This article, prepared from remarks made at the presentation of the James Flack Norris Award for 2001, offers some thoughts about how to enhance classroom and laboratory teaching. Many good practices, as well as behavior to avoid, can be obtained by recalling our own experiences as students and by analyzing the presentation styles of visiting speakers. Other qualities of effective teaching include (a) punctuality, (b) thorough preparation, (c) acquiring and sustaining contact with your class, (d) dealing with student questions that you cannot immediately answer, and (e) being serious and professional, yet compassionate and occasionally humorous. Ultimately, attitude is everything in teaching