Teaching My Own Classmates: A Deep Dive into React
Why we ditched the 'create-react-app' command to understand how React actually works.
The "Imposter Syndrome" Moment
Speaking to juniors is one thing. But teaching your own classmates? That is a different kind of pressure.
On September 28, 2025, I stood in front of my own batch, 70+ Third Year Computer Science students. These are my friends, my lab partners, the people I sit with every day.
The week before this session, I was going down a rabbit hole. I was learning React, but not the usual way. I wasn't just building a To-Do list. I was trying to understand: What exactly is happening inside the node_modules folder?
I realized most of us just memorize commands like npx create-react-app without knowing what goes on behind the scenes. I wanted to change that.
The Experiment: No Bundlers allowed
My goal for the workshop was simple: Do NOT use create-react-app.
We started from scratch. Literally.
Step 1: We opened a blank HTML file.
Step 2: We pasted a React CDN link (just a script tag).
Step 3: We tried to write React code inside the HTML file.
The "Aha!" Moment
The room was quiet at first. Why were we doing it the hard way?
But then, we hit the problem. Writing complex UI with just React.createElement is painful. It’s messy. That’s when I introduced JSX.
Suddenly, everyone understood why we need tools like Babel and Webpack. We weren't just using tools because a tutorial told us to; we were using them because we felt the pain of not having them.
Peer-to-Peer Magic
The best part wasn't the code. It was the vibe. Since we were all classmates, the questions were raw and honest. No one was afraid to ask "dumb" questions. We debugged together. We laughed when things broke.
By the end, 70+ students didn't just know how to use React, they knew what React was.
Teaching your peers is the ultimate test of knowledge. If you can explain it to your friend, you truly understand it.
Can't wait for the next hands-on lab! 🚀
