Flow

As I began to read, I had to struggle not to roll my eyes... "more than anything else, men and women seek happiness". Wow, that's profound (sarcastic tone). But I owe a great apology to Smith and Wilhelm because their I identified with their four main principles of flow experiences. What a great way to begin to design meaningful and exciting lessons for students. Nothing that they state IS too profound, but the way that is is organized and delivered in such clear terms makes total sense. I think it resonated so well with me, and I assume with many others, because I have experienced the sensation that they are describing. Whether it be in the weight room or the class room, I appreciate all four of those characteristics. Obviously, it is a far greater challenge to fit activities into the curriculum that serve the duel purpose of creating flow for students and also satisfying standards. You wanna talk about differentiating instruction?!?!?!?!? The bar could not be set any higher. The challenge could not be greater than to to try and create a genuine flow experience for 27 students in a single class.

The only thing that I would also respectfully submit is that, while I think there is genuine value to these ideas, we must stop short of treating them like they were gospel. Students need to be able to do things that they do not want to do. They need to complete tedious tasks. They need to focus when they are distracted. They need to suck it up and get things done sometimes. That, too, is an acquirable skill. I don't see educators ever running short of opportunities to accomplish these things. Obviously, we should focus on engaging students as much as possible. However, I just needed to remind myself that we cannot lose sight of the fact that students must be able to sometimes accomplish a task or achieve to the best of their ability, even if there does not exist an external motivation beyond their grade.