Learning Log 3: Flow in a Lesson
Attach a lesson, and explain how you would modify the lesson so that it encourages flow for the learner. Please describe why it does not currently meet the guidelines for flow, and what specific changes you will make.
The lesson I have attached covers a Second Grade ELA standard dealing with the parts of speech. Currently the lesson has an introductory teaching section using an anchor chart, then it moves into a guided practice using a worksheet. As it is currently, the lesson does not encourage flow because it does not take students "outside of everyday reality" (2008). In order to encourage flow in this lesson, I would introduce an online game into the lesson as an extra activity. Although for some students the Adjective or Adverb worksheet might encourage flow, most students will be more engaged if the practice is gamified.
Education.com has some great online practice games and worksheets that are simple to understand and provide immediate feedback which satisfies the "greater inner clarity" of the flow theory (2008). The game I have chosen is called Sentence Builder: Adjectives and Adverbs. In the game, student is given a blank that needs to be filled with an adjective or an adverb. The student is able to listen to both word options and drag their choice into the sentence where it will be read back to them again.
According to Csikszentmihalyi, activities that encourage flow "have rules that require the learning of skills, they set up goals, they provide feedback, [and] they make control possible" (1990). Students will be able to experience a "sense of serenity" knowing that the game is doable because we will have already done some practice as a class using the worksheet (2008). Students will also only be given about five to ten minutes to play the game so that they will not become too comfortable and loose interest. That being said, the game does become increasingly harder as it progresses, keeping students challenged and engaged.
Education.com has some great online practice games and worksheets that are simple to understand and provide immediate feedback which satisfies the "greater inner clarity" of the flow theory (2008). The game I have chosen is called Sentence Builder: Adjectives and Adverbs. In the game, student is given a blank that needs to be filled with an adjective or an adverb. The student is able to listen to both word options and drag their choice into the sentence where it will be read back to them again.
According to Csikszentmihalyi, activities that encourage flow "have rules that require the learning of skills, they set up goals, they provide feedback, [and] they make control possible" (1990). Students will be able to experience a "sense of serenity" knowing that the game is doable because we will have already done some practice as a class using the worksheet (2008). Students will also only be given about five to ten minutes to play the game so that they will not become too comfortable and loose interest. That being said, the game does become increasingly harder as it progresses, keeping students challenged and engaged.
References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008, October 24). Flow, the secret to happiness. Retrieved September 5, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXIeFJCqsPs
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). The Conditions of Flow. Retrieved September 5, 2019, from http://ww2.coastal.edu/clee/Public/Coastal/EDIT670/_reading/M04_The-Conditions-of-Flow.pdf
Sentence Builder: Adjectives and Adverbs. (2019). Retrieved September 6, 2019, from https://www.education.com/game/adjective-adverb-sentence-builder/
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). The Conditions of Flow. Retrieved September 5, 2019, from http://ww2.coastal.edu/clee/Public/Coastal/EDIT670/_reading/M04_The-Conditions-of-Flow.pdf
Sentence Builder: Adjectives and Adverbs. (2019). Retrieved September 6, 2019, from https://www.education.com/game/adjective-adverb-sentence-builder/