Characteristic #5: Classrooms are places of student engagement in which students report achieving a “flow” state (Kist, 2005, p. 16).
Kist believes that you will find students in new literacies classrooms fully immersed in what they are doing. They will testify that they often experience a feeling of energized focus and complete involvement. These fully-engaged students feel successful in the process of the activity. Children of today might describe this characteristic as being “in the zone.”
The following video is an illustration of students in a “flow” state. It is also an example of Kist’s third characteristic that we discussed a few posts ago. Enjoy!
Have you ever witnessed someone, possibly a student or a group of students, in a “flow” state? If you can recall such a time, please tell us about it. If not, create a hypothetical quote from a student who is describing a time when he or she was “in the zone.” These situations may or may not involve technology.
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As I have somehow acquired a good deal of quality primary learning
manipulatives/games, I try to be creative in their use since they are well-liked by my
first grade students. I recently decided to have my students use plastic tubs that are
filled with objects that begin with a particular letter for writing practice. The words to
correspond with these objects are written on the inside portion of the lid to help students
identify what the objects are for some more difficult objects (ex. Q: quartz). Students
get to pick a letter tub, explore the objects in the tub, and either write a story using all of
the objects/words or write separate sentences to include all of the words. I have been
amazed at how engaged my students are during this activity! I believe that the students
enjoy it because they think of the objects in the tubs to be like mini toys that they can
sort of play with for a minute as they think about what to write. Usually when I have
students write during any other time of the day in a variety of subject areas, there are
always a few who ask me for help in spelling words. However, with this letter tub writing
activity, I have not had anyone come to me asking for help in writing! They are engaged
and confident in writing independently. I believe I am witnessing my students in a "flow"
state and am very pleased to observe this!
I have experienced students "in a flow state" very recently. Just before break, the third graders created books about four different types of animals. The book is an introduction to their animal studies in science class. Not only were students engaged during this process, but they continued to be afterwards as well. Students enjoyed creating their books so much that they formed a club. In this club, they all study and observe animals at home or at recess. They discuss any information as a group and someone from the group adds the information to their book. The "flow state" became apparent when two very active boys asked me if they could stay in from recess to work on their book!
My students recently worked on a biography project. Students had to read a biography and use the Internet to find facts about their person. They also had to research historical events that took place during the person's lifetime. Students were extremely excited about the project and worked diligently on the computers. I have never seem them so focused or proud of their research. They would constantly tell me facts about their person. At the end of the project students had to prepare a trifold poster and present their information. Students brought in props and dressed in costumes for their presentations.
In my Language Arts class my students recently finished a mini scrapbook on a famous
African American person. They were to find various facts about their person, such as
where they were born, what they have contributed to society, their family, education, and
accomplishments. I made each of them use a book and a web site to find information.
One day in class I looked over at a student that has a lack of interest for just about
everything when it comes to school and he was full out reading the entire book about his
person(the books were smaller, big print books, about 35 pages). I had students on
computers, talking, cutting, pasting, and through all of that this student was in a
total "flow" of reading. Everyday after that he would ask me if we were working on our
books. I was very excited to see that he was so into the assignment!
I witnessed my students being in a “flow state” today. They were exploring Raz-Kids.com. http://www.raz-kids.com/ I did not know if all the computers would let each of my students work with just my password and username all at the same time. Luckily, it did. And they loved it! You could hear a pin drop. I am so thrilled that I have found a way for my non-readers to enjoy books. They liked the in-depth story lines. They enjoyed the different voices that accompanied each book. They liked the fact that each phrase was highlighted as the material was read. And they found a part of the site that I didn’t know existed! It was an online quiz that they wanted to take after each book. This was a hit!
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