SOL18: Finding My Flow
Posted on March 11th, 2018
Today’s slice came to me as I read some Slicers’ posts on my iPad. “This is one I need to respond to,” I thought as I put down my iPad and turned on my laptop. You see, I really enjoy reading online content on my iPad. However, I have not made the jump to consider it a reliable content creator. Keeping my fingers properly perched over a virtual keyboard is a skill that has eluded me so far. I find myself concentrating so hard on striking the correct keys that my thoughts evaporate into the ether. My grown sons tease me whenever they see me sitting at my old computer table with my laptop sitting open while I type away on the wireless keyboard located on the pull-out shelf below. In this position my thoughts flow and my fingers fly without conscious thought.
I became cognizant of my preference for an actual keyboard while I was taking online Tech Apps courses and working on my master’s degree while teaching high school English and participating in a technology grant. I spent many hours at home composing responses to online discussion forums and typing papers for graduate classes. I was trying to draft a paper on a yellow legal pad during my lunch break one day when it occurred to me that it would be easier to just type my ideas.
Finding the flow allows me to turn off my internal editor. Writing out words on paper causes me to edit Every. Single. Word. Typing gives me permission to let whatever comes to mind to flow onto the page. That’s because I know how easy it will be for me to make changes without marking through words and squeezing new words legibly between the lines on the page.
What about you? Do you find it easier to compose on paper or on a keyboard?
I can hardly read my writing anymore…my Granny used to call her handwriting chicken scratch…looks like I will too. Hugs, Di
Realizing that they are all tools and finding the one that is going to work the best in any situation is the transferable life skill we strive for in our classrooms. You have a grand illustration of it here while you provide a reason for your choice. “I find myself concentrating so hard on striking the correct keys that my thoughts evaporate into the ether.” Evaporate into the ether, that’s a strong line that will linger with me.
I too do not enjoy the composing on the i-phone or i-pad. I like the clack clack clack of the keys. I also find Apple does not like my Google as much as I think.
That is so funny… I do both and don’t have one I prefer. I love the feel of paper and have numerous journals that I write in and make lists in and ponder things in. Then when it comes time to drafting things, I feel like my thoughts are faster and easier on a keyboard… but I think that is more for more ‘work’ and less for my ‘thoughts’. Great thoughts…
I had the same experience when I was in grad school. I started out on paper but quickly transitioned to the laptop and I’ve never looked back. The process of revision on a computer is one that fascinates me. I am with you on the iPad/tablet though. I just spent the last week slicing on my phone or my school-issued Android while on vacation and I am so happy to be back to my laptop. It was quite a challenge to navigate the technical challenges of blogging, posting, slicing and commenting from these devices. I almost gave up several times.