Studio Classrooms and Flow

One thing that I notice the more I press towards my classroom working as much as possible in the model of a studio, is the almost complete lack of time I have to spend on classroom management issues.

I should preface this by saying that I teach in a school that has wonderful kids. Most of them want to do well and most of their parents expect the kids to work hard and succeed. In many families an old - fashioned work ethic still survives and thrives. While this is certainly not true for all students in our school, and it is changing, overall, my students are very well behaved.

But moving towards a studio, I have seen almost all classroom management issues disappear. As the kids can be busy and absorbed in something for several hours at a time, this gives them time to involve themselves deeply into the work they are doing. In many classrooms and schools, a regimented day of short periods and a constant clamour of bells and buzzers shuffles kids through the building and across their day. But working in a studio is different. Studio work involves lengthy periods of time where the kids are concentrated on one project or one issue. We may start off together in a group discussing hot issues from the previous day or with me teaching a new skill or concept, but we move as quickly as possible towards the kids being active as creators, designers, and researchers, this being our focus. I then spend most of my time helping small groups of kids solve problems, questioning them about what they are doing, directing them to others who can help them solve a problem, or others who may have work I want them to see. As we slowly descend into involvement, I can hear the hum of the classroom change and even out as students find themselves immersed in what they are doing.

This is the state of flow, as researched by the man with the world's most difficult name: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Flow is "the zone," that people in sports are familiar with. It is characterized by nine components:

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible).
2. Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time - one's subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behaviour can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. When in the flow state, people become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself.
   

I think this is a valuable concept to consider and working in a studio environment makes this much more possible than working in a classroom organized in other ways.

I know I have done my job as a teacher organizing a studio when students look up and realize that the entire morning has passed by already: "Its lunch already?" is a common question among the kids. They may be tired, in need of a break, and questioning each other as they walk out of the room, still discussing an issue they faced in that time period.

technorati tags:studio, classroom, flow, state

Comments

[elona Hartjes]

I teach a grade 12 Learning Strategies Class and this semester I've introduced a class blog www.mrshartjes1.edublogs.org and the kids love it. I have been blogging for a while and felt comfortable enough with the medium to introduce it to my students.

I found that the kids do get into the "flow" and I hear things like- this class always goes so fast. I'm still learning how to use the classroom blog effectively so that my students get as much as possible out of my classes.

The blogging community is great at sharing what works- that's how I found out about Voice Threads and Voki and Honest Johnny. They even go to the class blog at home- something remarkable for my reluctant students.

My students were totally engaged when I used the programs to teach them research skills and presentation skills. When they saw and heard their Voice Thread presentations up on the big screen, they were absolutely delighted and motivated to come to class and see what we're doing next. I like your idea of a studio, but I'll have to limit mine to a mini studio of 75 minutes.