This school year, I’m trying a new approach with hall passes/letting students go to the bathroom. In the past, I’ve just let students go whenever they said they needed to go. At the beginning of the year, this was fine. But, a few students would always start taking advantage of my generosity and begin asking to go to the bathroom every single day.
I get 52 minutes a day with my students, and we don’t have time to waste. When I was in high school, we had school agendas that had a hall pass page. If you needed to get a drink or go to the bathroom, you filled out a line on the hall pass page and got your teacher to sign off on it. When you were out of lines, you were out of hall passes. If you forgot your agenda, you weren’t allowed to leave the classroom.
The school I teach at doesn’t have agendas or any policy whatsoever on hall passes. I don’t want my students actually taking their INBs to the bathroom with them, but I do want to start holding them accountable for how often they leave my classroom.
I’ve made a page to glue in their notebooks that will give them four hall passes each quarter. Students will fill in the date and destination. I will initial their notebook, write the time they left and write the time they return. I hope this will keep students accountable for how much time they spend in the bathroom or whatever they are doing when they leave my classroom.
When a student leaves, they will leave their notebook on my desk. Only one student will be allowed to be gone at a time, and I can easily tell who is gone at the moment by whose notebook is on my desk.
I’ve uploaded this file as an editable Publisher file and a non-editable PDF file. For my students, I changed the file from “your teacher” to “Ms. Hagan.” You may customize the Publisher file to your heart’s content. To work with the editable version, you will need to download these free fonts: Comic Zine OT, Folks, and Amatic.
Free Download of Hall Pass for Interactive Notebooks
Hall Pass for Interactive Notebooks (PDF) (1096 downloads )
Hall Pass for Interactive Notebooks (Editable Publisher File ZIP) (955 downloads )
More Interactive Notebook Resources
- Using Dry Erase Pockets for Notebook Checks
- How to Make Pockets for Storing Notes in your Interactive Notebooks
- Interactive Notebook Dividers
- Interactive Notebook Resource Section
- Types of Errors Interactive Notebook Page
- Free Interactive Notebook Hall Pass
- List of Problem Solving Strategies for INBs or Binders
Anonymous
Thursday 30th of March 2017
I give them three passes per trimester and at the end of each trimester, they get a Jolly Rancher for each unused pass. The majority use none because they really crave that small sugar hit of a Jolly Rancher. I should buy stock in the company... -snapdragon
Sarah Carter (@mathequalslove)
Tuesday 18th of April 2017
I need a better system for next year. Definitely thinking about stealing your idea!
MathplusMusic
Friday 17th of July 2015
Thanks so much! This will be a great way to hold students accountable for bringing their ISNs..
Sarah Carter (@mathequalslove)
Friday 17th of July 2015
You're welcome! I want my students to be in the habit of bringing their notebooks EVERY DAY!
Nancy in Indiana
Thursday 16th of July 2015
Your new blog header looks great, by the way!
Sarah Carter (@mathequalslove)
Friday 17th of July 2015
Thanks! I made it using Canva. It's an awesome free website that I only learned about this week.
Jessica Mayer
Thursday 16th of July 2015
Is there anyway to get an editable version for word? I don't have publisher and haven't figured out how to get the files to convert to something I can open in word. I really want to use this for my INB for my resource chemistry class next year!
Sarah Carter (@mathequalslove)
Friday 17th of July 2015
I don't think there is any way to convert from publisher to word, sadly.
Nancy in Indiana
Thursday 16th of July 2015
Looks great! I teach on an 85 minute block schedule, and our administration doesn't allow us to limit the amount of times a student goes to the bathroom per grading period or semester. So, I do the "one person out at a time" rule to try to keep it under control. My plan for this year is to require students to leave their cell phones behind when they go. I hope that will reduce the number of bathroom trips that are really for texting rather than using the facilities and also reduce the time students are gone because they aren't texting as they walk.
Sarah Carter (@mathequalslove)
Friday 17th of July 2015
My students do that, too! I always cringe when I see them walking back into my classroom with their cell phones in their hand.