Time-Out Rooms in Schools...good or bad idea?

[FSWer]

Ok..I am not really sure how much of the story I myself got so far here. But Erin Login from ch. 8 did a story on this....and I thought I'd bring it up in topic. So,from what I'm understanding...do you believe little kids should be locked in a room by themselves, with just a Desk and Walls surrounding them? Acording to the story....some kids and even...parents feel it's like being in a Jail. So for a servey....what do you all think? Yes or no? I believe it should be used ONLY for kids who would be a danger to others. Let alone...for it NOT to be used at ALL!!! Let's have your vote!!!

[BigB08822]

What happened to the good ole days of sending the bad kids to the principals office? That would be much scarier than sitting in a room by myself. Having to look in the Principals eye and tell them what you did and then sit there for 10 minutes in silence is AWFUL.

[skateboy]

What happened to the good ole days of sending the bad kids to the principals office? That would be much scarier than sitting in a room by myself. Having to look in the Principals eye and tell them what you did and then sit there for 10 minutes in silence is AWFUL.

Oooohhh, I never got sent to the principal's office. You must have been bad. So what did you do to get sent there??

That said, I would need to know how long a kid would be expected to sit in the time out room. Thirty minutes or so, I might be for it. Longer than that, no.

[BigB08822]

Actually, I only remember ever being sent once and it was no big deal but I know enough people who made a habit out of it. lol

[Really]

What happened to the good ole days of sending the bad kids to the principals office? That would be much scarier than sitting in a room by myself. Having to look in the Principals eye and tell them what you did and then sit there for 10 minutes in silence is AWFUL.

Kids end up in this rooms *after* seeing the principal. Our middle school in town has three rooms like this in the office area. Actually they're more like large closets with a desk and light. They're used for in-school suspensions; however when students are in there, the doors are not usually closed. The doors actually have full-pane windows in them. Finding places for kids to work when they are serving ISS's can be difficult in many schools, especially small ones. Given that, in most schools I know, ISS's are a step below out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, I don't imagine they're in constant use.

[Karina1974]

What happened to the good ole days of sending the bad kids to the principals office? That would be much scarier than sitting in a room by myself. Having to look in the Principals eye and tell them what you did and then sit there for 10 minutes in silence is AWFUL.

By that token, how about bring back those parents who would give the kid what-for once they get home for being sent to the principal's office, instead of insisting their precious angel "did nothing wrong" and threatening a lawsuit against the teacher/school/district for "traumatizing" their poor widdle baby for life?

[PDilemma]

Given that, in most schools I know, ISS's are a step below out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, I don't imagine they're in constant use.

The school I last taught at had pretty much eliminated out of school suspension in favor of ISS. Parents had a tendency to make out of school suspension enjoyable. One of the last kids who got it (for screaming profanities at a teacher in public on a field trip including calling her a b*tch and the C word) was treated to sleeping in, going out to lunch and a shopping spree at the Apple Store by his mother who felt that the teacher was in the wrong and her kid had a right to scream at her. Since he was being unjustly punished, she wanted to make it special for him.

[Matryeshka]

I'm all for time-out rooms. Besides a punishment, it's also in the best interest of the student. Just like adults, sometimes students act out because they are overwhelmed, overwraught and overstimulated. Being by themselves in a room where they can just get some space and time to collect their thoughts and calm down could be beneficial. Physically taking a kid out of a situation IME is usually the best approach to getting a student back on track (not always, but sometimes).

It's all in how you present it to the student. Going to the time-out room sounds like you're punishing a naughty three year old. Going to the chill-out room or break room is different--it says, hey, you did wrong, but I'm going to give you some time to yourself and we can revisit this issue when we're both calmer. There was a middle school here who actually used time-out as a reward for students with ADD, ADHD, high-functioning Asperger's, Austism Spectrum or kids that had continual problems coping with school, and it went like gangbusters.

Unless a student is a true danger to other students/faculty at the school, and the suspension is really to maintain safety, I am completely against out-of-school suspensions. Like PDilemma said, too often kids look at it as a reward and it sends the message that school isn't really all that important.

[PDilemma]

I never taught anywhere with a time-out room of any sort. ISS was served in the counselor's office area where there was a large round table and people to keep an eye on the kid.

I did however use the "take a break" method a time or two. I had one student with a hard family background who was extremely intelligent but had a problem with his temper especially during class discussions when people disagreed with him. When he was a sophomore, I told him that if he felt like he was going to lose his temper, he could step out of the room to calm down as long as he stayed in the hallway near my room (which was in a back corner and no other classrooms on that side). He did it several times as a sophomore--he would just say he needed to step out, only a few as a junior and never as a senior. It was a much better alternative to letting him fly off at his classmates and it helped him learn how to control himself.

[FSWer]

I never taught anywhere with a time-out room of any sort. ISS was served in the counselor's office area where there was a large round table and people to keep an eye on the kid.

I did however use the "take a break" method a time or two. I had one student with a hard family background who was extremely intelligent but had a problem with his temper especially during class discussions when people disagreed with him. When he was a sophomore, I told him that if he felt like he was going to lose his temper, he could step out of the room to calm down as long as he stayed in the hallway near my room (which was in a back corner and no other classrooms on that side). He did it several times as a sophomore--he would just say he needed to step out, only a few as a junior and never as a senior. It was a much better alternative to letting him fly off at his classmates and it helped him learn how to control himself.

can you explain what that is? BTW. a little bit more info. on what happened. It turns out kids were going into Time-Out and coming out with a bloody nose from Restrants,etc

[PDilemma]

can you explain what that is? BTW. a little bit more info. on what happened. It turns out kids were going into Time-Out and coming out with a bloody nose from Restrants,etc

This kid would get angry when people disagreed with him or get hostile when he felt like his classmates didn't get it--this was in literature and history courses with lots of discussion--I taught him (and all the kids at that school for a time) in four courses across their 10th, 11th and 12th grade years. After several incidents of him getting red faced and yelling at other kids or at me, I told him that if he was going to get upset, I would prefer that he step out and calm himself down. He was allowed to say "Ms. PDilemma, may I step out?" He would go into the large hallway outside my room and calm himself down. My classroom was in a corner next to the tech office and there were only that door and lockers for about 15 feet, so he wouldn't really disturb other classes. He usually paced a little, then sat down on the floor and came back when he was ready to participate appropriately. Early on, it would be five minutes or longer, later it would be a minute or two and he eventually did not need to do it anymore. It really helped him learn to control his temper. After he did it the first time, we never had an outburst in the room again.

This was my own personal solution to dealing with a kid with a temper. Mind you, I worked in a school where there was zero administrative support for these kinds of issues. And there were no time-out rooms or restraints in the school at all.