FLOW FOR ALL! CREATE FLOW TO STRETCH STUDENT LEARNING
This post is written by teacher and presenter Audrey Friel.
~Did you ever watch an eleven year old boy put together a Lego® set?
~Did you ever try to get your preteen daughter off that fashion app she’s always blogging on to come to the dinner table?
~Have you noticed the eyes of a child in the midst of pretend play outside?
~What about your seven year old making a homemade slingshot out of sticks and leaves to haul a dead fly to the frog in the pond?
What
are some observable commonalities: glazed eyes, furrowed brows, slight
grins, occasional grunts, frustrated motions, long periods of time at
the task, trial and error again and again, a squeal or two of delight,
maybe even a quick temper outburst or two.
The
examples are endless! These are all examples of children in the state
of “flow”. The most common and lauded name associated with the creation
of the idea of flow is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He was studying and
writing about play and creativity, in all people of all ages. He found
the intended goal self-fulfilling and the activity toward the goal
became its own reward. And flow, as he describes it, began. Actual
flow never quite reaches the end but gets ever so close.
The
greatest moments, the highest, most satisfying experiences in people’s
lives come when in flow. Three parts, autonomy, clear goals, and
immediate feedback are imperative. The challenge/goal stretches the
whole self in a way that makes the effort itself the reward. It’s that
delicate balance producing a degree of focus and yet satisfaction at the
same time.
Csikszentmihalyi
defined flow as “being so involved in an activity that nothing else
seems to matter. The ego falls away. Time Flies. Every action, movement,
and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing
jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the
utmost…”
As
Dan Pink references, flow is the time that passes in a flash when it
has gotten dark and you realize you forgot to get dressed, eat, and feed
the dog!
That
feeling of flow is something we can offer our students. I also assert,
we must experience flow ourselves, so that we can facilitate this for
our charges. Self-participation is the only way students buy in. And,
really, isn’t it all about the buy in?
“You teach elementary students,” I hear you saying, “How much flow can they really get?”
Well,
it varies not only in amount, but in degree as well. Passionate about
soccer, painting, singing, violin, writing, tinkering? All of these (and
endless other examples) exhibit qualities that use great tools for
learning, flow, and for using/noticing metacognition. How about those
Legos®, or jigsaw puzzles, Minecraft®, or Origami? We need to unlock
these qualities. We need to point them out and the skills they use for
them that they can use toward new learning. Using the learning from past
experiences toward a new experience is the road to flow, no matter what
your age or what you desire to explore. This is real “rigor”.
As
an educator, I think that autonomy and immediate feedback can be the
hardest parts of this puzzle to let go of and give to our students.
Quite honestly, it’s most often a challenge for us to figure out.
Flow
experiences imply growth. To maintain that flow state, one must seek
increasingly greater challenges. Attempting these new, difficult
challenges stretches skills. One emerges, like a new butterfly, from
such a flow experience with a bit of personal growth and great feelings
of importance.
A
great “unintended consequence” by increasing time spent in flow is it’s
rise of intrinsic motivation and self-directed learning. This is my
own personal endeavor each new school year with each new group of
students.
Here
is the question I have gotten from parents for decades as well, “How do
I help my child to be more motivated?”. Or the ever so popular, “ My
child is bored in class.” So this information can assist to better
inform parents as to how to help their children. It can give clear
examples and can be flushed out as a plan with the teacher, parent, and
student all involved. It becomes a living and changing document.
Our
most important job is to find students’ passions, apply metacognition
strategically, guide and facilitate paths, and learn along with them
with the sheer excitement and frustration of their flow. We need to
improve our own flow purposefully and reveal our experiences, both
positive and negative, to our students as well.
Beware,
as this is the purest view of flow. In a classroom situation, we must
adjust. Not only do we need to adjust for our students, but for
ourselves, our administrators, the parents, and even our colleagues (and
let us not forget constant new and forever changing mandates). All of
these variables “count”.
Concurrently,
every group of students has a new makeup; new class of peers, new
personal situations, new developmental stages, and more. They, too,
encounter constant changes that often interfere with their flow.
Don’t
forget, you also face new challenges and experiences each year. Give
yourself the same break you would give your students. Then, take a deep
breath, and…
