Flow Reflection

The concept of flow is something that I am quite comfortable with. Every morning, after I wake up, I would meditate for 5 minutes, which puts me into a flow state and wakes me right up. When I’m getting work done, I put on some music, and zone in for a few hours at a time, especially during the exam season. The flow state feels like trance in a way, where nothing around you matters other than you, and it feels like a state of hyperfocus. And as a more recent example, when I make the Pokémon pins, I also just get into the zone. I would watch YouTube videos, while my hands feel like they are just on autopilot and making the buttons without me looking. So at the end of the day, flow is a state of uninterrupted focus when you are comfortable with what you do.

And in terms of math and in the classroom, I love those multiplication worksheets of just 10x10 multiplication questions. Because it’s easy, I can easily get into the flow and easily do them, yet it is so satisfying to do them because I know I am fast and I am right. So in a classroom setting, I would have big worksheets of easy questions to build up the students’ confidence, and then gradually giving them more complex questions. It’s important to get the students into the flow before attempting the harder questions, and once they start, they will be able to hyperfocus and zone in on whatever task they need to get done. Some competition in speed would also be fun here and there, but it might alienate some people while helping others to get into the flow state. So perhaps I will have a “uncompetitive group” for those who wants to have fun. But at the end of the day, I see flow as something to get into through easy tasks that I am comfortable with, which will then lead up to the harder tasks. But I think is a valuable skill to teach my students.