For the ruler you can get little sand paper tabs to fit on the bottoms of your ruler or a lady last night at the store had a new ruler that already has the little tabs already on the ruler.
I'm left handed and the first class I took was just the basics, how to hold the blade, how much pressure to put on the blade, fabric - how to choose colors, about selvage and length of fabric. What type of ruler to buy, etc we never even sewed anything in that class it was literally all about the basics. I learned to change sides the blades were on, and how much pressure to use to cut through the fabric.
I still feel like I'm learning a new trick, short cut every time I go to class. Don't be discouraged we've all been a new student at some point.