bathroomitis

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2001 : September : 9

bathroomitis
By Carolyn

I call it bathroomitis. Almost all of the time, the desire to leave the classroom is just that. There is no real need. Since you teach middle school kids in grades 7 and 8, you can be rather emphatic about saying "no."

When I taught middle school, I told the kids that they had to go during class changes. If they had the urge to go during classtime, I allowed them to go during the last five minutes of class. Obviously, five minutes doesn't allow time for a lot of kids to leave.
Of course, you will probably want to keep a record of the number of times they are leaving. My husband is a high school

teacher. He tells the kids that they can use the bathroom a total of three times per semester during class time. He refuses them once they have had that number.

You will want to start your classes by announcing a new bathroom policy which is stricter and does not allow for casual bathroom/out of class time. It's never too late to start.