When I was younger, I remember my mom would always get annoyed with my father when he came upstairs late from his workshop (he has a cabinet shop behind the garage). "You are holding up dinner," she would always say. My father would just look at his watch realizing that it was past nine o'clock.
When my father built the kitchen in my new house, we would both work for hours; I didn't mind because I was getting a free kitchen but he was in a zone. I was there but he did not even acknowledge my presence; I would say his name several times before getting his attention. My father is a 63 year old cabinet maker and has never mentioned retirement.
I have always envied my father because he looked forward to going to work each day and my mom would have to call him in order for him to "punch out". I guess I am lucky too; I like my job as well, but I don't become totally ingratiated in my task. I guess my father enjoys "flow" on a daily basis.
In "Reading Don't Fix No Chevy's", the writers discuss a study, where boys where interviewed regarding what they enjoyed doing (they also had to engage in reading and other stuff, but we will focus on their strengths). Smith and Wilhelm based their discussion on Csikszentmihalyi's eight characteristics of flow; they streamlined them into four areas:
1. A sense of control and competence
2. A challenge that requires an appropriate level of skill
3. Clear goals and feedback
4. A focus on the immediate experience
The interviewees had different activities in which they celebrated success; some were rappers, chefs, and athletes. Although they differed in what they enjoyed doing, they all shared the same feelings of Flow. They were ingratiated in their respective activities because they felt successful, faster than others, and/or enjoyed receiving compliments from others on a job well done. Smith and Wilhelm also found that these boys gave up activities in which they did not enjoy mastery. That's probably a bad thing. On the other hand, the world does not need "masters of none." In fact, the world needs experts that are proficient in what they do!
In schools we have a hard time in creating "flow" because we teach in abstract ways. Usually, we teach about things and kids feel as if they are not doing real "stuff."
We need to remove or decrease extrinsic motivation while promoting intrinsic motivation. A student that works hard to get an 'A' may not benefit as much as the students who works hard (he/she may not feel like it is hard work) because he/she enjoys it!
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3 comments:
Your father is very luck to be in the Flow when working. It seems that he is in a zone when work. It's a great feeling to enjoy what you do for a living. If only everyone can have a career that they are proud of and enjoy. The world would have a lot of happier people.
Nicely written. (I love the personalization with the story from your father!)
So if the studies show that kids engage when they are doing something they consider real or meaningful, what is the imperitive for curriculum design and teaching?
I like that story, its great that you can reflect on the relationship you have with your father. People should enjoy their work, too many people chase dollars and hate what they do. The same applies in the classroom, we try to prepare all students for college and higher education, when many may prefer working with there hands or other trade like jobs. Students, like adults would benefit from learning and working with topics and skills that they enjoy and are good at. The hands on approach appears to be the way to go, so that flow may be achieved in the classroom.
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