There was a list going around

at a meeting I attended on Saturday.
It was designed to be one of those sort of lists that allows people to prepare for next year. That's a good idea. 
This one was a list of things people might want to learn in the coming year.
I have already been asked to do something for the group next year. 
When the list arrived at the table I was sitting at I looked at it and passed it on. 
     "Don't you want to do any of those Cat?" someone asked me.
     "I'll wait and find out what they want me to teach," I said.
     "I suppose you know how to do all that anyway?"
It was said in a way that meant I kept my mouth shut apart from saying,
     "No."
I could teach anything on the list - although I would have much more difficulty with some things than others. Knitting is fine but I am a left pawed crocheter and that does present issues when teaching right handed humans.  
It doesn't mean that I couldn't learn something, perhaps quite a lot, about those things on the list. There is always something I can learn. On Saturday afternoon someone I know taught someone else how to do something. It is a simple skill but it has many possibilities. The delight on the learner's face had made the effort of getting there more than worthwhile for the teacher. That's the sort of thing that teaching is about.
The other thing that teaching is about is preparation. It is one thing to teach the simple skill - although you still need other skills to do it - and another to teach a group a set of skills. It is possible to teach a simple skill without conscious preparation. It is not possible to teach a group a set of skills without preparation - or at least I don't believe it is possible. 
I am teaching a class at a summer school this year and I began preparing for it weeks ago. I am still not ready. There are notes to be written up to hand out and still more samples to be knit - small but they need to be done with great care. 
It isn't just because people are paying to do the summer school class it is because they are coming because they want to learn something.
So, if I get asked to teach anything else in the coming year that will come first, the preparation for that will take precedence over any desire I might have to see if I can learn something new taught by someone else.
    "I didn't know how to do that." I like to be able to think that and then realise that now I do. 
I can learn by teaching too.