Transitions

Carpet to table, table to line, line to hall, hall back to table. Most of what looks like defiance in a school day is a child arriving somewhere without having finished leaving the last place.

• Put the warning where the child is, not at the front of the room. A general announcement reaches the children who did not need it.
• Give the same two or three children a job in the move. Carrying the box to the next table is a way of arriving that does not involve waiting.
• Keep one tool at the destination rather than in a bag. A child who has to ask for it in front of the class will not ask.

The same four moves work at home, at a smaller scale: name what is happening, make the next thing concrete, give a way to finish, and let them carry one constant thing across the gap.