I think I got it!

I believe I finally understand the positioning of the explorer. One of my goals before was to take my explorer home along with my typodont and practice with my neild book in my lap. The Neild book wasn't as helpful as I thought it was going to be, but it did offer a few little tips that I put into practice. Like for the posterier teeth you want the terminal shank parallel with the long axis of the tooth, not to wrap around the tooth. But for the anteriers I take out the explorer and look at the working end and see which way the tip is pointing (up or down and use) accordingly. Anyway I think I got it and am so happy and want to practice on a real person right now!