Ayla's First Ride

Constructing a Teachable Moment

I'm awestruck. Last week, I channeled every teaching and learning strategy that I could think of to ensure my daughter Ayla mastered bike riding in one afternoon.

As I sat at my desk before picking her up from school, I confidently posted to Upduo's Slack that she'd learn to ride that day. Here, I’ll delve into both the deliberate strategies and instinctive responses that contributed to our success.

Intentional Strategies

1. Timing and the ZPD: At 4.5 years old, Ayla can ride a bike with training wheels, ride a “strider” bike without pedals, and possesses the resilience to pick herself up after a tumble. She's right within her Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) . Without this alignment, our endeavor would have been much harder.

If ZPD is too clunky for you, my ski coach and bestselling author Steven Kotler calls it the challenge/skill ratio and links it to the ever-elusive "flow state."

2. One-on-One Instruction : With Ayla’s brother Reed away on a school trip, we enjoyed a rare moment of undivided attention. This allowed me to focus entirely on her, without needing to "differentiate my instruction" or divide my attention as I would without having had that protected time. She got all my attention to celebrate her success, calm her fears, and remind her of our shared goals. All important teaching can and should be done 1-on-1.

Speaking of good teaching and learning, Reed was camping with his third-grade class. So awesome:)

3. Clear Learning Targets: To channel my enthusiasm, I crafted a "ride a bike" proficiency scale, a contemporary version of the traditional rubric. This ensures alignment among learners, parents, and teaching aids.

Learning Target: I can ride a pedal bike without training wheels.

Foundational Skills:

• Understanding the “ready position.”
• Stopping by pedaling backward and placing feet on the ground.
• Recovering and continuing after a fall.
• Trusting in the guidance provided.

In our family and on the teaching and learning teams I work with, we call achievement of the learning target “becoming a 3.” Hence, you might hear Ayla proclaiming, “I’m a 3!” The foundational skills are tangible and can be repeatedly taught and reinforced. For instance, Ayla "became a 2" when she mastered all foundational skills.

Instinctive Responses

While I've credited structured strategies for Ayla's success, the spontaneous intuition that teaching demands played an essential role too.

1. Fear Mitigation: Often, the apprehension of the unknown hinders learning more than a lack of knowledge. Riding a bike exemplifies this, demanding a transition from feeling secure, to vulnerable, and back to security. Much of my guidance revolved around alleviating Ayla's fears. For instance, after her third crash casued by reaching behind herself for me when I'd release her to ride herself, I jumped on the bike and showed her how silly it would be to expect to successfully ride a bike while twisting around backwards yelling "daddy!". I just did what she did.

She giggled at it.

Then, I showed her what it would like like to simply assume it would work, with my hands squarely on the handlebars. I humorously demonstrated the flaw in her approach, helping her understand and rectify it.

2. The “Swinging Two Bats” Approach: During our session, I observed the bike seat was set higher than ideal. Rather than immediately adjusting it, I opted to teach her with this added challenge. Once she overcame it, eventually lowering the seat made the actual riding feel significantly easier for her, much like a baseball player who practices with two bats so that using one feels effortless.

For fun, it's worth sharing that we actually walked across the street to the hardware store to buy the necessary Allen key. Ayla wheeled her little bike into the store, talked to the staff to get the right size, and then let me buy it for her:)

I could keep writing if I had more time, as this afternoon was awe-inspiring in that it proved what I obsess about as a teacher while giving my daughter a new skill that she'll have forever. I hope it's been as insightful for you to read as it was for me to experience. Harnessing the power of good teaching can make all the difference, whether in the workplace, a classroom, or our backyards.

Till our next adventure!