Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Flow
Csikszentmihalyi's concept of flow is very interesting. If we could somehow get our students to hit this zone and achieve flow every day, the amount of learning that could take place would be astronomical. The caveat lies in the fact that most flow, as we read in the excerpt from "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys," occurs when students are engaged in activities in which they already excel. It seems to me that our focus as educators needs to be on how to access and utilize the skills our students already possess and build a bridge to what we think they need to know. While this concept may seem a bit obvious, I believe the subtlety lies in how to achieve it. If we can figure out a way to place our students in the comfortable realm of what they know while learning what they do not, then our students should be able to achieve flow on a daily basis. So, now that our goal is established, how do we figure out what they like, what they excel at, what they need to know, and how to link all of these things in a coherent and meaningful manner? Any insights will be truly appreciated.
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2 comments:
It is true that learners can experience passion in our lessons, but it has to come from a teacher who has the ability to captivate and motivate.
Placing our students in a comfortable realm is not always an easy thing. There are alot of adverse forces that can hinder it. We need to remain focused.
I am in agreement with you with the fact that all students learn when engaged in something that they excell in. As Carl said, we should all be able to "captivate and motivate". I believe that even the best teachers are so overwhelmed with the standardized rules that they begin to lose their creativity, hence the students fall backwards instead of experiencing flow.
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