This semester is going to be challenging! Right now I am learning to use a new creative program. It’s a really good creative program, and once I learn how to use it, I think I am going to love it. However, right now, learning it is stressing me out. I don’t really know what I am doing. As I complete some of the exercises, I have no idea why I am completing some of the steps. I am not sure I can I apply what I am supposed to learn from the exercises to the real world.
I’m not without resources. I bought the official training workbook for the program. It’s one of the required textbooks for the class. I’m glad I bought it too, because the whole organization of the program is completely new to me, and I’d be totally lost without it. I’m used to working with free stuff, and free often means limited, easy to use functions. This software is a beast, and having all those options really complicates things when you are trying to learn to use it. So having the workbook is a good thing.
But there is a basic problem with the official workbook. It wasn’t written by a teacher or an instructional designer. It was written by someone who is an expert with the software and assumes that the learner is equally proficient. Lots of little instructions are left out of the exercises, making completion a very frustrating experience.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m going to learn it. I have absolutely no doubt about it. But, I’m going to master this program because I am determined to master it. My determination is going to motivate me to seek answers from alternative sources to help me understand what I am supposed to be doing. But, this experience has made me reflect on how important it is to make sure we know our students, and that we teach so that they will learn successfully. Learning this software would have been a lot less frustrating if the instructions were clearer, better organized, and considered my limited level of experience and prior knowledge.
Teachers are responsible for teaching every one of their students. To do that, they need to know their students…all of them. Good teachers know their students.
