Can I Use the Bathroom?

“Can I use the bathroom?”

This is a question often heard during a middle school class. The constant interruptions wore on me. So, I stopped them last spring.

Instead of having students ask me to use the bathroom or to go get water, I would allow students to dismiss themselves for those purposes. 

I told them that I was trusting them to choose times to leave during class that were more appropriate than others.  They were also told that they would still need to sign out of the classroom appropriately.  Lastly, so I could know where they were at a glance, students would need to prop a red (for the bathroom) or blue (for water) placard at their seats.

As their eyes lit up, students revealed they were skeptical. This year I received the same response. In both cases, it took the students a little time to get used to dictating when they use the bathroom. After the first week, I respond to the bathroom / water request with, “I can’t answer that question.”

There has been no noticeable change in the frequency of students leaving the room, but I think the students appreciate the trust and autonomy I’ve developed with them.

This approach has taken the burden of making a decision off of my shoulders, lessened interruptions in class, and allowed me to treat the students more like the people they are.

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If you no longer require students to ask permission to use the bathroom or, if this post has generated some thoughts of your own, please share in the comments. I would appreciate hearing from you.