1 . We need to plan tasks that are appropriately challenging so that all ability groups in our classes are equally stretched but not over stretched . Offering students the ability to make progress based on their own prior attainment and work at their own level . We can use Blooms revised Taxonomy to guarantee deeper learning and flow . We can also use it to ensure that our objectives and outcomes are not too knowledge or content based .
2 . Teacher input is minimal . We should structure our lessons to ensure that there are lots of chances for students to work independently or collectively . This does not mean that we cannot have sessions where the group is working with the teacher but sessions where teachers simply provide information should be short and be followed by activities to consolidate this information . In a lesson with plenty of independent work the teacher is able to circulate to support and track progress .
3 . As teachers we need to ensure that our groups have the necessary learning skills , attitudes and habits to enable them to work independently and at a high level of challenge . We need to make time within our lessons to teach these skills so that we know students are able to work on the more “ risky ” tasks we may set . “ When teachers take the time to teach the necessary strategies that develop these areas they will discover that their
“ When teachers take the time to ... develop these areas ... their students can work at considerably higher levels .” students can work at considerably higher levels .”
4 . When we plan our lessons we need to ensure that the goals we are setting for students are clear and worthwhile . We need students to understand not just what they are doing but why they are doing it . Students should understand the success criteria and be able to see how it fits in with their improvement . A good way to ensure students have fully understood is to ask them to explain the success criteria in their own words .
5 . Feedback to students on their performance and their targets needs to be immediate . They should be confident in giving and receiving peer feedback and should be able to self assess . This in turn will lead to students who are less dependent on feedback from the teacher and in this way “ flow becomes more common .”
6 . To ensure students are engaged in activities and that flow is able to take place we need tasks that are intrinsically motivating . If we have this type of task then students will be completing tasks because they want to rather than because they have to . In turn they will contribute more because they are enjoying what they are doing . One way of doing this could be to incorporate the element of choice , giving students a variety of tasks to choose from or having a variety of ways in which students can present their work .