Getting into the Flow

 We’ve been putting in extra effort to get in the Flow this week.

What is Flow?

Flow is when we are working on a task that challenges us but we aren’t overstretched. We lose track of time and we might forget about the world around us (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2005). Professional athletes talk of Flow or a feeling of ‘being in the zone’, when we are totally engrossed in what we are doing.

In addition, Einstein who, as he was working on the Theory of Relativity, came out of his office to play the piano and violin.  He would play, lose himself in his music and then make notes (on his scientific work), then go back to his music. It is said that he ‘imagined’ his best work while doing something completely different. Playing music helped him get in the Flow.

This is our aim, to get into the Flow. We asked:

When am I most in the Flow?

How do I get in the Flow?

What does it feel like to be in the Flow?

Why is Flow important?

Flow is an important factor in engagement. Research by Kashdan et al. (2010) shows us that engagement is a predictor of motivation, commitment and performance in tertiary education. So this mahi is important for us to practice now! 

Some students thoughts on Flow:

Charlie - "It’s easy to get in the Flow, you don’t really notice you’re in it. I find I get in the Flow while writing and in Maths occasionally. "

Olive - "Being in the Flow is ideas just keep coming into your head and you can’t block them out."

Otto B - "Flow is easy when you’re not stressed, when you have lots of time. You can think about things and think ‘Hmm.. this could be good.’ I’m usually writing or reading when I’m in the Flow. I know I’m in the Flow when I keep telling myself ‘a little bit more, oh just a little bit more.’ I can’t stop!"

Akonga in the flow as they created this mural!

Positive Engagement at Home

My sea life diorama

The 'Flourish' model is a road map of what we want for ourselves, our students, our teachers, our whāanau and our communities. This model is at the heart of what we do at Worser Bay School. We strive to develop a culture of wellbeing towards ourselves and others. Social and emotional learning is inextricably linked to academic learning outcomes. It’s this holistic approach that we value the most - where supporting the building of a student’s character is just as important as the academic. It’s not a case of either/ or.

Our Year 6 leaver profile states that students leave Worser Bay as connected, curious and confident thinkers. This means that they leave with a strong sense of Positive Engagement. it is important that our students experience concentration, interest, and enjoyment while taking part in activities that they find motivating.  

Positive Engagement is about getting into the "flow." This is a concept describing those times when you are completely absorbed in a challenging but doable task. 

We have loved seeing many of our students getting into the "flow" during lockdown. 

"This is my car and truck that I made. It took me 386 pages to make it. It took a lot of time and I finished it."

"This is our bird feeder we made with the help of dad"

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was one of the first psychologists in Positive Education to identify and research flow. He describes 8 characteristics of "flow."

1. Complete concentration on the task

2. Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate feedback

3. Transformation of time (speeding up/ slowing down)

4. The experience is intrinsically rewarding

5. Effortlessness and ease

6. There is a balance between challenge and skills

7. Actions and awareness are merged

8. There is a feeling of control over the task.

"My construction project. I’m really enjoying building."

Jake: This was the Huia I finished yesterday! It was very hard. We didn't make it its natural colour of black because you couldn't see the lines and the separations of everything.

"We’ve made some superhero puppets, writing a script and painting a background and putting on a father's day puppet show for dad."

Cleo: I was inspired by abstract artist and thought that I could do something similar of Gus (my dog).

Kura: My Art inspired by Matisse

Haru: We put some Shapes on top of the painting to cover stuff and that's how we got the shapes. We used a toothbrush and a paintbrush. I put the colour on the toothbrush then I hold it at the end where you use on the canvas. I pressed the toothbrush on the end of the paint brush and went back in forward. The paint splattered on to the newspaper and painting. When we took the newspaper shapes away there was white shapes there. My grandma show me the technique. She is an artist.

By Emelie

"for the art competition, I made my dream vacation HOBBITON, even though I have already been there. I still like it."

"We made some burgers with some sesames seeds and rosemary."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says,"When we’re challenging ourselves with a task, our mind reaches full capacity. If the activity at hand happens to be something we enjoy and we’re good at, we achieve a flow mental state — and it can leave us feeling ecstatic, motivated and fulfilled."

We need to be in stretch zone!

The more we (or children) spend in the stretch zone, or flow the better our lives will be for well- being and overall happiness!

Walking from Cape Reinga to Bluff!

This is the Year 3 and 4 students on our walk

School Kits challenged us to walk the length of New Zealand in a day! We needed 278 people, walking 10,000 steps each to walk from Cape Reinga to Bluff. We reached out to the community to ask you to "donate" 10,000 steps. We also did our own walk (it wasn't quite 10,000 steps but we know that we would've done 10,000 each by the end of the day!) 

This activity was designed to help us connect with the community and to promote healthy activity. 

Thank you to everyone for your donations. We made it! Now for a holiday... 

A map of our walk

PosEd Rotations - Touch Rugby

We're not too bitter about the All Blacks' loss to pick up a rugby ball...

This term we're having PosEd rotations on Fridays. We're building Positive Relationships and learning about social skills. It's warming up and we're getting outside to bask in the Positive Health. It's all going on, we're flourishing out there!

One of these rotations will be Touch Rugby. A game which, unlike its more famous counterpart, tends to bring together all kinds of different people, not just big, burly men!

This week we started off with passing. Catching and passing are key because in Touch, any drop is a turnover. First we got together in pairs for a simple back and forth.

Then, we played the clap game in groups. In these groups we had to design some of the rules to suit ourselves.

When we made mistakes, we had to discuss with each other what we as a group considered as fair. Mistakes really do make the brain grow! Tell that to Steve Hansen...

We're discussing the rules and making decisions about our passing game

Lastly, we got together as base groups to complete a hot potato-round the world mash-up. A little bit of Positive Accomplishment to top it off. Tau kē.

He pai ki a mātou te pā whutupaoro!

Tessellation Art

This week we have enjoyed exploring concepts of geometry and measurement through meaningful and authentic tasks. We made tessellation art this week. We were inspired by the work of Escher. 

Tessellation is a pattern or shape that fits together perfectly with no overlaps or gaps. 

By Joni

By Octavia 

This artwork was very challenging and we had to use Growth Mindset to persevere. We also had to remain positive.