Teaching adults and teaching children are definitely two different ballgames.  Teaching adults requires creativity, persistance, intelligence, and resourcefulness.  When teaching children, most adults assume that they know more, can do more, and therefore the kids ought to sit up and take notice.  They approach the classroom feeling very valuable.  They approach the classroom feeling in control. However, when teaching adults the same assumptions cannot be made.  One cannot assume that he knows more than everyone else in the classroom.  Therefore when the teacher of adults walks into the room it is most likely not with the same kind of superior confidence.  The teacher of adults most have a thorough knowledge of the material.  Their confidence must come from their ability to present the material effectively and not from their extensive life experience that teachers of kids often rely on. In addition, teachers of adults most realize that control will be an issue.  In a classroom of students who are significantly younger than the teacher, this is typically not a problem.  Most students will, at least to some degree, respect the elder teacher.  In a classroom that consists of peers or older students, teachers will often face issues of control.  In other words, it will be difficult for a teacher to maintain or remain in control based solely on the title "teacher", he or she must establish the authority of control in some other manner.  As in all classrooms of all ages, teachers will face the challenges of students young and old who: think they know it all, don't know anything and could care less, want to give all the answers, try to take the focus off the lesson and put the attention on themselves, refuse to respond out of shyness, respond and then wait for reactions and approval, appear to have their mind on anything but the topic but then surprise you by having some deep insight, want to be the teacher's pet.