Bathroom breaks/Management System

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Home : 2002 : February : 24

Bathroom breaks/Management System
By Kathy

Looks like you have received a lot of advice--some of which was even helpful for me--a veteran teacher!!

I also appreciate other teachers looking out for my students--some do misbehave as soon as they leave your physical
presence. However, IMHO addressing your whole class is NOT appropriate. That's your job! I agree with the advice up above that you should have a tactful talk with the teacher who did this.
I think the problem with "bathroom breaks" is rather universal. In my class the children have a "license"--a 3 by 5 card with their name and a sticker with a hole punched on the top. They are

allowed to go to the bathroom without permission if I'm not doing direct instruction and they are on "green." They just stick their "license" on a push pin I have by the door. (Note: If your school allows it, a nail is even better.)

This is part of my management system. Each child has a little green dot on their desk--which means they are "managing themselves." We call it the ICMM Club--I Can Manage Myself. When they are showing self-management they earn certain privileges--one of which is using the "license." If they fail to follow the classroom guidelines, then their color is switched to yellow and they lose the "license."
(Note: I tell them when they are turned to yellow it is like a warning. They have a decision to make--do they want to go back to managing themselves (green) or do they want the teacher to have to manage them (red--which involves a recess penalty) If they have a change of behavior for a significant amount of time, and come up and ask them I will let them change their color back to green. This plan has worked well for me. You can also do this with color cards on a bulletin board--which is the way the system worked in the classroom I "stole" the idea from--but the dots work better for me. Given the choice, most children choose to "manage themselves."

With this system, only one student is out of the room at the time--I can tell which one it is by the card at the door--and only the responsible children have this privilege so I don't usually have to worry. The others have to come up and ask me and get a bathroom pass so I'm very aware when they leave and return. If I'm told that children are misbehaving in the hallway, they automatically get a penalty. (And if a child is a "repeat offender" I've withdrawn the privilege of going out on their own for a significant amount of time.)

I concur with the statement above--if they weren't hurt/bothered enough to stop during recess, I will not use up classtime to deal with things right after recess. Wanting to go to the bathroom right after recess is a problem with my class, but after reading the above posts I'm determined to attach a penalty to anyone who has to "go" the first 20 minutes after we come back. (I deal with primary age youngsters and am not ready to not let them go if they really have to. But a small penalty encourages them to go at the proper time!)

Hope this is helpful. E-mail me if you have any further questions.