The first class in law school can be awesome, but also overwhelming. Trust me, you did just fine. But what happens after each class is just as important as what happens before and during our classes.

After each class (whether mine or another professor's), I want you to do three things:

First, take a minute to reflect on what your understood. Celebrate that! You worked hard before that class, and you were ready for what came your way. That is awesome.
Second, take a minute to think about something that you did not understand going into class, but now understand so much better. That is another victory! That means you did the hard work in class to stay engaged and push yourself to understanding another new concept. Well done.
Third, take a minute to reflect on what you thought you understood before class, but now do not. Or think of something that you still just don't understand.

With the first two categories, I mean it. Celebrate. It is no small feat that you got through those two.

With the last category though, you still have work to do. You need to figure out what action to take. Do you need to discuss a question with your group members? Do you need to re-visit a problem we did in class or a lecture I have posted? Do you need to reach out to me with a clarifying question over email? Or, once you have wrestled with the question a bit, do you need to visit my office hours?

With each passing class, you will get better at this. I promise. You will celebrate what you have learned, and you will discover things that you need to work on. The key is to determine what you are missing and what action you are going to take to figure it out. In the paragraph above, I provided a handful of resources and ideas that might help, but remember, you know you the best. So engage, reflect, and then take action.

And congratulations again on your first civil procedure class. We are going to have a truly excellent adventure together.