Gold panning: what could I be doing wrong?

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it!

This is genius:

if you haven’t panned much before practice with some lead shot - you can do that at home

Here I was actually thinking I need to buy some gold, put it in river gravel, and see if I can pan it out again ha ha!

classify as you learn to pan

Do you mean, like, identify the rock classifications (types) as I see them in the pan; or use a 10mm classifying seive? (or both!)