Transition Activities 

Transition activities for the classroom are used to focus student attention on academic activity during the change from one activity to the next. Without smooth transitions, it can be very difficult to maintain control of the classroom environment during a change of subject or activity. Therefore, I have planned a procedure for entire class transitions and several specific activities for times when an individual is transitioning from one activity to another.

Using a three step procedure, I can efficiently transition from one activity to another.  The key to a good transition is clarity and simplicity of instruction. Those three steps are Close, Prepare, and Refocus (Wong, 2010, p.200).
  1. Close. Give the students a time warning (ex: "In two minutes we are going to...").
  2. Prepare. Make the expected actions known (ex. "...please clean your lab stations and return to your tables.").
  3. Refocus. Give concise instructions for next activity (ex. "When you return to your table, please open your textbook to page 150.")

Using this procedure for a high school, or middle school, classroom is a very age appropriate and effective way to transition from one activity to another. There are several tools out there to assist teachers in transitioning. My personal favorite method is using an online timer that is projected on an overhead screen. This allows students to know how much time they have left to properly manage their time. It also lets them know when its time to move on. Typically when I use these timers I give a two minute warning to allow student to wrap up what they are working on and prepare for themselves for the next activity.

Here is a link to my favorite online timer: ROCKET TIMER

Sponge Actvities

Scheduling a class period is not always a simple task.  There are some topics that raise a lot of questions and others that come instinctive to students that they grasp very quickly.  Some days, an activity or lesson that is planned to take 30 minutes can take 20-40 minutes.  This situation does not usually become a problem if the lesson goes longer than planned, because what was planned for later in the period can be pushed back.  However, if the activity gets done early, an unorganized classroom can become quite chaotic and even dangerous.  To prevent this from becoming a management problem, I have chosen several sponge activities to productively use up any time that is left in class in the rare occasion that what I have planned does not take up the entire period.  

A sponge activity is any learning activity that "soaks" up the students' extra attention and time. The purpose of these activities is not just to occupy them with busy work, but rather get them interested and focused. High school biology teachers can take advantage of the focus power of these learning activities by writing them on a chalkboard or whiteboard at the beginning of class to get students focused right away.

Here are several sponge activities that I will use in my biology classroom:

1. Tweet Like a Scientist
  • Students are plugged into social media and very familiar with how it works. Also, it makes a large part of how they interact with information outside the classroom. This activity challenges them to pretend that they are a famous scientist and generate a series of Tweets that they would likely post if they lived in this era. Based on what unit we are learning about, I will choose a scientist related to the content we are learning and ideally one that they are all familiar with. If I chose a scientist that we briefly talked about or one they are not too familiar with, I will provide them with a proper introduction before giving them the assignment. I will instruct my students that the tweet must be under 140 characters, just like Twitter, and contain at least one #. This is fun activity that effectively incorporates social media with classroom learning. (An example of something Charles Darwin might Tweet: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. #evolution")
2. Be the Teacher
  • In this sponge activity, I will either ask for a volunteer or call on someone at random to re-teach what they learned that day.  When I call on them, I address them as "Mr." or Ms." and ask them questions as they demonstrate their lesson re-cap.  I expect their lesson to last at least two minutes or so and sometimes use questions to help them reach that time requirement.  Also, I encourage the other students to ask questions so that the "teacher" can field them.  This is a great review activity that all students can benefit from.

3. Six Things
  • For this activity, I will write instructions on the chalkboard telling students to write the numbers 1 through 6 on a blank piece of paper with three lines of space in between each number. Then, I will show a video of a biology experiment and direct the students to write the six most important steps in the video. The video I chose will be either a popular experiment addressed by the textbook or related to a future lab.  This activity is a great starting point for a discussion and also allows students to see experiments that are not usually found in a high school lab.

4. Student Feedback
  • Another sponge activity involves having students write a few paragraphs explaining what they would like to get out of the biology class. I like to use this activity to not only keep the students focused, but also get some potentially helpful feedback on the class. This activity involves having them describe what changes they would make if they were in charge of the class, or list their likes and dislikes of the class, as well as any interesting things they've learned so far that they would like to explore further.

5. Category List
  • Using this activity, I am able to test the knowledge of your students in a way that potentially invites healthy competition between classmates, while effectively using class time. For this activity I divide my students into teams and set a time limit for how long this activity will go. I then chose a category or topic we have been recently learning and write it on the board.  Once I write it on the board, each team has a set amount of time to come up a list of all the things they can think of in a particular category. Once the time limit is up, each team reads their list and tallies their total. The "winner" is the team with the most amount of terms.  This competitive activity will keep them busy and occupied, and also give them good practice for an upcoming test.

6. Textbook Preview
  • This sponge activity involves prompting the students to scan the next chapter of the textbook. Once they finish scanning the are to divide themselves into groups and select a topic, and then discuss whether it is a controversial issue or if there is an ongoing debate on the topic. Then, have them write down what they know about the issue as well as what they would like to know, and how they would go about answering those questions. Once there is only a few minutes left in class, I will invite each group to share the responses with the class and ask any broad questions they may have about the upcoming chapter.

7. Vocabulary Hangman
  • Myself or a chosen student will go to the whiteboard and chose a vocabulary word from the current chapter we are learning about. Students will then take turns guessing letters until the word is uncovered. This is a very simple activity, but it keeps students engaged and productively uses up remaining class time.

8. Journal Writing
  • Journal writing is an excellent activity that students can work on as individuals when they have completed a class assignment and are waiting on their classmates to finish or waiting on the teacher to move to another activity. Free writing increases writing confidence, fosters creativity and encourages the development of vocabulary skills. For some students, it may provide an opportunity to write out thoughts in order to think through personal issues.

9. Reinforcement Activities 
  • Setting aside a basket of extra credit or reinforcement activities for free selection is an excellent method of directing student focus on academics during a transition time. Some students who might need extra credit to boost their grades will enthusiastically choose an extra-credit assignment. Mandating a reinforcement selection from the basket during a transition time provides the teacher with the opportunity to monitor student progress as he grades the reinforcement assignment and the student an opportunity for practice.

10. Required Reading 
  • A quiet, individual activity that can facilitate current instruction and improve reading ability is reading. This activity can be used when a student finishes an individual assignment, while the rest of the class continues to work. The book assigned can be related to a current topic of instruction or related to a topic of individual interest. Reading also provides the benefit of facilitating the development of vocabulary.

11. Contributing to a Class Endeavor 
  • The ongoing construction of a word wall or concept wall that students can make contributions to when they have completed an assignment is an excellent transition activity. This activity works best for high school students who are mature and can handle the flexibility and maturity required for this activity. They need to be able to work independently and be aware of the need to keep the noise level under control so that others can complete their assignments.

12. VoBACKulary
  • One student will volunteer or be chosen to stand in front of the class with their back to the board. I then will write a vocabulary word on the board. The student standing in front of the class will call on classmates to describe the vocabulary word on the board, until they can guess it. Once the student guesses the term, they can pick someone else to have their back to the board. This is a great activity that involves the entire class and reviews one or many vocabulary terms.

13. Controversial Topic Discussion
  • Every discipline has debates or ethical concerns, science is no exception. This activity requires students to discuss, as a class, a topic that we have recent learned about that is controversial. I will prompt the students with a topic and act as a mediator allowing them to discuss what they think. I will refrain from interjecting my beliefs, and pose follow up questions to really get students thinking. Being that we are discussing controversial topics, I will make sure that the climate stays positive and redirect or end the discussion as necessary.

14. Around the World
  • This activity is designed to review vocabulary terms. In this activity, I will have students sit on their desks and toss around a tennis ball. When a student catches the tennis ball, I will read a definition and they are to tell me the vocabulary term. Then they will carefully toss the ball to another person in the room. I realize that I have several of these types of activities, but science is similar to a foreign language in the sense that it has a lot of terms that have unknown meaning to a typical layman. Also, to understand the subject well, one must know the terms used to describe it.

15. Questions?
  • This activity is one that is done continually throughout most teaching, but it is a simple sponge activity that does not require any materials other than the mind of a teacher. I will simply ask the students if they have any questions about the material we are learning, or if raises any related questions to other classes they are taking. This is another activity that promotes a good classroom discussion and productively uses class time.