How much time did they spend urinating instead of learning?
In the elementary grades, I started Back to School Night or the new version Parent Information Night, with a math problem for the parents.
How many school days are in the year?
Most did not have the exact answer but were close. The standard year in our district was 180 days of attendance.
How often each day should I say yes to the “May I use the bathroom?” question?
Most thought one time per student, per day, was fair. Some tough parents said never or only when accidents were imminent. I agreed one time per day was fair, unless they were stomach issues, then as many times as needed. No heroes or accidents. Or, as my wife points out, ‘never be the reason for a Code Brown.’
How long does a regular bathroom trip would take?
Five minutes was the common answer. It was closer to seven in reality, but five was good.
I asked the parents to compute the minutes and hours a student would spend going to the bathroom that year.
- (180 x 1 trip per day) x 5 minutes = 900 minutes / 60 minutes = 15 hours per year*
I then explained we spent about 6.5 hours each day in the classroom. After recess, lunch, and other business, we had less than 6 hours each day of actual learning.
The parents figured out the with one trip per day, their child spent over 2 full school days per year in the bathroom.
Once they had an answer, I had their attention.
By the end of sixth grade, a student spent over 14 school days in the bathroom. It was fun to see their reactions. I always looked forward to the Depend(https://www.depend.com/) comments and jokes.
My goal was not to keep students from urinating. My policy was “ask and go before an emergency or cleanup actions were necessary”.
It was to show that actions or disruptions take time. And lost time cost students opportunities to learn. It was a great way to explain that disruptions cost their child chances to learn.
What else takes time?
- Announcements. How is the corny joke really helping a student that cannot read or write? I blame announcements on creating half of the intervention needs and referrals to special education.
- Late students. Everybody loses instructional time, especially at the elementary level, with tardies. Our elementary school has a line of about two dozen cars dropping off students five to ten minutes after school starts each day. At least 24 interruptions each morning in classrooms.
- Assemblies. Okay, I actually enjoyed the break, so keep them, but make sure they are interesting.
- Anything collected that is not homework. My wife does her book orders online, brilliant.
- Student interruptions. Classroom management is only a fraction of the battle. Administration needs to set the tone, and follow through with support. If not, admin better have intervention timecards for the staff.
The list will grow with each teacher’s input, but the idea is the same.