Confiscate the offending item.

"Alright, students. Calm down."

A few of the more respectful students heard me and stopped their chatter, but at least half the class ignored me. 'Yeah, that's about right.' I had a few more minutes of material to cover and then the homework to assign, so I handled the disruption in the usual way.

Marching down the row of desks to where Nikki sat, I grabbed her by the back of her shirt and lifted her to her feet. "Come on, you're disrupting the entire class."

She stood and followed me willingly, still in a sort of daze.

I didn't let her gather her things. There was no need for her to have study materials, after all. No more than my wall clock needed a television to pass the time. Marching her to the front of the class, I stood her in the corner and left her there, facing the wall. "Don't move. Be quiet." I said. My voice was stern, with none of the softening pleasantries I tossed in to spare students their often too-sensitive feelings.

Returning to the rest of the class, the lesson was completed on time and everyone got their assignment. "Due on this desk Friday at the beginning of class, not the end, Mr. Kenny." A few students laughed ad the bell rang. "All right, that's it. You survived. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."

The students all filed out of the room, eager to be free of school for the day. Nikki Johnson was completely forgotten, still standing in her corner.

Taking my seat at the teacher's desk, only a few feet from where Nikki stood, even I forgot. She had become just another item confiscated from a student during a lesson, only in her case there was no one to return her to. No one waiting at my desk to remind me that I'd even taken something in the first place. Sometimes it was so hard to keep track of the trivial things like that, and I had a mountain of emails to sort through and write.