Interactive activities directly engage students in the learning process and encourage a sense of community within the classroom by enabling students to work together. They differ from lecture-based and other methods of passive learning by engaging students in analyzing, evaluating and creating, higher-order thinking skills essential to a student's ability to creatively and constructively use what they are learning. Interactive activities are favored in progressive-minded classrooms because they stimulate analyzing, evaluating and creating.
Time transition words are used to show the order of events. Some examples of time transition words include "next," "before," "while," "after," "during" and "finally." As an interactive activity for time transition words, teachers can divide the class into groups and have groups draw three transition words from a bowl. Every group receives a different set of transition words. However, all groups should add their transition words to the same brief, three-sentence story (created beforehand by the teacher) to create a story. Even though the basic sentences are the same, the use of transition words changes both the order and meaning of the story. Students should share their stories and may even act them out for the class as skits. Afterward, the teacher can lead a group discussion about how the use of transition words affects the meaning of writing.
In addition to transition words that indicate time, there are other general categories of transitions that express logic. These include transitions of addition, comparison, contrast, purpose, place, result, example and summary. Some examples of these transitions include, "furthermore," "similarly," "however," "to this end," "adjacent to," "consequently," "for instance" and "in other words." Examples of each transition of logic all appear within single pieces of writing. Students may practice using multiple transitions of logic by completing a story-writing activity within small groups. In this activity, each group is given a folder containing three pieces of artwork and ten transition words. Each group must write a story that addresses how the scenes shown in the pictures are connected and that utilizes eight of the ten transition words provided. When the groups are finished, they may share their work with the rest of the class, discuss their choices of transition words and make any changes necessary.
Transitions of thought are not always expressed by using specific words and phrases. However, they are maintained by following a few other techniques. For example, following nouns with pronouns and choosing key words to appear within a single paragraph are some ways to maintain a sense of continuity throughout a paragraph. One interactive way to present transitions of thought to students is to stage a short play in class, Afterward, students should write reviews of the play that must include transitions of thought. Students should share their review within a group, and the other members of the group should identify and discuss the transitions of thought they find.
Before beginning any lesson, teachers should review the concept of transitions with the class and should make lists of transition words and phrases available to students. Learning about transitions can continue after the lessons are complete as well. Once the concept has been introduced, teachers may require that students use a set number of transitions in their writing and that they underline these words and phrases. When teachers read aloud to their class, they can also stop and discuss transitions as they appear.