Tag: impress teachers

You’re about to start school. Other than actively dreading having to get up before noon, and maybe having picked out just the right clothes to set the tone for the school year, what’s your plan?

Because you need a plan.

If you’re here, my guess is you’re looking for more than the basic listen, participate, work hard and study line.

So here it is: send your teachers an email.

I’m not advocating subterfuge or manipulation or sucking up. I’m advocating reflection, humility, and communication.

You need to understand something about teachers. We have a lot of power over you. We can make your life easy or hard. We can make it interesting or tedious. We can literally waste hours of it.

But mostly what you have to remember about us: we are insecure.

Wait? That tyrant who yells at us is nervous? That lady who cries every time she reads a poem isn’t confident? The hot young teacher who passes out detentions like candy on Halloween is scared?

Yup. They are. We all are. And it’s because deep down, none of us can be sure we know what we’re doing because we have no way to accurately measure the quality of our work.

Spend some time in r/teachers and you’ll quickly see that teachers love it when they run into a student and that kid says, “Hey, Mr. So-and-so!” and is actually excited to see him. They will literally write an essay on Reddit to tell other teachers that the job isn’t hopeless and that, yes, in fact, some kids actually don’t hate them and that, maybe, just maybe, a teacher can make a difference in a kid’s life.

You’re sitting here, thinking, Well, yeah, of course. I mean, my 3rd grade teacher really helped me with my printing. And in 7th grade I had an art teacher that showed me no one is really born with talent; it’s cultivated over time. And there was that coach that was always there to listen to me and tell me the hard things I didn’t want to hear, but I knew that guy really cared about me.

Back to Reddit though. Search the posts and you should quickly see how rarely we hear things like that.

We have no idea if you’re listening politely because you’re worried that we’ll grade you harshly if you don’t or if you’re genuinely interested. We don’t know if you think what we’re saying is important or if you’re furiously taking notes because it’s a requirement for your AVID class. Our tests are rarely useful metrics of your learning because so many of us use multiple choice, for which we all know most kids will just cram the night before and promptly forget the period after.

The only legitimate method to measure what you’ve learned is to have a conversation with you, which should happen in class but doesn’t because (A) there’s not enough time for a one-on-one with each kid in a classroom and (B) there’s very little measurable upside to talking for you because teachers don’t track how often you speak, let alone the quality of your comments and some of your peers will attempt to destroy you for asking a question. It’s logical for you to avoid participation since the risk outweighs the possible return.

So you want to get off on the right foot this year?

Step 1: Scour each course syllabus to find something that reveals your teacher’s values. Is it organization? Kindness? Thoughtful participation? Curiosity? Discipline? (The best place to find this is in any classroom rules or guidelines the teacher created. If all the teacher does is repeat school policy, you’re going to have to look harder to figure out what he believes in.)

Step 2: Send a brief, individualized email to each teacher introducing yourself and letting him/her know that you read the syllabus and that you’re interested in developing your organization/kindness/participation/curiosity/discipline. We all have room to grow, so this should not be a disingenuous statement. Let each instructor know that you’re looking forward to working on that trait this year in the classroom and explicitly state that if he/she has any advice about how you can grow as a student this year, you’d value it.

That’s it.

Now, what does opening yourself up like this do?

1. You show that you care enough about your own success to take the time to read what the course will cover.
2. You demonstrate that you are both able to find the underlying importance of the course to the teacher and care enough to apply it to your real life.
3. You show humility in admitting that there are places where you need work.
4. You have shown respect by deferring to the teacher and asking him to help you wherever he can without being overly demanding of his time.

In one brief email, you’ve turned yourself into a mentee rather than just another member of a disinterested crowd. You haven’t asked specifically for more time or attention, but you have demonstrated that you care and want to be actively engaged in the class to improve your habits, your education, and/or yourself as a human being.

Now, for all of you afraid of doing this because you think it will focus more attention on you, it shouldn’t. Unless you have the most tone-deaf teacher on the planet (which, I admit, is a risk, if a minor one), he’s not going to call you out in front of class. He may just come talk to you briefly while you’re working. If you were honest about what you’d like to gain in the class, you may receive some valuable feedback on your performance and/or useful tips for future success in the class. Even if you weren’t 100% sure that you hit the right note with your email, you may still benefit.

Either way, you’ve done something in about two minutes that it will take some students all semester to do: create a favorable impression.

Teachers are human, thus, we carry the prejudices inherent to humanity. Your teacher may believe himself to be the most judicious evaluator in the history of the American education system, but I can tell you right now that if you humbly ask for help, are gracious when you receive it, and try to apply it, you will create a huge bias in your favor.

In other words, you will be graded more favorably than your unknown-to-the-teacher peers.

And for all of you who will criticize this post, claiming that it’s manipulative to influence a teacher’s opinion in this way, I leave you with this 150-year-old piece of wisdom: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.