Flow

Flow in my classroom happens when the students are focused and interested. Like Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi puts it, it is when you are actually enjoying what you are doing. True, it is a challenge for a teacher to establish and make sure that the flow stays when you have a large population of students in the class. There are a few things I have tried and sometimes succeeded, sometimes failed, but here is what I find successful for my 8th-grade students:

•  Challenging enough tasks;
•  Videos and discussion afterward;
•  Students creating videos;
•  Group work;
•  Individual creative work in the classroom;
•  Competing against other teams;
•  When students are learning a new skill. 

 
For example, try teaching students a new dance as a recharge exercise after a long stressful week of tests. They get so involved they do not notice who dances around them, who can or can not dance. Everyone is just having fun. 

Students love the challenge when I divide them into groups, and when the desks are organized for groups, students are given a problem they have to solve, or a case they need to examine, the flow stays. Especially if each group has a different task, so they know that it is not useful to go see what others are doing, so they stay focused on their own assignment.

I also noticed that giving them a shorter time to finish something motivates them to hurry up. For example, when I say “Divide into groups please”, vs “Divide into groups in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….” In 5 seconds they are already sitting in groups.

When I experience flow

Personally, I experience flow when I am on a creative task. Everything connected to music, dance, manual crafts and physical exercise helps me stay focused and most importantly, enjoy it. I also enjoy cooking and experimenting with new recipes. I have been on stage since primary school, and everything disappears the moment you step on stage. I do not perform these days, but the classroom is my mini stage like someone once said every teacher is an unrealized actor, I find it true because when I know I have the students’ attention I am focused and stay in my flow. 

I feel like the students feel the same when they are doing presentations or performing in front of the class, which they had to do a lot in my subject, they are focused and enjoy the feeling. 

References

Csikszentmihalyi M. (2002, April 11). Motivating People to Learn. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-motivating-people-learn

Evans, T. (2016, July 28). Design Thinking and the Deskless Classroom. Retrieved from URL https://www.edutopia.org/blog/design-thinking-and-deskless-classroom-tracy-evans