Lost in Transition

Have your students ever been lost in transition?  What I mean by that is that they moved to off task behavior rather than onto the desired activity.  I have seen teachers move students from one activity to the next seamlessly, but have also encountered the opposite.  A teacher is ready to move on, but the students do not follow.  Let’s take a look at a couple ways to help ensure that your students do not become lost in transition.

Transitions in the classroom start the moment students enter the room.  They transition from the hallway to the classroom.  To improve transitions, we need to start with identifying them.  Transitions between activities in the classroom are the obvious ones.  Think about transitions from one teacher to another whether in the elementary or secondary level.  We are asking students to transition from one set of rules (formal and hidden) to your own.  Do students explicitly know your expectations for transitioning?  McIntosh et al. (2004) remind us that, classrooms are full of hidden transition expectations that some students pick up on, but others do not (pg, 32).  Unless we explicitly teach students how we would like them to transition, they will at best assume what they need to be doing.

Take a moment and identify the transitions that happen on a daily basis in your classroom.  How do you expect students to transition?  Have you explicitly taught the procedures to students?  If you are struggling with areas that involve transitions, start with entering the classroom, exiting the classroom, dismissing to lunch, moving from warm-ups/bell work to instruction, moving from instruction to group work, etc. Have you taught these?  If so, do they need to be revisited?

McIntosh et al. (2004) give us the following advice when it comes to effective transitions: explicitly teach expected behavior, give quick reminders of expected behavior prior to transitions, incentivize correct behavior, and actively supervise students during transitions (pg, 33).  If there is a target area and students know it, use reflective practices to analyze how the transitions are improving or could get better.  Group think can be a powerful tool.

While thinking about these steps to creating effective transitions, let’s look at some practical applications that might help in your implementation.

Using a timer to help prompt the end of one activity and the start of the transition to the next is a great tool.  It lets students know that the transition is coming without a surprise and allows them to naturally start closing down what they are doing. 

Remember to pre-teach expectations.  Do not allow students to start transitioning prior to giving them the full directions and expectations.  If students begin a process without full understanding, you will lose valuable instruction time.

Plan ahead!  When you are planning your lesson, think about opportunities that you will have to count or handout papers/supplies to students while they are working.  If you can minimize your readiness time during instruction, students will follow suite.  Always think about the learning you want students to be doing while you are doing tasks such as taking attendance, catching up a student that was absent, gathering supplies, etc.

Remember the goal is to minimize transitions, not eliminate them.  They will take up some class time, but the time they do take is not rigorous or academic, which is why we want them minimized.  Outside of losing academic time, transitions done wrong can easily equate to the need for heavy management.  Go out and help your students make it from Point A to Point B and help them not get lost in transition.

Happy Teaching!

References

McIntosh, K., Herman, K., Sanford, A., McGraw, K., & Florence, K., (2004). Teaching transitions: Techniques for promoting success between lessons. Teaching Exceptional Children, 37(1), 32–38.