10 minutes in they'll start to play and 10 minutes and 15 seconds in, I'll take their fingerboards.