With a Sense of Urgency

Regie Routman talks about teaching with a sense of urgency. I suppose that could be interpreted many different ways. One of the ways that belief has found its way into my classroom is in my transitions.  I don't like to waste time during those parts of the day, and if you teach in an elementary classroom, you know there are about a million of them a day.  (Okay, so there might not be a million, but when my students use that word, it basically means "lots," so there you go.)  

In order to make the most of transitions, we sing, count, recite poems, etc.  I purposefully give them something to do, but in order to use the time effectively, I have to be prepared and know what I'm going to expect of them.  Here's how I make that happen.  I have a section in my weekly lesson plans for what I want to do during those times.  (Does everyone already do this?  If not, I'd highly recommend it.)  I do this on a week-by-week basis, because the things I want to do differ depending on the time of the year.  This is a picture of the transitions I was doing during the second week of school.

Whether you understand what all those transitions are or not isn't the point of course.  Staying organized and teaching with a sense of urgency is.  It's sure helps me!