One-Liners: Two Case Studies of Flow and Futility

English Version

“I just don’t know what to do!” exclaims one student in a classroom. “I just don’t know what to do!” groans another. These very same words are worlds apart in their tone and, more significantly, their meanings. In this first instance, the student, while uncertain of direction, is primed for action. Alternatively, motivation to accomplish a task is virtually extinguished in the second articulation. More than likely you have heard these words uttered before, or have even spoken them yourself. What prompts such ranging expressions from learners?

As a doctoral student, surely I could summon some factors from my learning theories repertoire and coursework to make sense of what leads to these kinds of expressions from students. Yet, I know that in the past three decades since Gagne (1977) introduced nine essential events of instruction, contemporary analysis now recognizes nine categories of research-based instructional strategies (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack, 2001) ! The teacher (or one’s teaching) is still at the center, not directing research, but as the object of research. To truly understand the significance of statements such as these leading expressions, I know that when I take that quantum leap beyond education’s defaulting penchant toward teaching, and place students as objects at the center of learning theory, I am establishing a bias (Creswell, 2003) toward the penultimate role of the teacher in learning.

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