I cannot with absolute certainty say that I’ve experienced “flow” in any academic setting throughout the course of my life. Although I was interested in the subject matter of many classes throughout life, the material and focus of the class was always determined by the teacher or professor. I also found that in most academic settings, even the most exciting material could be turned into a source of boredom when particular types of assignments and papers were assigned; not to mention the horrendously mind-numbing nature of monotone lectures.
The truth is, I learn best and am most excited about learning when I am provided with the opportunity to explore and to explore the things that I choose to explore. Every time I’ve experienced “flow” it’s been outside of a class. Speech and debate in high school consumed my life. I chose my debate case, I researched my debate case, I wrote my debate case and I debated my debate case. I chose a topic I was interested in, and I saturated myself in all the information I could find regarding that topic. It was not an assignment from a teacher, it was not a product of an essay or a lecture – it was my own. Throughout my experience in Young Democrats, I learned so much more about politics, campaigns and elections then I could have ever learned sitting in a lecture hall. I chose what I wanted to learn, and I was able to choose the way I wanted to learn it – I got hands on experience, I read newspapers, I talked to and worked with people in the field – I was in control.
I can imagine to some extent that many of my students learn in a similar manner. They learn better when an element of choice is presented, when they truly feel like they are in control of what they are learning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Jason, I think this really connects to the idea of activity "menus" that we talked about...while students are still confined to choose something within math, at least they are given the option to explore a math concept that they are at least *more* excited about in a hands-on, authentic problem-solving way. How do you think your teachers in school could have made their coursework better suited to how you learn best? How could we make the Reach coursework better suited?
I really like how you described your own flow in this way: "It was not an assignment from a teacher, it was not a product of an essay or a lecture – it was my own." Like we talked about during last week's Reach meeting, I think it is really hard for students to even know what is "their own" because everything they are learning is still so new to them that it's hard to find any kind of niche. However, you must see that some students enjoy doing word problems more while others are really into using manipulatives or solving problems with money. It must be difficult to incorporate choice and differentiation into such a short class period, but hopefully you can incorporate centers or other choice activities to make them feel that element of choice and control in their learning.
Jason, when I read your comments about choice as it relates to "flow" I am in full agreement with you. So many times students are always told what to do and how to do it, and it seems rare that students are given an opportunity for choice and then acting upon that and letting the flow happen. I have struggled the most when I am forced to take something or do something that does not strike an interest for me. However, when I took Spanish in High School and again in college, I had a choice about what language I wanted to take and the reasons behind that choice were very personal to me as it was a way to connect with my heritage in a way that I had never experienced before, and research and assignments or projects were enjoyable and educational because it was a choice and not something I was forced to do. I really liked how you put that together because I had never looked at learning in that way before.
Post a Comment