Tracking Outs

"Miss Thompson! Miss Thompson! Can I go to the bathroom?"

I don't know about you, but I'm encountering a bathroom breaks epidemic in my classroom. My syllabus says three breaks per semester, but in the busy whirlwind that was the beginning of the year, I sort of abandoned tracking outs. Well, now I'm regretting abandoning it and trying to fix my laissez-faire attitude toward bathroom breaks. My problem is that I know what it's like to be a student who really needs to go, so I try to be sympathetic and let them take an out, but some kids area asking to go two times a day nearly every day in my class. No high schooler should need to pee that many times in one hour. And if they do, then they should probably visit the school nurse.

So now I'm trying to secretly fix the problem without nixing all breaks. For now, I've created an Outs Tracker where students have to sign out and in EVERY time they leave the classroom. This will work for now until I get the permanent solution made up and handed out.

This will be hanging on a clipboard right by the door.

What's the permanent solution, you ask? Well, lucky you, I just created it. I am going to print out and laminate business-type cards. Each card has the student's name and five outs listed on it. I've noticed that clearly three isn't enough for a semester, so I've upped it to five. Plus, I like the way five sounds better. Each time a student wants to leave the room, they'll have to give me their card, which I will hole punch on the appropriate out that they are on. This way THEY are responsible for tracking their outs and not me. If they don't have their card, they can't go. Liberty High School used this type of system when I was student teaching, and it had lots of potential to work. Another thing I like about this system is that if the student forgets their card, it's their fault they can't go to the bathroom and I don't have to suffer through their angry wrath that I said no. I'll collect the cards at the end of the semester for extra credit or a homework pass or something. I made cards for girls and boys, and I'll get them printed out, laminated, and distributed at the beginning of next semester.

All I have to do now is have my TA type in names, print, cut, laminate, and put into class piles

I am perpetually annoyed that I cannot link word documents on here. If you want the word versions of these so you can steal them, leave me a comment and I'll email them to you.