STRATEGIES FOR QUICK CLASSROOM TRANSITIONS

With everything that needs to get done, most teachers would agree that there are not enough instructional hours in the school day. Since every second counts, it is important to not waste any time. Check out these fun and easy classroom management tips and strategies for quick classroom transitions!

This blog post will…

share several tried and true strategies for improving transitions in your classroom
help you create effective routines with your students that will keep them focused and productive
save you time and stress by introducing you to systems that have proven to work with many different cohorts of children

5 Tips for Improving and Managing Transitions

Establish clear expectations and routines
Set class goals
Utilize a timer
Introduce incentives
Use a chime or bell

How to Implement the Timer Strategy

Pick one transition at a time to focus on. Perhaps you want them to improve on lining up for lunch. Maybe you are finding you are losing valuable writer’s workshop time because the students are taking too long to get their writing supplies and start writing. Whichever transition you select is the one you will stick with for a few days.
Without drawing attention to what you are doing, time how long it takes the students to transition. Record the time where they can see it.
At a later time (such as during a class meeting) explain the problem and how you are going to work as a team to solve it. If you’ve been teaching your students about a growth mindset you could tie in the benefits of goal setting to your work in that area. Tell them how long it took them to transition and set an initial goal of beating that time.
The next time that transition occurs get their attention and review the procedures. Remind them not to run and to always work as a team. Start the timer and tell them to transition. When they have successfully transitioned from point A to point B I stop the timer and record the time.
Discuss how the transition went. Talk about what was done well and address any areas to be improved further.

How to Implement the Incentive Strategy

Keep track of how long a particular transition takes per day and encourage your students to strive to beat the best time.
If they beat their best time, the class can earn a bingo number to add to your Teamwork Bingo Incentive Chart (which works amazingly well by the way).
If they don’t beat the time, just focus on how to improve.
Once they show improvement in a specific transition, target another using the same process.

How to Implement the Chime Strategy

Wind chimes are the perfect signal for alerting your students that it is time to clean up an activity and transition to the next.
Upon touching the chimes, the procedure is to become silent, put away whatever was being worked on and quickly transition to the group area.
This strategy can also be used with a bell.