Today was my first day ever driving a Tractor.

Its only going to get easier

 

Noticed you mentioning the trailer doing the opposite of what you wanted. In you future…
After driving a tractor trailer over four years. Company asked me to do a little city quickie with a box truck. That darn thing! When I’d back to a dock. Turned the wheel. It kept going the wrong direction!

 

Tip that helped me: Be OK with yourself sucking at the beginning. We all sucked at the beginning. There's a phrase in German I like: Ubung macht dien meister. (Not positive I got the spelling correct). It directly translates to: Repetition makes the master. It's roughly equivalent to the American phrase: Practice makes perfect. But, I find the German phrase to be more accurate and wiser.
Just keep at it, don't give up and don't get discouraged because you are not doing it as well as you think you should.

 

Some of the 10 speeds in training I tested in were kind of worn out.Made it a little hard to shift.After a week or so of driving one you'll be a lot more confident.Dont shift when turning or crossing a railroad track.

 

10 speeds are the red haired step children of the manual transmission family, not amazing on a good day and full off strange quirks that make you wish it were a 13 speed. Oh well.

There's a tipping point as far as learning this stuff -could be 3 weeks or 3 months, everybody's different- but you'll know you reached it when not thinking about how to do a maneuver somehow has better results than if you had. Repetition is the key.

 

What you are exeriencing is normal for almost everyone. EVERY newbie seems to push the clutch to far down toward the floor. When moving you only need maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the full travel to the floor. Pushing beyond half-travel and you risk engaging the clutch brake. You only need to push the clutch pedal all the way to the floor when the truck is stopped or when changing direction between reverse and forward gears.

EVERYONE has more difficulty downshifting when slowing than when upshifting wen accelerating. The truck engine and transmission is so sturdy you don't have to be perfect. It is also normal to feel not quite ready with shifting and backing when you go to pass your official road test. As long as you are making progress, you are doing OK.

 

I've had difficulty backing a bobtail before after time off. Nobody has to be perfekt to succeed.