Blog #5: Transitions

It seems to me that we spend just as much time during the school day on transitions as we do on actual learning. Whether it’s taking the kids to specials or the computer lab, or just getting them from their desks to the carpet for a lesson it seems to take far longer than it should. In both instances of lining the students up or having them move to a different spot in the room we call them by their table groups. For example, we’ll call for groups 1, 2, and 3 and then 4, 5, and 6. Before we do this we usually do an attention-getter like “1, 2, 3 eyes on me” to make sure that the students are paying attention. However, this does not seem to help with the speed of the transition process. The students may hear their group number being called but they are too often not ready to go, because they are still digging through their disorganized desks for the right notebook or doing something like tying their shoes. And when they finally do get to the carpet or lined up, half of them have forgotten a pencil, their paper, or a water bottle to take to P.E. Occasionally we even have a few students who cry when it appears that they have lost their papers.

We also have a real problem getting the students to be quiet when they’re in line and walking down the hallway. It’s not that they talk to each other so much as they like to point out everything they see in the hallway, especially the board where the school keeps track of the points for the different houses. My class also seems to lack the ability to walk in a completely straight line and to keep up with one another. I typically walk in the back of the line while my CT walks in the front and I feel as if I’m always hurrying up the last few students in the line because they are lagging behind.

Another transition that is often used in my class is reading. Whenever there is even a little bit of down time the students are supposed to take out a book and read. I have noticed that they have improved significantly with this since the beginning of the year. I used to have to walk around and prod nearly all the students to get their books out; now just a few remain who still need to be reminded. In general I like the idea of using reading as a transition, especially with my students who need to be reading as much as possible. However, it seems to me that it is not particularly effective to have a student take out a book only to tell them to put it away thirty seconds later because it’s time to move on to the next activity. I would honestly rather the kids just be able to chat quietly during these very short breaks and use transition reading when there are longer intervals of time between activities.

Everyone acknowledges that transitions can be tricky. Weinstein and Romano in Elementary Classroom Management: Lessons from Research and Practice (2015) offer several solutions to transition issues and suggestions for how to make transitions be more efficient and smooth. Something they talk about that I plan on trying to be more aware of in my classroom is the clock. They say that if students have more warning about activities or lessons coming to a close and a transition coming up that they will feel more prepared (Romano & Weinstein, 2015). We have set transitions routines, which they also say is important; but, I think our transitions are often rushed because we’ve forgotten about the time. I think that if I can be more aware of the clock and give my students a two minute warning before it is time to move, that it might actually save us some learning time.

Something else that is suggested by Weinstein and Romano (2015) is to make students more accountable. This is an idea that is expanded upon by Rothstein-Fisch and Trumball (2008) in Managing Diverse Classrooms. Sometimes students can be the best managers of each other. Students, especially those from collectivist cultures like some of mine are, will want the group to succeed and learn. I could apply this to transitions in my room by allowing my students to be more helpful to one another. For example, a student who has already gotten out his or her supplies could help another student who is having a hard time finding his worksheet. I could also have my students who typically are quiet in the hall, like they’re supposed to be, remind their friends about what is expected of them, instead of me feeling like I’m nagging them all the time.

A final suggestion made by Weinstein and Romano (2015) that I feel could help with the issue of transitional reading is to give the students other choices. They provide an example of a teacher who lets his students choose from several activities during transition or break times. These include reading, writing, and illustrating (Romano & Weinstein, 2015). I think if I could apply this in my classroom the students would be more inclined to work for a few minutes instead of procrastinating taking out their reading book until the time was already over.

Addresses FEAPS 2 a and b

References

1. Rothstein-Fisch C. & Trumball E. (2009). Managing diverse classrooms: How to build on students cultural strengths. Virginia: ASCD.

2. Weinstein, C., & Romano, M. (2015). Elementary Classroom Management: Lessons from Research and Practice (6th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

#EDE4504 #EDE4941 #FEAPS2A #FEAPS2B #weinstein #romano #trumball #rothsteinfisch #transitions