The Effects of Improved Student Transitions on Classroom Management

Abstract

Effective transitioning of students between learning activities occurs when teachers establish routines and expectations of student movement and behavior wherein students stop one activity and quickly and smoothly segue to the next activity. Effective student transitions increase learning time and provide daily practice of safe movement. At the time of this study, staff and students at the target school, an urban neighborhood, pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade charter school in Texas, had not adopted a campus-wide, all day, every day habit of safe movement and safety sensibilities. Effective student transitioning as a practical, teachable skill was presented to school staff during a day of professional development. Subsequently, staff members taught students incremental steps, and routinely practiced to establish effective transitions. Orderly student transitions were practiced while no crisis was at hand to increase automaticity and consistency of appropriate actions in the case of an actual emergency. The researcher observed teachers during transitions to determine further training needs and provided modeling and coaching to teachers as needed. The researcher analyzed pre- and post-observation data to determine the effectiveness of intervention. Using inductive analysis, the researcher categorized patterns observed in instances of effective and ineffective student transitions and delineated the basic steps of ideal performance expectations for appropriate student transitions. The researcher delineated teachers’ and students’ actions that produced appropriate transitions for various campus venues and activities and designed step-by-step descriptions of structured transition sequences.