Houston-area teacher creates a ‘fart corner' for students in her fourth-grade classroom

On the top shelf of a bookshelf in Valecia Broussard's classroom sits a bottle of Lysol spray with a yellow construction paper sign above it. In all capital letters are the words "fart corner."

It's the Alvin ISD teacher's first year with an area specifically for students to pass gas without interrupting class, and it's been a success beyond her classroom. A video of Broussard showing her fourth -graders how to use the corner has more than 6.3 million likes on TikTok. 

"I totally was not trying to go viral, that's the thing," Broussard said. "I just keep telling people that God has a sense of humor."

Broussard, who is in her 15th year of teaching, had just started her TikTok account in July, and she had only 43 followers when she made the first video about the "fart corner." 

"My intention wasn't to post solely educational things," Broussard said. "It was more so some personal, some work, just however it fell."

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Now, a little over two weeks later, she has nearly 43,000 followers and has posted multiple times about the corner. While her students know they aren't allowed to follow her account, they know their teacher is popular on TikTok. 

The idea for the now-viral area of her classroom has been brewing for a few years since she noticed how comfortable students were passing gas around one another.

"I'm talking, passing gas, high-fiving each other," Broussard said. "Passing gas like they weren't embarrassed, they weren't ashamed about it."

The corner was Broussard's way to try to bring some structure to the situation. While students are welcome to go to the bathroom or step into the hallway to pass gas, she noticed many didn't want to leave for the 10 seconds it might take.

"Over time, I kind of gained a little bit of respect for 9- and 10-year-olds who basically were like, 'Okay, everybody farts. I'm going to pass gas and we're going to keep learning,'" Broussard said. 

Broussard said trips to the corner are done quietly and take 30 seconds or less. Students don't need permission to get up, pass gas and spray the Lysol.

"The other kids in the class are not staring, they're not laughing, they're not paying any attention," Broussard said.

She said she plans to keep the corner for years to come, just like she has areas for students to blow their noses or sharpen their pencils.

"We want to make the classroom environment positive and for students and myself to be comfortable, so might as well keep the fart corner going as well," Broussard said.

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This article originally published at Houston-area teacher creates a 'fart corner' for students in her fourth-grade classroom .