The bell rings. I exit the calm, quiet classroom and dive into the chaos of the school hallways. The mad dash from English class on the bottom floor to physics on the top floor has begun. Gossip, laughing, yelling, and screaming fill my ears as I push my way up the nearest staircase. Backpacks and binders and flailing arms assault me as I struggle toward my destination, room 270. Finally. I stumble in just before the bell rings.

Navigating narrow hallways with hundreds of other kids in a limited time is not easy. And to make it worse, there are those kids who make the class-to-class commute even more difficult for everyone. Here are the most common types of hallway disrupters. Hopefully you are not one of them.

The Klutz
You're walking down the hallway. Someone a couple of people ahead of you drops his pencil. Without even thinking, he stoops in the middle of the hallway to grab it. Not a good idea. The person behind him rams into him, and the pencil gets kicked away. Now you've got two kids on the floor, and everyone is complaining because the flow has stopped and the pencil has disappeared.

Solution: If you drop something in the hallway, first think about what you dropped. If it's a pencil or a pen, let it go. They're like a dollar a pack at any store, and you can borrow (or steal) a friend's in the next class anyway. If it's something important like a pass or a flash drive, you can retrieve it, but don't just drop down in the middle of the hallway without warning. Step to the side, ask someone to grab it, or just wait for an opportunity to snatch it without disrupting traffic.

The Sunday Driver
You're walking down the hallway. The warning bell rings. You start walking as fast as you can because you're on the second floor and have chemistry on the third. Then you come up behind a person who is walking at a snail's pace. So you start doing this awkward dance behind her because you need to get around her but can't find a good moment to pass. Finally, the other side of the hallway is clear; you dart around her and speed-walk to class, barely making it, no thanks to the snail.

Solution: If you are so close to your next class that you can walk really slowly, or you simply don't care about being on time, don't stroll down the middle of the hallway. Simply move to the outside edge so others can pass you easily and get to faraway classes on time.

The Speeder
You're walking down the hallway. Out of the blue, a kid blows by you, arms flailing and legs pumping. He bumps a couple of kids, shoulder checks a few more, and smacks everyone else with his flapping bookbag. He leaves behind a trail of swearing, angry, annoyed kids glaring daggers at his back as he disappears around a corner. All because he doesn't want to be late.

Solution: It doesn't matter how much you care about getting to class on time – don't run in the hallways. Didn't we all learn that in first grade? You're only wreaking destruction in the crowded hallways and angering your peers. If you really care that much about getting to class on time, just walk as fast as possible.

The Chatterjam
You're walking down the hallway. You climb the stairs and turn into a smaller corridor. Traffic suddenly slows to a crawl. Why? There's a group standing in the middle of the hallway, talking. You know you have to go through them because they're not moving. So you squeeze into the tiny space they're not taking up and stumble out on the other side. They just don't care that everyone has to somehow get through or around them, because hey, they're having a conversation.

Solution: If you want to talk with your friends, don't do it in the middle of the hallway during passing time. It's as simple as that. Talk in the cafeteria, in class, after school. You really can't have an important discussion in the four minutes between classes anyway. If it's really important, pull one friend aside. There's no need to block an entire hallway.

The Brakejob
You're walking down the hallway when – bam! – the person in front of you just stops. Why? No one knows. If you're lucky, you avoided running into her back, but probably not. In busy hallways, this can start a major pileup.

Solution: Next time you get an urge to randomly stop in the middle of a hallway, just don't.

In fact, next time you feel like doing anything besides simply walking down a hallway at a normal pace, think twice. Are you going to disrupt others? Are you going to annoy others? Are you going to stop the flow? All it takes is a little awareness to be respectful of others and how your actions affect them.