Finding Flow in the Work Force
Monday, November 2, 3-6pm. According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is the term used to describe the feeling of being completely absorbed in a challenging or personally meaningful activity (Belsky, 2013, p.311). An activity that causes the inner state of flow is not just one that produces the feeling of happiness, but it is an activity that results in feeling challenged and completely engaged. Activities that cause people to enter the inner state of flow both challenge and help expand the existing capacities of an individual. People reach flow while engaging in various different activities depending on the their unique personal interests. Different activities cause people to enter the inner state of flow and feel completely focused, engaged, and as if time is flying by (Belsky, 2013, p.311). According to Csikszentmihalyi’s studies of flow, the amounts of times that people experience flow vary from individual to individual. Some people rarely experience the inner state of flow while others experience it several times a day. Csikszentmihalyi argues that if people only experience flow in less accessible and difficult to reach situations, then the individual will find it difficult to construct a life they feel is satisfying (Belsky, 2013, p.311).
A key component in reaching the inner state of flow is being intrinsically motivated when working on the flow inducing activity and not as a means of gaining an extrinsic reward. Another key component in obtaining flow is working towards accomplishing a set goal. Flow may also be difficult to obtain because in order to reach the feeling there must be a proper person-environment fit (Belsky, 2013, p.311). This means that the task must be challenging, but not too challenging that it causes frustration. On the other hand, the task cannot be too simple or else it will result in disengagement and boredom because it will not be able to expand an individuals capacities (Belsky, 2013, p.311).
This afternoon I got the opportunity to assist Alexandra teach her afternoon reading class in the mixed aged classroom. I assisted Alexandra lead her reading activity and helped maintain classroom engagement during her lesson by walking around the class and redirecting students. The session lasted around one hour and as the kids left the classroom to go play outside, Alexandra said, “it felt like we were only here for five minutes.” By making this comment, Alexandra demonstrated reaching the inner state of flow while teaching. The time in the classroom flew by for her because it is something that she enjoys doing (Belsky, 2013, p.311).
Apart from teaching daily afternoon reading sessions, Alexandra also works as the primary administrator of the LMU children’s center and has been supervising my time serving at the center. As I assisted her during her session I wrote down questions regarding the observations that I made about the mixed aged classroom. After her session ended I got the opportunity to sit down and discuss my questions with her. My list consisted of five questions but she gave me such detailed answers for each question that we ended up talking for two hours. Her lengthy responses resonated her enjoyment for the field and I left feeling inspired by the passion she has for her career. I was able to see that finding flow in her career contributed to her overall satisfaction of life (Belsky, 2013, p.311). We had to cut our meeting short because the center closed at 6pm and as I left I saw her clock out; however, I saw her return to her desk to get more work done. She mentioned that this is a frequent occurrence for her and that she typically works extra hours because there are so many projects she wants to accomplish. This act demonstrates how goal setting and intrinsic motivation contribute to the finding of flow (Belsky, 2013, p.311). From my observations I was able to see how Alexandra operates on intrinsic motivations and enjoys her career because it results in reaching the inner state of flow.

Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
Tuesday, November 3, 10am-12pm. This morning I was assigned to work in the mixed aged classroom and assisted the teacher with anything that she may need. During the first hour I observed as the students welcomed their Spanish teacher and participated in their lesson. The students were learning how to say different colors in Spanish. The teacher began by asking the students to share what their favorite colors are and then utilized those colors to translate them in Spanish. Afterwards, she wrote down the names of the colors in Spanish and asked several of the students to sound out the words on the board by breaking them down by syllables. After the kids broke down the words, the teacher instructed them to recall on their previous knowledge of the Spanish alphabet and recall what sound each individual letter makes. Some of the students were able to sound out the colors quicker than others, but the teacher moved along with her lesson. Afterwards, I approached one of the students who I noticed was struggling to pronounce the colors in Spanish. I sat down next to him after he had finished eating his morning snack and took out a piece of paper in order to try and help him read and pronounce several colors.
This experience illustrates Vytgotsky’s zone of proximal development. According to Vygotsky, learning takes places within the zone of proximal development (Belsky, 2013, p.155). This refers to the difference of what a child can accomplish utilizing his preexisting knowledge and what he can further accomplish with the guidance and help of someone who has more knowledge. The zone of proximal development falls between a person’s current competence and a potential competence that can be accomplished with the use of scaffolding by a more knowledgeable person or a group of more capable people (Belsky, 2013, p.115). Scaffolding is a process that requires adjusting the instruction to meet the individuals zone of proximal development and helping them learn until they can accomplish the activity on their own. Effective scaffolders are ones that break down larger cognitive challenges into a series of sequential steps, provide clear and nonthreatening feedback, are motivating, and continue to help the student until they have successfully mastered the task (Belsky, 2013, p.156).
During her lesson, the teacher adjusted her instruction to meet the student’s zone of proximal development and demonstrated the use of scaffolding by breaking down the steps to help the students pronounce the colors in Spanish (Belsky, 2013, p.155). The teacher knew that the student’s had already learned the Spanish alphabet so she provided help by prompting them to break down the words into syllables and helped them put together the sounds of each color until they were able to pronounce and recite the colors independently. However, I observed that some of the students were able to sound out most of the colors without the help of the teacher. This is when I engaged in providing one student with the additional scaffolding that he needed to be able to reach his own potential capacity. I adjusting my instruction to this student’s unique zone of proximal development and used scaffolding in ways similar to the Spanish teacher. I prompted the student by writing down the words and breaking them down in syllables for him. I continued to scaffold in an effective way by breaking down the large cognitive problem into smaller steps by asking the student to utilized his current knowledge of the Spanish alphabet and recall the sounds that each letter makes in order to help sound out each syllable (Belsky, 2013, p.156). I sounded out the syllables first and then he would repeat after me. After a few times of repeating after me the student was able to recite the colors independently. This demonstrates how unique the zone of proximal development is for each person and how sometimes some students require more scaffolding than others before reaching their potential capacities. This experience also demonstrates how the zone of proximal development is constantly changing as the student’s current knowledge change and expands.
Differing Stages of Speech Development of Three-Year Olds Tuesday, November 10, 2-5pm. During early childhood language a child’s language capacity appears to explode rapidly during these years. By the time a child turns five-years old they almost have their adult language developed (Belsky, 2013, p.163). Children begin their language development by learning word sounds of language called phonemes. Phonemes are the individual word sounds of language that convey meaning to a word For example, the “h” sound of the word hat would be considered a phoneme (Belsky, 2013, p.163). By late infancy children typically begin forming single phonemes and continue to improve as time goes by. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in language. For example, the word “hats” contains two morphemes: the word hat and the plural suffix of s. The number of morphemes a child uses in a sentence on average is known as the mean length of utterance. As children continue to develop, their mean length of utterance continues to increase (Belsky, 2013, p.163). Syntax refers to the grammar and semantics refers to the understanding of what a word stands for in language development (Belsky, 2013, p.163). This afternoon I was assigned to work in the lizard’s lounge, which is a classroom comprised of student’s ages three to four. I assisted the teacher during the afternoon snack distribution and helped watch over two students who decided to say in the play yard instead of participating in snack time with the rest of their peers. In the play yard I observed as two three-year old boys communicated with one another and I noticed a difference in the level of language development between the two students. As the students communicated with one another I noticed differences in their average mean lengths of utterance and their levels of development in semantics and syntax. As they played with their dinosaur toys, one of the boys said, “You play with me and my other friend and when my other friend comes back I can play with you and I can play with my friend and you can play the three of us.” This student was able to compile a high number of morphemes per sentence. In his statement the student had a mean length of utterance of thirty-five. His mean length of utterance also exhibited the use of long sentences tied together by the repeated use of “and.” This is a common occurrence that can be seen in children around the age of three or four (Belsky, 2013, p.163). This student appeared to have a well-developed use of semantics. Although his sentence was long and jumbled together, the meaning of the words were accurately utilized and his message was understood. However, the student’s use of syntax exhibited some challenges. The student made mistakes in applying the rules for forming sentences and said, “play the three of us” rather than, “the three of us can play”. The other three-year old responded by saying, “okay, I would like to play together uwhen your friend comes back from snack. I can be the baby dinosaur and you can be the mother dinosaur. Your name will be mother and the baby is named Marlo”. This student had an average mean length of utterance of twelve. The student demonstrated a high mastery of syntax and used proper structured sentences with an accurate use of semantics. Although these two students are both three-years old they exhibited being at different levels of language development. The second student demonstrated having a more advanced knowledge of language syntax, semantics, and a good mean length of utterance. On the other hand, the first student exhibited a high mean length of utterance and a good grasp on semantics but he displayed syntax challenges. This observation allowed me to analyze the developing speech of two children of the same age, which helped me see the differing language challenges that can arise and the varying levels of early childhood language development.