Learning to use manual on camera

I have a Nikon D50 my son gave to me. It takes beautiful pictures but I wanted to know how to use the manual as that is apparently the best way to handle light a nd get good shadows. So yesterday I was up at 4:30am and drove to Jaffo where my class was meeting by the famous clock with eli, our teacher who is a professional newspaper photographer. Most of us didn't know anymore than I did so I felt pretty good after awhile. Eli showed me quickly where the manual was and how to find the famous 0. I think my camera is hard to use as the same screw works for both getting the number 60 and the 0. what we were doing was taking photos in the "magic" hour when the sky and the ground get the same light. The sun hadn't woken up yet and it was also raining which helped to prolong the magic hour. First we shot towards the east and then as the light came up turned south and west. Then we proceeded up and down hill finally reaching the port with the fishing boats. After that we started back an d I got a few good shots showing light and shade and finally walked back to our starting point. We learned to check the light source using our hand as a focus for the light. when we could get the 0 on our camera focusing on our hand or at some points (in the rain and shade) on the ground, then we were set to photograph.