Go with the Flow

“Spend more time doing things that make you forget about the time."                                                                 ~Charlotte Eriksson

In October I saw Harvey “Smokey” Daniels present a fantastic session about inquiry in the classroom at Kean University. He modeled several ideas on how to leverage students’ interests while teaching them critical literacy skills such as reading informational texts and evaluating data. However, he also made two poignant comments that have bounced around my brain ever since.

The education world has engaged in lots of conversations about “grit” over the last few years. Angela Duckworth’s TED Talk on grit in April 2013 really brought this discussion to the forefront of the education narrative both in popular media and in our faculty meetings. In his recent workshop, though, Smokey Daniels stated, “When we are curious, we don’t need grit. If [educators] rely on grit, that blames the child rather than the curriculum.”

Grit Versus Flow

I love when I hear something that makes me think, “I’ve never thought of it that way before,” and these statements definitely fell into this category. Should educators dedicate our energy to teaching students how to be gritty, or should we provide them learning experiences that intrinsically activate their desire to persevere? I do not pretend to have the answer, but it has inspired some more thinking. Maybe rather than focusing on developing grit in students, our more fruitful pursuit is to give students increased opportunities to experience “flow.” Around the same time I saw Smokey, I also saw The Educator Collaborative Founding Director (and all-around amazing educator and person) Chris Lehman present at the Conference on English Leadership's Regional Institute in New Jersey. He wisely discussed the need to create condition of flow in order to generate insatiably curious learners, teachers, and school leaders.

Have you ever experienced flow? Think about those spectacular times when you dove head first into a project and minutes or (more likely) hours passed without notice because you were so deeply entrenched in the flow of the work. In his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi writes “Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make. But once the interaction starts to provide feedback to the person's skills, it usually begins to be intrinsically rewarding.”

Perhaps, then, our conversation about resilience in students should more carefully examine how our curriculum and instruction provides optimal “flow” conditions, so our students learn more than just “grit.” They learn that challenging but meaningful work is a reward itself.  

Conditions for Flow

So how do we create "flow" conditions in our classrooms?  If teachers are very clear on what skills students need to learn, they can design engaging learning experiences that launch students into a state of flow rather than requiring them to endure the activity.  As I watch the tweets that are coming out of Heinemann's "Reading the City Institute" in Santa Fe, NM this weekend, I am reminded that inquiry and ownership are the key components to creating the optimal conditions for flow.  Here are a few components to consider as you design students' learning opportunities:

1.  Clear Goals - When I say students should have choice, I am not suggesting it is a free-for-all.  Teachers have standards they need to teach, and students have skills they need to acquire.  Instead, it is crucial for teachers to clearly identify what these skills are and how students will know they have met them.  No matter what the grade level, then, teachers need to share these goals with their students in language the children will understand.  This may take more time than most people realize.  Revisiting these objectives throughout the teachers' and the students' planning process is vital.  Teachers will need to mention them over and over as students work, especially if the students' work veers off track.  Asking students, "How does this meet our goal of examining persuasive writing techniques?" when they simply want to bake a cake and write a how-to book about it helps get them back on target.

2. Consistent, Frequent Feedback - Once learning experiences are determined and underway, teachers move into feedback mode.  As students conduct research or write stories or prepare presentations, the teacher's primary role is to offer them specific feedback that validates as well as challenges students.  I'm not going to sugar coat this process.  It is exhausting, draining work. Students will be in all different stages of understanding and their needs will vary greatly.  Teachers will feel more like triage nurses, at times, as they seek to support and push all their students appropriately.  However, it is worth the time and the effort.  Teachers will need to meet with students as often as possible to help maintain the "flow" conditions, but the results will astound.  

3.  Healthy Balance of Challenge & Success - Without a sense of efficacy, students will be easily discouraged (as we all would).  However, if they believe they have the skills and the support to be success, they will be more likely to embrace any challenges that arise.  And they should arise.  That space between stress and success is where they learning happens.  Not only do they acquire new skills, they also feel that sense of accomplishment that satisfies the soul and shows them how fulfilling the work can be.  Hence, the feeling of flow.  Again, teachers' consistent feedback and instruction keeps them working in that sweet spot of learning.  Teachers add complexity to a task by offering resources that extend or contradict the students' premise or by expanding their audience so they contemplate their language more carefully or any number of ways to raise the bar (if only slightly).

Assessment

Often, the assessment of student-driven inquiries causes educators stress or discomfort.  Teachers frequently ask me how they will answer parents who wonder why all the students are reading different texts or exploring different topics.  However, it all goes back to setting clear goals.  Teachers are measuring students' capacities with particular skills.  A clear, easy-to-read rubric can help parents and students understand what these are.   Also, teachers should explain that they do not need to teach only one book in order to measure students' abilities to analyze text or to evaluate voice or whatever the key objectives may be.  They can do so within texts students have selected to pursue inquiry pathways they have built.  Through a teacher's consistent work with the students as well as his/her own advanced skill, he or she can assess how well students have met the goals.  It is also important to explain that students find more success when they are working within their interest areas.   

Designing Learning Experiences

This could be an entirely different blog post, but I think it is unnecessary to write it.  Why?  Well, the first reason is your students will be your best resource.  You will use their interests and questions to help them create inquiry experiences that meet the standards and create "flow" conditions.  The second reason is several really smart people have already written fantastic professional texts to help teachers with this work.  Here are links to a few great ones:

Upstanders by Harvey "Smokey" Daniels and Sara Ahmed

Comprehension and Collaboration: Inquiry Circles for Curiosity, Engagement and Understanding by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey "Smokey" Daniels

Energize Research Reading and Writing by Chris Lehman.

    

And do not forget to add flow into your life as well.  Do something simply because you love to do it. Follow Charlotte Eriksson's advice and allow yourself time to engage in work that causes you to lose all sense of time!