November 3, 2025 • 20 mins
The messy middle of a lesson can make or break your classroom calm.
You’ve nailed your entry routines. Your exits are solid. But those in-between moments, like shifting from group work to silent writing, that’s where chaos sneaks in.
If transitions have ever left you saying:
“I had them… and then I lost them.”
This one’s for you.
In this episode, I walk you through my three essential “Ps” for smooth transitions, plus five of my favourite practical tools to bring novelty, structure and just the right amount of fun into those mid-lesson wobbles.
Whether your students are bouncing off the walls or just dilly-dallying, you’ll walk away from this one with new tricks (and a taco) up your sleeve.
What you’ll learn:
- Why group work isn’t the problem — it’s the gap between tasks
- My 3-part “P” framework to diagnose & fix messy transitions
- How to boost structure and student buy-in (without nagging!)
- Easy, repeatable tools for transitions that students actually respond to
- Fun little things like the “Tardy Taco” and “Fast Track Fajita” that build community while managing chaos
Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!
RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:
- Shop all resources
- Join The Behaviour Club
- My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management
- The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
- Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'
Connect with me:
- Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
- Check out my website
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Oh, hi there, teachers.
Welcome to the UnteachablesPodcast.
I'm your host, Claire English,and I am just a fellow teacher,
a toddler mama, and a big oldbehaviour nerd on a mission to
demystify and simplify thatlittle thing called classroom
management.
The way we've all been taught tomanage behaviour and classroom
manage has left us playing crowdcontrol, which is not something
(00:23):
I subscribe to because we're notbouncers, we're teachers.
So listen in as I walk youthrough the game-changing
strategies, and I mean thethings that we can actually do
in action in our classrooms thatwill allow you to lean into your
beautiful values as acompassionate educator and feel
empowered to run your room witha little more calm, and dare I
(00:43):
say it, a lot less chaos.
I will see you in the episode.
Hello and welcome back to theUnteachables Podcast.
It is so nice to have you hereagain.
Today I am talking about smoothtransitions because I talk a lot
about the start of the lessonand the end of the lesson and
(01:04):
routines and structures, but Idon't think I've done a lot of
work with you on like the messymiddle and thinking about those
times in the lesson where thingscan really go awry and things
can become a little bitchallenging.
Uh, because for years, like Imean for years, I avoided group
(01:26):
work, and of course I did somegroup work, but and with certain
classes I did more group workthan others.
But I knew that it was valuable,I knew it was important, but I
was terrified of the transitionperiods because I knew I'd lose
them.
And if I had them settled, if Ihad them engaged, I actually was
(01:48):
like fright, frightened ofmoving them out of that space
and having to then transitionthem back into individual work.
And I just didn't want to do it.
I was just tired.
I didn't want to do it, I didn'twant to have to bother with it.
I was, I just was not confidentat all in being able to
successfully transition studentsin and out of those different
(02:11):
energetic spaces of going fromindividual work where they're
more engaged and settled anddon't mean engaged, you know
what I mean?
Like settled and and workingkind of like hyper-focused on
like what they're doing.
I didn't want to then go to asituation where they were
chatting and laughing and thenhave to come back into that
space where they were engaged intheir own thing.
(02:35):
Uh, I just found it really,really hard and I didn't
understand the idea ofupregulation, down regulation.
I didn't know like strategies inorder to like successfully
transition them from one to theother.
But the group work wasn't theproblem.
It was just that structuretemporarily dissolves within
(02:58):
those transitions.
And if we're not really clear,if we don't have certain
strategies that we can use inthat gap, and we if we can't
close that gap, it becomes muchharder to manage.
And that's where behaviors canescalate.
And we see those like thatincrease in low-level behaviors,
or we see an increase in youknow, students walking in out of
(03:20):
the room or not being able toresettle.
So closing the gap, being reallyexplicit, um, and making
transition something that isjust as structured as an entry
routine or an exit routine, justas clear, just as predictable.
It is doable and it is doable tomake them a lot, lot, lot
easier.
(03:40):
Uh, so I have a few tools thatI'd like to share with you, a
few, um, a few ideas aroundtransitions.
If you are one of my behaviorclubbers, by the way, this
month's training is all aboutsmooth transitions.
So I suggest if you aren'tdriving or running or doing
something where you have tolisten to a podcast, I suggest
you press pause on this and yougo and instead watch the
(04:04):
training on smooth transitions.
If you're thinking, like, oh mygosh, yes, I really need support
with this, my transitions aremessy and I find it hard to get
their attention back, or I'mconstantly waiting for students
to settle, and I, you know, likeit's just really tough.
If you're thinking that and youthink that this would be a
really great training sessionfor you to work through, I
suggest you press pause and yougo and instead watch it inside
(04:28):
of the club because I also handover, as well as like going
deeper into everything, ofcourse, and giving like tangible
examples and being reallyvisual, I also give you some
tools, like and and like I don'tknow, I'll talk about them as we
go through.
But I I hand over somestrategies and some um resources
as well.
So, but back into the room, backinto the podcast, and I will
(04:52):
start with what I have createdas the criteria for a smooth
transition.
So if one of these three thingsis missing, a transition could
possibly be messy.
If it doesn't have all three andyou're having no problems with
the transitions, then itpossibly is that you've got a
class of students who are morecompliant, uh, easier to kind of
(05:14):
manage.
But for student, like forclasses that are a little bit
tougher, go back to thiscriteria and see what might be
missing and try to tightensomething up.
So the first crit first, likethere are three P's.
I feel like everything I do is aP for some reason, but there are
three Ps for a smoothtransition.
The first is prepare.
(05:35):
In prepare, students should knowwhat's about to happen and what
it should look like.
So before the transition begins,really just pre-framing what's
about to happen, what successlooks like, and how students are
going to move into the nextspace of that lesson.
So, for example, all right team,like in a moment, you're gonna
be moving from your groupdiscussion to working
(05:55):
independently on your reflectionquestions.
One, when I say go, you'll packup your group notes.
Two, head back to your desks.
Three, get your reflection sheetout and start question one.
I've popped the timer up for 60seconds and let's go.
So that is the first thingpreparing.
You are clarifying what the goalis, you've given like a bit of a
(06:16):
limit with the timer, you'vebeen super clear with the
expectations.
Students know how to besuccessful with that transition.
The second P is predictability.
Predictability is just all aboutstudents knowing that they're
going to be supported to meetthose expectations every single
time.
It's not about like rigid likesameness in your um routines and
(06:39):
your transitions because thestrategies that I'm going to
talk through are all different.
You can do different things, youcan get some novelty, you can
get some fun happening.
Um, like things will bedifferent, but it's like an
unspoken kind of non-verbalpromise that you are going to
always have the tools tosucceed.
And here is the the here is thetool to succeed.
So this is about giving themwhat they need during that
(07:03):
transition that they need tolike meet the expectation.
So you're shifting from a groupdiscussion to silent writing,
you cue the transition up with avisual slide on the board with
let's say a countdown timer.
But some days you might use adifferent song, some days you
might use a different strategythat I'll be talking through
soon.
But what this does, it reducesyour verbal load because you've
(07:25):
been able to provide them withsome visuals.
It's increasing the felt safetythat your students feel in the
class so they know that they'regoing to expect from you what
they what you expect from them.
And it's really just embeddingthat consistency.
And the third P is pace, likeactually giving them a time,
like to be able to transitionin.
(07:46):
So, for example, it could belike a 45-second timer, it could
be a song, and when they get tothe end of the song, then they
have to be sitting down.
Just something where they haveclarity around okay, when this
is done, you need to be sittingdown.
Because a big mistake I made formany years was going, everybody
sitting down, come on, I'mwaiting.
(08:09):
Like, why aren't we sitting downyet?
I'm still waiting.
Everybody kind of like move toyour desks, stop dilly-daddling.
I didn't say that, but you know,so it's it's this just gives it
that boundary and that ultimateclarity around, okay, I know
what to do, I know I need to beback at this time, gives it that
urgency, and students then knowwhat they need to be doing and
how long they have to do it.
This is particularly good if youfeel like your transitions are
(08:32):
dragging out with a lot of thoseverbal corrections, as I said.
Like I said, sit down, hurry,please, everybody's sitting.
So those three P's of a smoothtransition are just a great
framework for us to be going,okay, what's missing here?
It feels really chaotic.
Am I missing a little bit ofthat preparation?
Am I not like prepping them andsaying, like, these are the
(08:53):
exact steps to take?
Am I not like increasing thepredictability of the fact that
like these are the kinds ofthings that are in our
transition routine?
Like I know that there's goingto be a slide up on the board,
or I know there's going to bemusic.
I'm familiar with these things.
And have you got like a timer,some something to pace it out?
Are you clear around how muchtime they have to follow your
(09:14):
instructions, or is it draggingout a little bit?
So have a think about thosethings if your transitions feel
a little bit messy.
But as well as those threecriteria for a smooth
transition, I also use specifictools and strategies in order to
increase a little bit of thenovelty, a little bit of the
buy-in, or just increase theclarity and predictability and
(09:35):
those unspoken expectations thatI have during transitions now.
I just like to have these up mysleeve for all the time, like
just whenever I need them.
I will go through a few of thesetools, but remember if you're in
the behaviour club, please popin to like watch this because
there's some explicit examplesalong with the resources you
need.
But I'll just talk through a fewof them really quickly.
(09:57):
The first thing that I justcan't live without is transition
slides.
I just have a bank of transitionslides that I pop up on the
boards, like I have them on inone specific um spread
spreadsheet, one specific umpresentation, and I just go to
the slide that corresponds withthe transition that I want.
(10:17):
So if they are going into groupwork, I'll have like groups up
on there and like what the grouproles are, or I'll have specific
actions that students need totake in the group, or if we're
transitioning back to individualwork, I'll have three steps.
So I don't have to constantly bereinventing the wheel.
I've just got like a series ofslides there.
(10:38):
I think I've got like 10 or 15that I can like pull out at the
drop of a hat, um, and then Ican just project them up, that's
done, and students know thatwhen I've got one of those
slides up, that that's what theyneed to be doing.
Uh, I have included those slidesinside of the club this month.
Um, so you can go in, you canedit them, you can use them as
(10:59):
is, but they're there to helpyou with these smooth
transitions.
What they are, it just replacesyour voice during those high
pressure, kind of like messytransition moments to make them
a hell of a lot smoother.
Another strategy that I use thatI am absolutely obsessed with
are character cards.
You know, I love a little bit oflike a fun novel way of
(11:23):
presenting anything that I dowith students, especially when
it comes to like classroommanagement and reinforcing
expectations.
But character cards are alighthearted way to bring a
little bit of novelty, humor,and accountability to
transitions without any naggingor tension.
And the novelty of these, it'sjust such a huge boost for like
(11:44):
dopamine-seeking brains, so likethe teenage brain in general.
Um, but it's just such a greatway to reinforce expectations,
to, you know, have a smoothtransition, but also do so in a
way that is not just preservingrapport, but it's also boosting
rapport at the same time.
And if you can like boostrapport at the same time as
(12:05):
you're reinforcing expectations,that is just golden.
So the things that I use for mycharacter cards, I use something
called the tardy taco.
So during a transition,whoever's last to be ready
receives the tardy taco card andit travels during the lesson to
whoever, like, you know, is lastto get back from transitions or
(12:27):
like whenever I call out, like,okay, the tardy taco cards up
for grabs.
And if you're the student leftwith that tardy taco card at the
end of the lesson, then you haveto be the last to leave the
lesson.
And it's just a bit of fun.
This is I really, really, reallywant to reinforce this fact that
I would not do this in a classor with students who I did not
(12:48):
have a good rapport with or thatdidn't understand the tardy
taco.
It is not a punishment.
It is just a bit of a laugh.
It's just a way to kind of boostthe novelty and the fun in
transitions.
It's a way to kind of foster areally fun community in your
lesson, but it's not about apunitive punishment of like,
okay, you're staying back afterclass now.
It's just, oh, you got the two'sgot the tardy taco.
(13:09):
Oh, James, you know, like stickback.
Oh, no, back to the line, likeat the back, at the back.
Um, so it's just a bit of fun,right?
And then I have the fast trackfor heater.
I know, you don't have to tellme.
I'm just such a nerd when itcomes to this kind of stuff.
But the fast truck for heater, Iuse it at this in the same way
that I use a tardy taco.
The far- I don't only do thisonce, by the way, per lesson.
(13:33):
I wouldn't like take the fasttruck for heater necessarily off
someone.
In fact, you could have likethree fast track for heaters if
you wanted to, and the fasttruck for heaters can be
whenever you want to hand themout, really.
And then those students get toleave the lesson first at the
end of the lesson, or somethingelse you decide, something
funny.
Again, it's not about extrinsicrewards.
(13:56):
This is just about boostingcommunity through something that
is a bit of fun.
And I think it's reallyimportant.
The way that you deliver these,the way you explain them is
going to be very important.
Um, so if you don't have thatrelationship or rapport with
your students, if you feel alittle bit like uncomfortable
building that rapport, like Iprobably wouldn't use these
(14:16):
cards unless you're reallyconfident in being able to play
them up in the way that theyneed to be played up in order to
not be punitive or just taken inthe wrong way.
But I love, love, love doingthis.
I think it's just a lot of funand it's a bit of a laugh.
Uh, and kids really get into itas well.
Oh, you're the Tidy Taco.
Ooh, like I just, yeah, it is abit of fun.
(14:37):
Um, so you can make your own ifyou want.
Please don't steal my idea ofthe Tidy Taco and the Fast Truck
for Heater, but you can createyour own characters if you want.
Um, and if you're in theBehaviour Club, of course, those
cards, the Tidy Taco and theFast Track for Heater, are there
for you.
Um, I'm not sure if I'm going tobe popping them up for like to
buy anywhere, but um, watch thisspace.
(15:00):
If I do decide to pop them up,like I don't offer all of the
resources in the behaviour club.
I don't actually have for sale.
I usually just create them formy behavior clubbers.
Um I put them up when people askfor them, but I will pop the
link in the show notes if I dodecide to make them available to
the general public.
Okay, so that is tool numbertwo.
(15:21):
Tool number three that I use isa bit more serious, and it's
group selection slips.
They are just printable slipsthat make group work feel really
fair, fast, and functional.
They just remove some of thebarriers to group transitions,
which is like what am I supposedto be doing?
Um, I like to just give slips toeach group, and I have a list of
(15:44):
group roles like manager,timekeeper, recorder, speaker.
And then when students get intotheir groups, they choose
someone, they like designatesomeone to be in those roles.
That's where I also have my ummy slide up with the group roles
up there just to say like whodoes what, and you can change
these roles up, you can makethem more specific to your
(16:05):
particular context.
But I love this because it giveseverybody a purpose in that
group.
What I don't like happening whenI'm transitioning into groups is
some students sitting there ontheir phones or looking at the
floor or looking at the wall,and other students being really
involved in that activity.
So this helps to combat that andget everybody involved.
So that's another transitiontool that I use.
(16:28):
The next one is something I callsneaky typos, and it's like a
little game where I typeinstructions live on the board
instead of talking.
So I might say, like I'll pullup a um Word document, I'll
project that onto the board, andI'll just start typing.
I'll say, okay, everybodypacking up back to your desks.
(16:49):
Well done.
And I'll count down like nineand then I'll delete the nine,
eight, I'll delete the eight, soI'll count down.
What I do is I embeds adeliberate mistake, and if
somebody catches that mistakeevery time I do it, then I'll
give them the card.
I'll give them the fast trackfor heater card.
(17:09):
However, you don't always haveto do sneaky typos.
I love doing the typinginstructions on the board
because students are naturallyum curious about what is going
to be said next.
I might pop something like funnyup as they read, I might pop
something silly up or personalup or just something that will
(17:30):
grab their attention.
And then I always do thecountdown.
So like 10 and then students arewatching up, nine, and then they
watch, and then by the time itgets to zero, then I'd expect
all of them to be in theirseats.
But this one was an absolutemiracle for me when I was
pregnant because I could justsit at my desk, like feeling
(17:50):
really, really bad.
And not I couldn't walk by theend of my pregnancy, but I was
sitting at the desk and I wouldjust type and like I wouldn't
have to use my voice, and I wasbloody exhausted.
I couldn't stand up for toolong.
I was aching all over, and thistransition strategy was like a
miracle for me during that time.
So definitely give it a go.
(18:12):
It is such a great strategy foreasy, smooth transitions.
Um, I'm gonna just share onemore.
I'm just scrolling through mystrategies.
I'm gonna just share my playlistone.
So I've shared this before thatat the start of the school year,
one of the ways that I buildcommunity is I get students to
um suggest one track for a classplaylist and I add that playlist
(18:37):
to a Spotify playlist, and thenI use that throughout the year
for different reasons.
I might use it for like on aFriday when we're working, I
might choose one song as they'reentering the room, but for
transitions, I will choose justsay one per week and I'll do the
same song every day that week,or I'll do the same song every
(18:57):
day.
And when they hear the last partof that song come on, then they
have until the end of that songto be sitting down and be
listening and be like followinginstructions for the next part
of the transition.
Um, what I love about this is itadds so much novelty, it builds
rapport, and it really likeanchors those transitions in
(19:19):
something that is based incommunity.
What I also love doing is addinga little bit of novelty by just
saying, okay, if you can guess,so if you get back to your desk,
you have a post note on yourdesk, if you can write the name
of the person whose track thisis first and guess it correctly,
then you get the fast track forheater, or you get whatever, or
(19:41):
you just get like braggingrights.
Again, it's just increasing thenovelty, it's helping you to get
students transitioning from oneplace to the next without having
to nag or create like a, youknow, like pushing it uphill.
You don't want to be constantlyfeeling like everything's a drag
or everything is difficult.
The path of least resistance isjust my motto in teaching.
(20:04):
It's like, let's do what we cando in the easiest way possible
with the most buying aspossible, so students just
actually want to do the thingrather than feeling like I'm
constantly having to force themto do the thing.
So lean into those uh transitionstrategies.
Let me know how they go if youdo give them a go.
And yeah, just keep the magichappening in your classroom.
(20:28):
I hope that it was superhelpful, especially because we
are in November and things mightbe getting a little bit more
tricky every single day.
So I'm sending you all my loveand I hope you have a brilliant
week.
I shall see you back on thepodcast next week.
Bye for now.
Oh, hi there, teachers.
Welcome to the UnteachablesPodcast.
I'm your host, Claire English,and I am just a fellow teacher,
a toddler mama, and a big oldbehaviour nerd on a mission to
demystify and simplify thatlittle thing called classroom
management.
The way we've all been taught tomanage behaviour and classroom
manage has left us playing crowdcontrol, which is not something
(00:23):
I subscribe to because we're notbouncers, we're teachers.
So listen in as I walk youthrough the game-changing
strategies, and I mean thethings that we can actually do
in action in our classrooms thatwill allow you to lean into your
beautiful values as acompassionate educator and feel
empowered to run your room witha little more calm, and dare I
(00:43):
say it, a lot less chaos.
I will see you in the episode.
Hello and welcome back to theUnteachables Podcast.
It is so nice to have you hereagain.
Today I am talking about smoothtransitions because I talk a lot
about the start of the lessonand the end of the lesson and
(01:04):
routines and structures, but Idon't think I've done a lot of
work with you on like the messymiddle and thinking about those
times in the lesson where thingscan really go awry and things
can become a little bitchallenging.
Uh, because for years, like Imean for years, I avoided group
(01:26):
work, and of course I did somegroup work, but and with certain
classes I did more group workthan others.
But I knew that it was valuable,I knew it was important, but I
was terrified of the transitionperiods because I knew I'd lose
them.
And if I had them settled, if Ihad them engaged, I actually was
(01:48):
like fright, frightened ofmoving them out of that space
and having to then transitionthem back into individual work.
And I just didn't want to do it.
I was just tired.
I didn't want to do it, I didn'twant to have to bother with it.
I was, I just was not confidentat all in being able to
successfully transition studentsin and out of those different
(02:11):
energetic spaces of going fromindividual work where they're
more engaged and settled anddon't mean engaged, you know
what I mean?
Like settled and and workingkind of like hyper-focused on
like what they're doing.
I didn't want to then go to asituation where they were
chatting and laughing and thenhave to come back into that
space where they were engaged intheir own thing.
(02:35):
Uh, I just found it really,really hard and I didn't
understand the idea ofupregulation, down regulation.
I didn't know like strategies inorder to like successfully
transition them from one to theother.
But the group work wasn't theproblem.
It was just that structuretemporarily dissolves within
(02:58):
those transitions.
And if we're not really clear,if we don't have certain
strategies that we can use inthat gap, and we if we can't
close that gap, it becomes muchharder to manage.
And that's where behaviors canescalate.
And we see those like thatincrease in low-level behaviors,
or we see an increase in youknow, students walking in out of
(03:20):
the room or not being able toresettle.
So closing the gap, being reallyexplicit, um, and making
transition something that isjust as structured as an entry
routine or an exit routine, justas clear, just as predictable.
It is doable and it is doable tomake them a lot, lot, lot
easier.
(03:40):
Uh, so I have a few tools thatI'd like to share with you, a
few, um, a few ideas aroundtransitions.
If you are one of my behaviorclubbers, by the way, this
month's training is all aboutsmooth transitions.
So I suggest if you aren'tdriving or running or doing
something where you have tolisten to a podcast, I suggest
you press pause on this and yougo and instead watch the
(04:04):
training on smooth transitions.
If you're thinking, like, oh mygosh, yes, I really need support
with this, my transitions aremessy and I find it hard to get
their attention back, or I'mconstantly waiting for students
to settle, and I, you know, likeit's just really tough.
If you're thinking that and youthink that this would be a
really great training sessionfor you to work through, I
suggest you press pause and yougo and instead watch it inside
(04:28):
of the club because I also handover, as well as like going
deeper into everything, ofcourse, and giving like tangible
examples and being reallyvisual, I also give you some
tools, like and and like I don'tknow, I'll talk about them as we
go through.
But I I hand over somestrategies and some um resources
as well.
So, but back into the room, backinto the podcast, and I will
(04:52):
start with what I have createdas the criteria for a smooth
transition.
So if one of these three thingsis missing, a transition could
possibly be messy.
If it doesn't have all three andyou're having no problems with
the transitions, then itpossibly is that you've got a
class of students who are morecompliant, uh, easier to kind of
(05:14):
manage.
But for student, like forclasses that are a little bit
tougher, go back to thiscriteria and see what might be
missing and try to tightensomething up.
So the first crit first, likethere are three P's.
I feel like everything I do is aP for some reason, but there are
three Ps for a smoothtransition.
The first is prepare.
(05:35):
In prepare, students should knowwhat's about to happen and what
it should look like.
So before the transition begins,really just pre-framing what's
about to happen, what successlooks like, and how students are
going to move into the nextspace of that lesson.
So, for example, all right team,like in a moment, you're gonna
be moving from your groupdiscussion to working
(05:55):
independently on your reflectionquestions.
One, when I say go, you'll packup your group notes.
Two, head back to your desks.
Three, get your reflection sheetout and start question one.
I've popped the timer up for 60seconds and let's go.
So that is the first thingpreparing.
You are clarifying what the goalis, you've given like a bit of a
(06:16):
limit with the timer, you'vebeen super clear with the
expectations.
Students know how to besuccessful with that transition.
The second P is predictability.
Predictability is just all aboutstudents knowing that they're
going to be supported to meetthose expectations every single
time.
It's not about like rigid likesameness in your um routines and
(06:39):
your transitions because thestrategies that I'm going to
talk through are all different.
You can do different things, youcan get some novelty, you can
get some fun happening.
Um, like things will bedifferent, but it's like an
unspoken kind of non-verbalpromise that you are going to
always have the tools tosucceed.
And here is the the here is thetool to succeed.
So this is about giving themwhat they need during that
(07:03):
transition that they need tolike meet the expectation.
So you're shifting from a groupdiscussion to silent writing,
you cue the transition up with avisual slide on the board with
let's say a countdown timer.
But some days you might use adifferent song, some days you
might use a different strategythat I'll be talking through
soon.
But what this does, it reducesyour verbal load because you've
(07:25):
been able to provide them withsome visuals.
It's increasing the felt safetythat your students feel in the
class so they know that they'regoing to expect from you what
they what you expect from them.
And it's really just embeddingthat consistency.
And the third P is pace, likeactually giving them a time,
like to be able to transitionin.
(07:46):
So, for example, it could belike a 45-second timer, it could
be a song, and when they get tothe end of the song, then they
have to be sitting down.
Just something where they haveclarity around okay, when this
is done, you need to be sittingdown.
Because a big mistake I made formany years was going, everybody
sitting down, come on, I'mwaiting.
(08:09):
Like, why aren't we sitting downyet?
I'm still waiting.
Everybody kind of like move toyour desks, stop dilly-daddling.
I didn't say that, but you know,so it's it's this just gives it
that boundary and that ultimateclarity around, okay, I know
what to do, I know I need to beback at this time, gives it that
urgency, and students then knowwhat they need to be doing and
how long they have to do it.
This is particularly good if youfeel like your transitions are
(08:32):
dragging out with a lot of thoseverbal corrections, as I said.
Like I said, sit down, hurry,please, everybody's sitting.
So those three P's of a smoothtransition are just a great
framework for us to be going,okay, what's missing here?
It feels really chaotic.
Am I missing a little bit ofthat preparation?
Am I not like prepping them andsaying, like, these are the
(08:53):
exact steps to take?
Am I not like increasing thepredictability of the fact that
like these are the kinds ofthings that are in our
transition routine?
Like I know that there's goingto be a slide up on the board,
or I know there's going to bemusic.
I'm familiar with these things.
And have you got like a timer,some something to pace it out?
Are you clear around how muchtime they have to follow your
(09:14):
instructions, or is it draggingout a little bit?
So have a think about thosethings if your transitions feel
a little bit messy.
But as well as those threecriteria for a smooth
transition, I also use specifictools and strategies in order to
increase a little bit of thenovelty, a little bit of the
buy-in, or just increase theclarity and predictability and
(09:35):
those unspoken expectations thatI have during transitions now.
I just like to have these up mysleeve for all the time, like
just whenever I need them.
I will go through a few of thesetools, but remember if you're in
the behaviour club, please popin to like watch this because
there's some explicit examplesalong with the resources you
need.
But I'll just talk through a fewof them really quickly.
(09:57):
The first thing that I justcan't live without is transition
slides.
I just have a bank of transitionslides that I pop up on the
boards, like I have them on inone specific um spread
spreadsheet, one specific umpresentation, and I just go to
the slide that corresponds withthe transition that I want.
(10:17):
So if they are going into groupwork, I'll have like groups up
on there and like what the grouproles are, or I'll have specific
actions that students need totake in the group, or if we're
transitioning back to individualwork, I'll have three steps.
So I don't have to constantly bereinventing the wheel.
I've just got like a series ofslides there.
(10:38):
I think I've got like 10 or 15that I can like pull out at the
drop of a hat, um, and then Ican just project them up, that's
done, and students know thatwhen I've got one of those
slides up, that that's what theyneed to be doing.
Uh, I have included those slidesinside of the club this month.
Um, so you can go in, you canedit them, you can use them as
(10:59):
is, but they're there to helpyou with these smooth
transitions.
What they are, it just replacesyour voice during those high
pressure, kind of like messytransition moments to make them
a hell of a lot smoother.
Another strategy that I use thatI am absolutely obsessed with
are character cards.
You know, I love a little bit oflike a fun novel way of
(11:23):
presenting anything that I dowith students, especially when
it comes to like classroommanagement and reinforcing
expectations.
But character cards are alighthearted way to bring a
little bit of novelty, humor,and accountability to
transitions without any naggingor tension.
And the novelty of these, it'sjust such a huge boost for like
(11:44):
dopamine-seeking brains, so likethe teenage brain in general.
Um, but it's just such a greatway to reinforce expectations,
to, you know, have a smoothtransition, but also do so in a
way that is not just preservingrapport, but it's also boosting
rapport at the same time.
And if you can like boostrapport at the same time as
(12:05):
you're reinforcing expectations,that is just golden.
So the things that I use for mycharacter cards, I use something
called the tardy taco.
So during a transition,whoever's last to be ready
receives the tardy taco card andit travels during the lesson to
whoever, like, you know, is lastto get back from transitions or
(12:27):
like whenever I call out, like,okay, the tardy taco cards up
for grabs.
And if you're the student leftwith that tardy taco card at the
end of the lesson, then you haveto be the last to leave the
lesson.
And it's just a bit of fun.
This is I really, really, reallywant to reinforce this fact that
I would not do this in a classor with students who I did not
(12:48):
have a good rapport with or thatdidn't understand the tardy
taco.
It is not a punishment.
It is just a bit of a laugh.
It's just a way to kind of boostthe novelty and the fun in
transitions.
It's a way to kind of foster areally fun community in your
lesson, but it's not about apunitive punishment of like,
okay, you're staying back afterclass now.
It's just, oh, you got the two'sgot the tardy taco.
(13:09):
Oh, James, you know, like stickback.
Oh, no, back to the line, likeat the back, at the back.
Um, so it's just a bit of fun,right?
And then I have the fast trackfor heater.
I know, you don't have to tellme.
I'm just such a nerd when itcomes to this kind of stuff.
But the fast truck for heater, Iuse it at this in the same way
that I use a tardy taco.
The far- I don't only do thisonce, by the way, per lesson.
(13:33):
I wouldn't like take the fasttruck for heater necessarily off
someone.
In fact, you could have likethree fast track for heaters if
you wanted to, and the fasttruck for heaters can be
whenever you want to hand themout, really.
And then those students get toleave the lesson first at the
end of the lesson, or somethingelse you decide, something
funny.
Again, it's not about extrinsicrewards.
(13:56):
This is just about boostingcommunity through something that
is a bit of fun.
And I think it's reallyimportant.
The way that you deliver these,the way you explain them is
going to be very important.
Um, so if you don't have thatrelationship or rapport with
your students, if you feel alittle bit like uncomfortable
building that rapport, like Iprobably wouldn't use these
(14:16):
cards unless you're reallyconfident in being able to play
them up in the way that theyneed to be played up in order to
not be punitive or just taken inthe wrong way.
But I love, love, love doingthis.
I think it's just a lot of funand it's a bit of a laugh.
Uh, and kids really get into itas well.
Oh, you're the Tidy Taco.
Ooh, like I just, yeah, it is abit of fun.
(14:37):
Um, so you can make your own ifyou want.
Please don't steal my idea ofthe Tidy Taco and the Fast Truck
for Heater, but you can createyour own characters if you want.
Um, and if you're in theBehaviour Club, of course, those
cards, the Tidy Taco and theFast Track for Heater, are there
for you.
Um, I'm not sure if I'm going tobe popping them up for like to
buy anywhere, but um, watch thisspace.
(15:00):
If I do decide to pop them up,like I don't offer all of the
resources in the behaviour club.
I don't actually have for sale.
I usually just create them formy behavior clubbers.
Um I put them up when people askfor them, but I will pop the
link in the show notes if I dodecide to make them available to
the general public.
Okay, so that is tool numbertwo.
(15:21):
Tool number three that I use isa bit more serious, and it's
group selection slips.
They are just printable slipsthat make group work feel really
fair, fast, and functional.
They just remove some of thebarriers to group transitions,
which is like what am I supposedto be doing?
Um, I like to just give slips toeach group, and I have a list of
(15:44):
group roles like manager,timekeeper, recorder, speaker.
And then when students get intotheir groups, they choose
someone, they like designatesomeone to be in those roles.
That's where I also have my ummy slide up with the group roles
up there just to say like whodoes what, and you can change
these roles up, you can makethem more specific to your
(16:05):
particular context.
But I love this because it giveseverybody a purpose in that
group.
What I don't like happening whenI'm transitioning into groups is
some students sitting there ontheir phones or looking at the
floor or looking at the wall,and other students being really
involved in that activity.
So this helps to combat that andget everybody involved.
So that's another transitiontool that I use.
(16:28):
The next one is something I callsneaky typos, and it's like a
little game where I typeinstructions live on the board
instead of talking.
So I might say, like I'll pullup a um Word document, I'll
project that onto the board, andI'll just start typing.
I'll say, okay, everybodypacking up back to your desks.
(16:49):
Well done.
And I'll count down like nineand then I'll delete the nine,
eight, I'll delete the eight, soI'll count down.
What I do is I embeds adeliberate mistake, and if
somebody catches that mistakeevery time I do it, then I'll
give them the card.
I'll give them the fast trackfor heater card.
(17:09):
However, you don't always haveto do sneaky typos.
I love doing the typinginstructions on the board
because students are naturallyum curious about what is going
to be said next.
I might pop something like funnyup as they read, I might pop
something silly up or personalup or just something that will
(17:30):
grab their attention.
And then I always do thecountdown.
So like 10 and then students arewatching up, nine, and then they
watch, and then by the time itgets to zero, then I'd expect
all of them to be in theirseats.
But this one was an absolutemiracle for me when I was
pregnant because I could justsit at my desk, like feeling
(17:50):
really, really bad.
And not I couldn't walk by theend of my pregnancy, but I was
sitting at the desk and I wouldjust type and like I wouldn't
have to use my voice, and I wasbloody exhausted.
I couldn't stand up for toolong.
I was aching all over, and thistransition strategy was like a
miracle for me during that time.
So definitely give it a go.
(18:12):
It is such a great strategy foreasy, smooth transitions.
Um, I'm gonna just share onemore.
I'm just scrolling through mystrategies.
I'm gonna just share my playlistone.
So I've shared this before thatat the start of the school year,
one of the ways that I buildcommunity is I get students to
um suggest one track for a classplaylist and I add that playlist
(18:37):
to a Spotify playlist, and thenI use that throughout the year
for different reasons.
I might use it for like on aFriday when we're working, I
might choose one song as they'reentering the room, but for
transitions, I will choose justsay one per week and I'll do the
same song every day that week,or I'll do the same song every
(18:57):
day.
And when they hear the last partof that song come on, then they
have until the end of that songto be sitting down and be
listening and be like followinginstructions for the next part
of the transition.
Um, what I love about this is itadds so much novelty, it builds
rapport, and it really likeanchors those transitions in
(19:19):
something that is based incommunity.
What I also love doing is addinga little bit of novelty by just
saying, okay, if you can guess,so if you get back to your desk,
you have a post note on yourdesk, if you can write the name
of the person whose track thisis first and guess it correctly,
then you get the fast track forheater, or you get whatever, or
(19:41):
you just get like braggingrights.
Again, it's just increasing thenovelty, it's helping you to get
students transitioning from oneplace to the next without having
to nag or create like a, youknow, like pushing it uphill.
You don't want to be constantlyfeeling like everything's a drag
or everything is difficult.
The path of least resistance isjust my motto in teaching.
(20:04):
It's like, let's do what we cando in the easiest way possible
with the most buying aspossible, so students just
actually want to do the thingrather than feeling like I'm
constantly having to force themto do the thing.
So lean into those uh transitionstrategies.
Let me know how they go if youdo give them a go.
And yeah, just keep the magichappening in your classroom.
(20:28):
I hope that it was superhelpful, especially because we
are in November and things mightbe getting a little bit more
tricky every single day.
So I'm sending you all my loveand I hope you have a brilliant
week.
I shall see you back on thepodcast next week.
Bye for now.
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