Transition Tips: Developing a Repertoire of Effective Strategies

Have you ever analyzed how you transition from one activity to the next? Are there certain times in a lesson that you seem to lose your students’ engagement, or they start to make interesting choices? A wise teacher told me if the students have time, they have time to get creative. This “creative” may not translate to ideal behaviors.

In order to keep the students engaged and maintain an orderly classroom, a lesson must flow. It is the same as planning out a performance, always guiding the audience to the next scene. In a day and age where technology has aided in shortening a student’s attention span, it is critical to set your students up for success. Integrating thoughtful transitions can help students stay focused and on task so they can follow your great lessons.

Transitions are the piece of the lesson that take the students smoothly from one activity to the next. This can include changing location in the classroom, handing out instruments, traveling to instruments, setting up visual aids, going from one game to the next, or handing out materials. It is important to discover transitions that best fit your personality and teaching style and, most importantly, that will set your students up for maximum success.

There are many different types of transitions. Some can be scripted while others will be improvised on the spot, but all of them take some preparation. Consider how to put yourself in the right place at the right time; where to place materials so they are easily accessible; and how one activity will flow to the next. The goal should always be to move seamlessly from one thing to the next while keeping all your students fully and intentionally engaged with what you want them to be doing. The more you use transitions, the easier they become to execute. Here are a few to consider.

Transition with a song

As you finish an activity, give a brief instruction, then start singing. For example, immediately after telling the class to form a circle, start singing the song that corresponds with the next activity. This encourages the kids to sing while accomplishing the task of forming a circle. Kids will naturally want to talk while moving to the next spot. Instead, give them a chance to use their voice in a musical way. It’s a win for everyone.

Transition with a game

The game transition moves students to the next spot without the kids even realizing it. For example, if the class is in a circle and you want them to move to xylophones, play a quick elimination game. I frequently use the elimination game Acka Backa or the hand-slapping game Son Macaron. As each student is eliminated, they go to a xylophone and play a bourdon to help accompany the song until the end of the game. By the end of the game, there is one student left, the winner, and the other students are all at an instrument. A quick high five to the winner and you’re ready to start teaching the xylophone portion of your lesson with no time lost.

Transition with a countdown

This simple transition works well for moving kids from one spot in the room to the next quickly, successfully, and flexibly. For example, when students are moving from sitting in a group to self-space for a movement activity, clap a four-beat rhythm, give the simple direction, and countdown from five. After the countdown, the students will clap the rhythm. This trick does not always work right away, but after some repetition, the students pick up on it fast and seem to enjoy the fast-paced challenge.

Transition with a question

This is another very simple one to implement that does not take much planning. Give a direction, then immediately ask a question. When you call on a specific student for the answer, it prompts the others to transition silently so they can hear the answer. It helps to have a question or two in your mind before executing this transition so you can make the transfer an educational one. You might even consider putting strips of paper in a can so you can draw one out at random.

Management Considerations

Effective planning, pacing, and transitioning not only help with academic achievement but with behavioral success as well. Students will always have impulsive moments, crazy ideas, and internal or external influences that shape behavior. The best way to battle undesired behaviors is take away the time for them to develop. Focus on what the students are doing in each activity in order to plan out what type of transition fits. For example, when I ask my students to find a partner, they seem to chat forever before settling with their choice. Instead of asking them to quiet down, I ask the partners to accomplish a task. I might say, “Find a partner and rhythmically extract the first line of The Canoe Song. It is eight beats long, and the first partnership to get it is the winner.” This discourages them from having random conversation and redirects them to the educational reason for partnering up. Typically, students make poor choices for only a few reasons. Boredom is one of the biggest. Effective, and varied, transitions can help keep this at bay. This can be compared to watching a movie that keeps you on your toes until the end. With appropriate lessons, the right pacing, and smooth transitions, there is nothing but the yearning for more as the lesson comes to an end. This makes the time fly by for the teachers and students alike.

Where do you start?

If you have never planned out your transitions, start simple. Once you craft a full lesson, look at the points where transitions would be necessary. If you are a person that struggles with spur of the moment decisions, script what you are going to say. There is no shame in being overly prepared! This will also allow you to build your confidence using quality transitions, which makes planning easier. Just like any other aspect of teaching, building your transition repertoire requires trial and error. Do not be afraid to try different types, knowing that some won’t work. It is our job as teachers to put our best foot forward in what we present to the students. Thinking of a lesson as a journey will boost engagemnt, maximize instruction time, and eliminate key management issues. Plus—it makes a day of teaching more enjoyable for you!