Voltairecim's post about the catch point is dead on and will help you the most in keeping the RPMs down when starting in 1st. While you are learning the catch point play with the gas pedal. You need to learn how many RPMs you'll get from a particular amount of movement. Practice at stop lights. See if you can get the RPMs to level out at 1000 RPM then 1500 RPM and 2000 RPM. That will really help you get a feel for how the car will react and will help you do more stable starts.

While you are still getting a feel for it the best thing to soften those herky jerky starts is more gas. Most new gear changers give it too much gas, then while they are releasing the clutch they realize they've reved too high and let off the gas again. This starts the jerk. The best thing is to just keep the gas pedal where you have it and get off of the clutch. It will give you a quick launch but acceleration feels much better than the jerk.

To smooth your shifts between gears let off the gas some just before shifting so that you aren't accelerating anymore. That'll stop the nose dive feeling. After shifting to the next gear you want to try and get the RPMs as close to what they will be for that speed so that you don't cause a nose dive from the engine drag. This should become an automatic thing just like starting in 1st.

 

Practice without stepping on the gas.. Just move slowly you can do it. Once you got that down, you can put a little gas and it will be soooo easy.

 

Not following you here.

 

Leave your right foot on the floor and let your left foot bring the clutch up very slowly. As you feel the car start to move and jerk because it doesn't have enough gas, put the clutch back in. Do this a few times. That point where the clutch begins to move the car is the catch point where it is safe to start giving gas and let go of the clutch.

 

Might be best for clutch, but that is bad for engine, dont do that!