I can haz hall pass?

September 19, 2014 3:42 PM

Creative people of Metafilter, help me come up with a fun hall pass to use in my classroom of high school seniors.

I hate that I have to use hall passes; my students shouldn't have to ask my permission to use the bathroom and then acquire a document from me stating they may do so, which ultimately permits them passage to and from their destination, but the bathrooms (and water fountain) are a bit down the hall from my classroom and there is a security concern from administration, so please don't suggest I not use them. I have to use hall passes, this is non-negotiable.

The ones we currently use are on a note pad and I have to fill out all this information - name, time, my class, destination, my name, etc. It is such a waste of time just for a student to meet a biological need. We have not been allowed to use something like a permanent wooden pass with the room number on it due to concerns of germs spreading, but this year, administration has agreed to let us make our own permanent hall passes that students can wear on a lanyard around their neck - which is a little more sanitary than a piece of wood (I'll be spraying it with Lysol daily anyway)- and it has the added bonus of making it clear to staff that the student is allowed to be in the hall so they don't have to ask to see a pass.

So basically, I want to create a hall pass about the size of an index card that I can print on heavy paper, laminate, and hang on a lanyard. I could just go with a regular boring official looking pass, which some teachers are doing, but I'd really like to use this as an opportunity to put a smile on my students' faces.

So far the only ideas I've come up with are a picture of Gandalf with the words, "You SHALL pass....in the hall." I love it, along with the "I can haz hall pass" post title, which obviously would have an adorable lolcat on it, but I know the joke will be lost on many of my students who are typical high school seniors.

So MeFi, can you help me come up with a fun hall pass with a little more mass appeal than internet memes??

posted by NoraCharles to Education (23 answers total)

Best answer: On a similar LOTR theme 'One does not simply walk down the hall ... without a pass'

If you teach history, maybe something based on 'No Pasaran!' (They shall not pass)
posted by Dorothea_in_Rome at 3:48 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'd just leave it kind of boring and have it say something like SYMBOLIC TOTEM OF MY RELATIVE AUTONOMY but if I recall from my own high school experience, administration might not find that particularly amusing.
posted by phunniemee at 3:48 PM on September 19, 2014 [17 favorites]

Best answer: Wow, tight security at your school. I like your Gandalf idea and the play on the famous line. Maybe the little minions from Despicable Me - everyone seems to love them and they're colorful, comical, and friendly.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 3:49 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Forget something on a lanyard. One of the teachers at my high school had a toilet seat hung up on the wall with the words HALL PASS stenciled on it!

Okay, how about something that looks like an All Access back stage pass?
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 3:56 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

A picture of a truck on a mountain: HAUL PASS.

(What do you teach? If it's English, we can make up a sonnet or something for you. If it's math, some clever mefite might come up with a funny equation.)
posted by mochapickle at 4:04 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

A lot bigger than an index card, but I've seen a rubber chicken used for this purpose.
posted by tangerine at 4:06 PM on September 19, 2014 [5 favorites]

Best answer: How about

FREEDOM*


*to and from room number within an acceptable period of time as deemed by teachername.
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:16 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Take a picture looking down the hallway that the student would be walking down. Then it'll look like the student has a hole in their torso.
posted by bendy at 4:17 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Maybe inlay (or expand) a Monopoly "get out of jail free" card?
posted by mr. digits at 4:18 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

We used old CDs on a lanyard at previous schools. They worked really well, actually. I like the LOLcats and the symbol of relative autonomy suggestions too.
posted by guster4lovers at 4:19 PM on September 19, 2014

Best answer: I would do one or two and then make it something your students can contribute to, either with ideas for wordplay or art (with the caveat that selection of what actually ends up on the hall pass will be at your sole discretion). 12th grade me would have been all over that.
posted by ocherdraco at 4:26 PM on September 19, 2014

How about making each student their own reusable pass just for your class to be used throughout the semester? I recently made them for one class [complete with their name, block and class, terms of use, etc.] and printed them on a half sheet of orange paper. They keep their personalized passes in their binders and just grab 'em when they have to go. It's worked GREAT!! (I hear you on the headache that hall passes can be.) I also have a grab-as-you-go plastic breadboard hanging near the door for quick access but needed something more for this one lunchtime class. I do trust them all in the hallways, which is essential, of course.
posted by smorgasbord at 4:42 PM on September 19, 2014 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I escaped Ms. NoraCharles' classroom and all I got was this lousy pass.
posted by sylvanshine at 4:53 PM on September 19, 2014 [8 favorites]

Is the lanyard thing the only thing the school will let you have? Because I just saw some cute ones (maybe on Pinterest?) that were decorated bottles of hand sanitizer. Then they could sanitize their hands before picking it back up, so no germy hall passes.
posted by Weeping_angel at 4:59 PM on September 19, 2014

(A small bottle of sanitizer could totally go on a lanyard, too!)
posted by Weeping_angel at 5:00 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I just saw one at my daughter's school that was designed to look like a ticket to a museum exhibit called "The Restroom: An examination of 21st century sanitation, engineering and hygene" or something along those lines.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:39 PM on September 19, 2014 [13 favorites]

Best answer: A few squares of toilet paper that says BREAK IN CASE OF EMERGENCY.
posted by missmary6 at 6:11 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

My brother uses an old Eazy E CD with HALL PASS scrawled on it in sharpie. It's pretty great.
posted by saul wright at 6:30 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: What's a hall pass if not a passport?

The Teacher of [subject] Ms. NoraCharles hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the student of the [subject] bearing this instrument to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection.

French translation on the other side and you're done.
posted by backupjesus at 9:39 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

tangerine, did you have Mrs. Rossen in seventh grade? She used rubber chickens ALL THE TIME. Which is why I know things like rubber chickens will disintegrate with enough use.

huh huh huh use
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:49 PM on September 19, 2014

Best answer: You could do a EULA. All the kids would recognize it.

By wearing this pass I agree to the following licensing agreement.

Teacher/ room number is hear by referred to as room number and student is referred to as STUDENT.

STUDENT when wearing is stating that student recognizes all rights and limitations of this pass agreement.

1) pass is to be used for official purposes as outlined in the contract and only from permission of # on the day and time the pass is worn. Not getting permission from # revokes all rights and privileged of pass and may lead to concesquences.

2) destination must be for official business purposes. As outlined these purposes include bathroom, official business to other employee from school and any official permission from # provided permission is timely.

3) pass does not give STUDENT rights for any other stops or communication with non authorized entities. Pass does not provide immunity from loitering.

4) wearer of this pass must abide by all rules of student handbook or pass may be revoked.



And whatever else you want to make up.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:20 AM on September 20, 2014

Response by poster: WOW!!! You guys are awesome - so many great suggestion that I am going to do a few different ones and let the kids choose, or alternate them by marking periods. I see 195 kids a week, so I can't make them individual.

Ocherdraco - I am facepalming right this minute that I didn't think that some of my commercial art/digital media students could make them for me - my photoshop skills are tragic.

And yes, it has to be something that hangs on the lanyard - and I like the idea of the mini bottles of hand sanitizer, but we actually have stations around the school with sanitizer, so it would be (bacterial) overkill.

Thanks so much for the wonderful suggestions.
I love this place.
:-)
posted by NoraCharles at 12:08 PM on September 20, 2014

When I was teaching, I wanted to use hall passes that maximized student embarrassment, but really couldn't get much further than a Britney Spears CD.

I suggest something like the standard restroom stick figures, but modified with their knees crossed and maybe hands going to groin in the universal signal for "Sweet Heavens Above I Have To Pee Like a Race Horse". Bonus points for a dark puddle on the ground at their feet. You can tell the administration it's a shadow.
posted by plinth at 1:39 PM on September 20, 2014