The time between activities is often full of distractions and “lost” time, and is often when inappropriate
behaviors are especially likely to occur. Part of the problem is intrinsic to transitions: students often have to wait
before a new activity begins, and therefore get bored, at the same moment when the teacher may be preoccupied
with locating and arranging materials for the new activity. From the point of view of students, therefore, transitions
may seem essentially like unsupervised group time, when (seemingly) “anything goes”.
Minimizing such problems requires two strategies, one of which is easier to implement than the other. The
easier strategy is for you, as teacher, to organize materials as well as possible ahead of time, so that you minimize
the time needed to begin a new activity or class session. This advice sounds simple, and mostly is, but it can
sometimes take a bit of practice to implement smoothly. When one of us (Kelvin) first began teaching university, for
example, particular papers or overhead transparencies would sometimes move “magically” into the wrong folder in
spite of his efforts to keep them where he would find them easily, and finding them caused delays at the last minute
while students waited.
A second, more complex strategy is to teach students as many ways as possible to manage their own behavior
during transitions (Marzano & Marzano, 2004). If students talk too loudly between activities, for example, then
discuss with them what constitutes appropriate levels or amounts of talk during those times, as well as about the
need for them to monitor their own sound level at that time. Or if students stop work early in anticipation of the
end of an activity, then talk about—or even practice—using a signal from yourself to indicate the true ending point
for an activity. If certain students continue working beyond the end of an activity, on the other hand, then try giving
students advance warning of the impending end of the activity, and remind them about their taking the
responsibility for actually finishing work once they hear the advance warning. And so on. The point of all of these
tactics is to encourage students’ sense of responsibility for their behavior transitions, and thereby reduce your own
need to monitor them at that crucial time.
None of these ideas, of course, mean that you, as teacher, can or should give up monitoring students’ behavior
entirely. Chances are that you still will need to notice if and when someone talks too loudly, finishes too early, or
continues too long, and you will still need to give those students appropriate reminders. But the amount of
reminding will be less to the extent that students can remind and monitor themselves—a welcome trend at any time
during the day, but especially during transitions.