Have Your Moment, Kids

Some of my students taped a bunch of my markers together. I found it mildly annoying, but they were chortling with glee the whole time so I let it ride. I even tried to write with it and used it to point at problems on the board (much to their amusement).

They were amazed when they came back for class a couple of days later and it was still (mostly) intact.

So why did I let them do it if I found it annoying?

Two of the kids were already friends, but the third one who was excitedly involved with the building was a little more of an island. She stands out for reasons and usually tried to talk to me in class for her social outlet. I'm a safe person to talk to and like to talk, but kids need relationships with their peers.

I did the math and the sum of my annoyance was less than the potential product of the kids bonding and sharing a fun memory. People don't remember every day of their school experience, but people like to recall their "Remember that one time the teacher let us build a lightsaber from markers" type experiences.