dungeonmastersconsortium:

analogueswords:

knerdy:

twitblr:

Controlled bathroom breaks are dumb, if I gotta go I gotta go! (x)

This is the thread I got mad in!

…I’m still mad!

I see people use the excuse “but what if they’re just going so they don’t have to pay attention!” a lot, and it’s a really poor excuse.

Aside from the fact that kids (and adults!) need and are entitled to regular mental breaks, keeping a bored kid in the classroom isn’t going to magically make them pay attention. What it IS going to do is create an environment of distraction for the people around them. You wanna know how I know? I was that kid. I have adhd, and when I wasn’t able to get up and walk around, I talked to everyone. Constantly. When allowed to go outside and refresh my brain when needed, I became a lot less disruptive.

And when it’s older kids? If a high schooler doesn’t want to learn something, they’re not going to, and you can’t make them. That’s their mistake to make. As a teacher, try making the material more accessible and engaging. That’s your job. Whether the student does their job is on them.

“Kids have died in bathroom fights” is definitely an argument I haven’t seen before, but it’s so patently ridiculous that I don’t think it needs to actually be addressed.

THIS SHIT MAKES ME SO ANGRY. When I was a teacher, I taught in a high school that had a lot of kids that came from poorer families. You know what I did? I always had a drawer FULL of snacks. Some sugary treats, but a lot of stuff that one might consider “food food,” not just a treat. You know what I found out? Kids would ask for a snack at the beginning of class if they wanted one, and it affected my class POSITIVELY. Kids that I knew NEEDED something to eat would be able to grab crackers and tuna or something, and other kids would just be happy to come into my class to see what I had stocked in the drawer. 

The kids learned to be respectful of the food BY THEMSELVES. Y’all should have seen it. Kids were policing each other in how much food they took, so that one student wouldn’t take all the zebra cakes or whatever, but not a single time was a kid scolded for taking a couple packs of crackers or whatever. And they all made sure that no one left trash around. 

Feeding kids is important, and if you can’t teach kids while they eat a snack, you just can’t teach.