Teacher Transitions Can Disrupt Time Flow in Classrooms

Abstract

Disruptive pupil behavior (time off-task) was analyzed during teacher-initiated transition time and during nontransitional time. Expectation of disruption during transitions was based upon Kounin’s notions of classroom activity flow and more general notions of classroom time flow. The notion of activity flow centered about smoothness, momentum, and continuity of signal systems. The notion of time flow centered about teachers’ use of steering criterion groups to gauge the timing of activity shifts. Participants were 50 student teachers in grades one through nine in five unobtrusive experiments (one original and four replications). Expectations were confirmed that transitions disrupt time flow and that disruptive pupil behaviors increase during unstructured transitions. Procedures for structuring transitions to increase time-on-task and to maintain smoothness and momentum are described. Tentative observations about teachers’ conceptions of time and classroom time flow are presented.