Learning Is A Skill

I enrolled in a pottery class at the Parkland Potters Guild in Stony Plain.  I've taken classes with them before but it's been several years.  I decided to do it to hone my skills and hopefully learn some new things to add to my repertoire.  I don't really have a "mentor" in pottery and it's nice to be able to have that sometimes.

This is a Beginner/Intermediate class and it's about 50/50 for people with experience and the total newbies.  I would venture a guess that I am the most experienced potter in the class, yet I have noticed a few things.

I seem to be the only one that consistently watches and engages in the demonstrations.  The other students tend to continue on with whatever they are working on...only paying the slightest attention to the instructor and lesson content.  I get that they want to get their hands dirty...the class is only so long...but they are missing a lot of really important information.  

I also seem to be the only one that attempts to do the "assignments" in the way that the instructor has laid it out.  Sure I could continue to do these things my own way, but I feel that sort of defeats the purpose of taking the class.  The point of this is to expand my knowledge and learn some new techniques and skills.  Again, I see the other experienced students missing out on some valuable lessons.

I am also finding that I am seeing a lot of details that others aren't catching.  My eye for detail is definitely advanced and I've been catching the smallest of things that are making really big differences in my throwing technique.

No I am not here to just toot my own horn and to tell you how great I'm doing.  Lol.  What I'm saying is that, even though I'm probably the most experienced in the class, I'm also the one most engaged as a student.  I know the instructors have a lot of knowledge to offer me, and my mind, and heart, are open and receptive to learning.  Learning is a skill and I can definitely attribute my level of this skill to my Kung Fu training.