Fidgets in the Classroom
It's time I come clean! I admit it! I am a Fidget Spinner spinner! When I first saw a fidget spinner while substitute teaching in a classroom, I was confused as to what the thing even was. A piece of plastic with 4 ball bearings found in my son's skateboard, I didn't understand the concept at all, but the kids were obsessed with the things. Of course, they were on my sons' Christmas Wishlists, and for $.99, my wife and I figured, "Why not?!" Upon the kids opening them, I had to find out what the big deal was, so I asked to see one and was instantly hooked. The soothing sound of the ball bearings rotating, the way the weight of the spinner transitions from side to side as you tip it back and forth between the fingertips: everything about the silly little toy is very relaxing to me.
As a kid in school, I was always getting in trouble for doing things at my desk while I was supposed to be sitting still. I would glue things to the inside of my desk, color in the pencil holder indent at the top of the desk, and, most notably, draw "tattoos" from my fingertips to my shoulder on a regular basis. Every time I got in trouble, it was because I was creating a "distraction" to the classroom environment. I didn't mean to. I was bored and liked to move around.
Fast forward 20 years and I can't help but wonder that if I had the opportunity to utilize such a silly little toy like a fidget spinner in my classroom, would I have been less of a distraction that I was without it?
There has been a lot of debate this past year over fidget spinners and other so-called "toys," such as fidget cubes and others. Many school districts around the country have banned fidgets from the classroom, citing them to be an unnecessary distraction to the working environment. But who are they really distracting? Most students in the schools I have subbed in do not even seem to realize when another student is using a fidget while engaged in a work environment. I will admit that with fidgets being so openly accessible these days, I do see how students take advantage of them by not using them in the classroom as they are intended. I see how they create games with them while sitting at their desks. However, I have also seen kids become irritable in classrooms after having them taken away, and become restless, which leads to more talking and other distracting behaviors.
Perhaps those students wouldn't be restless if they never had the opportunity to have a fidget in the first place. Then again, what if the fidget was keeping that student from being a distraction to others all period as opposed the times they didn't have a fidget.
Allowing fidgets in the classroom may seem like a distraction at the moment, but that is because the concept of the fidget is new. As such, there will have growing pains in the education environment. However, in time the fad will die out, but by allowing fidgets in a classroom through the fad period will make them more commonplace and, eventually, fade out the distractive nature of the tools (not toys).
I don't know about you, but to me, seeing a kid with a fidget spinner seems way less distracting than seeing a kid with a full-sleeve "tattoo" gluing quarters to the inside of a desk. What do you think?
As a kid in school, I was always getting in trouble for doing things at my desk while I was supposed to be sitting still. I would glue things to the inside of my desk, color in the pencil holder indent at the top of the desk, and, most notably, draw "tattoos" from my fingertips to my shoulder on a regular basis. Every time I got in trouble, it was because I was creating a "distraction" to the classroom environment. I didn't mean to. I was bored and liked to move around.
Fast forward 20 years and I can't help but wonder that if I had the opportunity to utilize such a silly little toy like a fidget spinner in my classroom, would I have been less of a distraction that I was without it?
There has been a lot of debate this past year over fidget spinners and other so-called "toys," such as fidget cubes and others. Many school districts around the country have banned fidgets from the classroom, citing them to be an unnecessary distraction to the working environment. But who are they really distracting? Most students in the schools I have subbed in do not even seem to realize when another student is using a fidget while engaged in a work environment. I will admit that with fidgets being so openly accessible these days, I do see how students take advantage of them by not using them in the classroom as they are intended. I see how they create games with them while sitting at their desks. However, I have also seen kids become irritable in classrooms after having them taken away, and become restless, which leads to more talking and other distracting behaviors.
Perhaps those students wouldn't be restless if they never had the opportunity to have a fidget in the first place. Then again, what if the fidget was keeping that student from being a distraction to others all period as opposed the times they didn't have a fidget.
Allowing fidgets in the classroom may seem like a distraction at the moment, but that is because the concept of the fidget is new. As such, there will have growing pains in the education environment. However, in time the fad will die out, but by allowing fidgets in a classroom through the fad period will make them more commonplace and, eventually, fade out the distractive nature of the tools (not toys).
I don't know about you, but to me, seeing a kid with a fidget spinner seems way less distracting than seeing a kid with a full-sleeve "tattoo" gluing quarters to the inside of a desk. What do you think?
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