Biking beside

So, this weekend I did the Hilly Hundred. I am so excited about having accomplished this goal. Believe it or not, August 2010, I would never have believed I could ride that far. As I lay here writing this, it still seems unreal. So, how may you ask did that change in 14 months? Partly, I had a great teacher in Josiah. When we started dating, it quickly became apparent that Josiah had a passion for biking. I enjoyed bike riding as well, but never considered long distance riding. Early on we biked the pumpkin vine trail in Goshen. Josiah did a great job of encouraging me during the riding, as well as getting a used bike from a friend and fixing it up for me to ride. During the winter of course we didn't ride. This last spring, when Josiah decided that he was going to do RAGBRAI, he printed out a suggested training schedule, breaking it down to show me how easy it was, I knew that starting the program here, there was no way I could participate (still not sure that is how I wish to spend a week of vacation). I saw that there was a benefit ride in Goshen, and we decided to do that together. Josiah went on to do 2 week long rides this summer. I am not certain how the Hilly Hundred came up this fall, but initially I don't think that I was considering going. It sounded like fun, and I didn't want to be left out, so I talked to Josiah about going. End result... I did go. Josiah was really good about sticking with me throughout the ride, encouraging me along the way, stopping to wait when a group of bikers would separate us. He even turned around and went back to look for me at one point (I had already started thinking that he was right behind me). Okay, so how does this relate to teaching. Well, I think it made me realize how important it is to not get too far ahead of the students. Granted, we know a lot more than Kindergartners, but if we display too much of that knowledge at once, a child will be overwhelmed. Just as I became discouraged if suddenly Josiah was at the top of the hill, and I was struggling to get up. Now granted, I still walked up 4 of those hills. I would have walked up more of those hills, if it hadn't been for Josiah, and some other bikers encouragement. I honestly wasn't certain if I could make it up some of those hills. So, how do we as educators, ensure that those "hills" are challenging enough to keep a child's attention, and yet don't seem so big that they become overwhelmed. I am eager to "bike" beside them on that ride of discovery, encouraging them and challenging them to learn more and achieve more than they thought possible.