I’ve been thinking a lot about the process of learning. How do people learn? How did I learn? I’ve come to the conclusion that I no longer remember the minutiae about how I learned music. Sure, I remember what I did. But, what’s faded over the years are the emotions and frustrations with learning something new. Countless times, I’ve told students to “not give up,” and “just keep on going, you’ll get it.” It’s a boilerplate set of encouraging words that we all give to our students. Do we really remember what it feels like to be a beginner?

What has stirred this up? Recently, I’ve started to learn a new skill. I’ve taken up computer programming in my spare time. I’ve found myself in a position that I haven’t been in for years. I’m at the beginning. I’m doing this without a singular focus. I’ve become my own former students. And it’s wonderful.

With music, I was able to put 100% focus into my craft. I went to music school, which afforded me a singular focus, free of distractions. It was the ideal environment. My students studied guitar with me in their free time. After work and family, the guitar was their “me” time. As I struggle with syntax, memory management, pointers and looping constructs in C programming, I find myself rather amazed by many of my former students. The ones who had heavy careers (doctors, lawyers and business) and families, who found sufficient time to practice and became guitarists in their own right. As I struggle to find the time for something I truly want to study (programming), while my work and my family all vie for my time, I have a newfound empathy and respect for all of my former students. It seems simple, but it’s been a revelation to me. It’s going to make me a better teacher.

How many of us have forgotten what it feels like to learn something new? How many of us have forgotten what it feels like to be at the base of the mountain, gazing up to an end that we may never reach?

If I ever learn to program, I’ll be on the lookout for the next “thing” that I’ve always wanted to learn. It will likely be mathematics. Or maybe Physics. I know that out of each struggle, we learn something new about ourselves. That’s what teaching is all about—learning.

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Marc