I’m toying with teaching a class for the local recreation department. I don’t
have any experience teaching unicycling and I don’t want anyone else to go
through the painful experience I had learning (solo). My skill level isn’t
expert but I freemount and ride about.
Does anyone have suggestions for keeping the class interesting for a variety of
levels? I have a few videos and a few spare unis I wouldn’t mind sharing
(trashing). Any thoughts? Class size? I’m open to any suggestions and anecdotes.
Below is a possible curriculum First Class 2 hrs
A. Introductions
B. Review the variety of equipment available
1:types of unis
2:helmets, wrist guards etc.
C:Demonstration Mounting, Freemounting Riding about in gymnasium. Helping people
get started. Distribute information about resources of info. i.e. IJA,
rec.sport unicycling, UniSource 2nd Class 2 hrs
D: Review skills people picked up during the week.
E: Riding about in the gymnasium. Helping people as needed.
F: Video of Skills
3rd Class 2 hrs
G: Review skills
H: Riding about the gymnasium. Helping people as needed.
I: Video of George Peck.
4th Class Meet at a local bike trail for people comfortable enough to ride.
> Any thoughts? Class size? I’m open to any suggestions and anecdotes.
I think you are being too optimistic for a group session. What you have set out
is what you might get for a young fit eager rider with one to one tuition. My
experience with groups is that you might get one or two out of 20 like that.
If you are running it by your self I would not consider taking on more than 8 at
a time. I would pair them up, this helps with them getting tired, the number of
unicycles (1st lesson only) and they can assist each other.
I like your adding in to the lesson plan “additional information”, I might start
doing this as well.
My (very) basic plans for teaching a typical group would be: Lesson 1 Get
feeling of the unicycle, learning where their balance is. This needs a wall and
a lot of support (corridors are great) Lesson 2 Getting way from the wall and
speeding up to riding speed. Lesson 3 Riding holding hands Lesson 4 Free
mounting and riding by them selves.
This might seam very slow, and a can guarantee that some will be riding at the
second lesson, but you need to set your lesson plan to be flexible but it
needs to allow for the slowest, not just the fastest. I do demonstrations
within each lesson to spur the eager riders on to what they can, so as not to
slow them up. I would do the trials ride as a final, post session try, local
to your hall and with a smooth path next to it for those riders not up to off
road. I hope this helps.
Roger
> Below is a possible curriculum First Class 2 hrs > A. Introductions > B. Review the variety of equipment available > 1:types of unis > 2:helmets, wrist guards etc. > C:Demonstration Mounting, Freemounting Riding about in gymnasium. Helping > people get started. Distribute information about resources of info. i.e. > IJA, rec.sport
unicycling, > UniSource 2nd Class 2 hrs > A: Review skills people picked up during the week. > B: Riding about in the gymnasium. Helping people as needed. > C: Video of Skills > > 3rd Class 2 hrs > A: Review skills > B: Riding about the gymnasium. Helping people as needed. > C: Video of George Peck. > > 4th Class Meet at a local bike trail for people comfortable enough to ride. > > JD Miller Tumwater WA >
I always played some nice upbeat music in my past unicycle classes. They were
also held in a ballet studio which was great for beginners because of the ballet
barre to hold onto. I set up an obstacle course for the more advanced students,
and emphasized riding to the beat of music. Classes were cancelled at the school
because of a runaway unicycle that put a hole in the wall. Tom Miller made an
appearance on a very very tall Giraffe, the class was very impressed!