Maximize your online instructional time.... Transitions will not be the death of you!

I wait until all the families walk out the door before I take a long deep sigh! As I stand at the front of the empty classroom, I hope that I don't become accustomed to this setting. Many unknowns would present themselves this school year, but I was just thankful that orientation was successful and all students had received their materials to be successful for the next day-the first day of school! Like a kid on Christmas, I was anxious to teach my students and expected responses such as "I didn't get that.", "My mom has the folder. Can I go get it?" "What book?" or "I can't find that. " when I asked to get a resource. However these same phrases are the ones I heard for the next week or the week after that or "Can I go grab that its insert any other location than their learning space here.
While my kids saw a patient teacher I was being haunted by the lost instructional minutes whether it was mid hour transition or a transition right after break. I already felt like I was teaching the bare minimum with all the technology bumps, and I was torn between waiting and starting. How is this even possible?  I would think to myself. At orientation I explained the importance of having all materials ready. I even placed all their books in their own personal box and any loose items in a Ziploc bag for each student. Until one day I decided to do a few more changes and this time it stuck! With these few implementations - lost instructional minutes were no longer a thing and my students and I could now truly flow through the day. 

                                                         Adjusting your schedule 

Schedule before adjustment

Schedule after Adjustment

I'm sure you just cringed when you read the heading. I'm sure you rearranged your schedule countless of times. How do I know? Trust me because I did do. I would find my self writing 5 or 6 mock schedules just to find a way to fit in this activity or that or how to get another 5 minutes. The problem was I was trying to find more time instead of maximizing the time I had. So I had to take out activities that were taking longer that I wanted and embed them a different way. I had to readjust not only what was best for me, but also my students. Being in 3rd grade, I had to realize they weren't tech savvy as my 4th or 6th graders and in reality they were still 2nd graders. So even though we are learning online don't forget to give yourself grace if it takes some time to integrate more online platforms. If you are transitioning in between a block with no breaks, consider splitting up your blocks so each block students are only focusing on one subject. For example, for my 9:10-10:10pm block I had 30 minutes of ELA and then 30 minutes of Math, but I was losing minutes between the transition. So I changed the whole block to be just ELA and that way students only needed to have their ELA materials out (which was already a lot). This helped out so much because instead of having students navigating between 8 books in all ( Wonders curriculum and Module curriculum consumables) they only had to worry about the Wonders books and that seemed more manageable. IF you simply cannot do this - embed a transition timer into your hour of 2 minutes or so and minimize your break time by that amount. 

Use a Google Slides Timer 

Picture of my Eureka Math transition google slide

5, 4, 3 2, 1... Great Job Jaime gets a point! Alex gets a point! This was me in the classroom and it worked like a charm. Granted you can do the same thing on zoom, but it just isn't the same. If I get to 1 and Sally is still scrambling to find her book or is out of the camera shot running around the house that does me no good. So what n
ow? I would say the same thing every day - grab this, grab that, make sure to use the restroom. Since my transitions happen after breaks this works perfectly. Now I'm saving my voice by creating a google slide that has all the information I would say for any occasion. It has visual reminders to turn off the mute and video buttons. A visual of what materials need to be ready when they return and even reminders to use the restroom and grab a quick snack.  What's great about this?  Since they have a visual timer, students don't have to keep running to the screen to check to see if you are on. If parents walk past their screen they know that they are on a break and aren't goofing around and can support with gathering materials. The best part is holding students accountable when break is done. If they return and immediately have to use the restroom - they can't say that they didn't hear or you were frozen or glitchy and now if they have to run around their house to find that materials it's okay because its their time not yours! If you would like a copy of my transition slides click  HERE

Make Transitions Educational or Socioemotional 

Lets say your transitions happen mid hour what can you do? Something I have done is first I ask all students to hold up said materials and the student who doesn't have it they will stand up and go look for it. While that student is looking for it I will play a catchy math song that they can sing along to. Some other activities may be fluency for math (multiplication facts, vocabulary, etc). My personal favorites are from Numberrock Math Videos.  For English Language Arts (High Frequency Words or vocabulary). Yes that student may be missing out on this activity, but it wont be the anchor of your instruction and so knowing that provides a little relief. You could also do a fun Class building activity of Would you rather? A fun game where students decide what they would rather do. Which one doesn't Belong? A fun reasoning game where students look at shapes, numbers and objects to see which one is the odd man out. Greatest thing? Everyone could be right. This or That? Similar to would you rather, but a fun question that will help them make an ultimate decision. These little interactions will help you destress and focus less on the time and more on your student's interests. The best part? That kiddo who just seem to have their items ready will definitely not want to miss out!

Now the reality is that will these 3 steps solve all your transition problems? No, but its a start and that's a step in the right direction! Don't forget that sometimes things happen beyond our control, be it zoom issues or slow internet or whatever may seem to be going wrong, but hopefully these few steps will make you feel like you have just an ounce more control over this year. :)

                                                                    Lively Teaching,

                                                                    

                                                                    Jessica Magana