Asking a teacher for something
We’re now a full three months into the school year - and hopefully everything is going well for you and your students. Sometimes bumps come in the road, and asking a teacher for special consideration can be one way of navigating difficulty. Here’s some advice about how to do that successfully.
-Pick the right moment. Timing is everything when you’re asking for help or special consideration. If there is urgency, sometimes the best time is at the end of class when everyone is leaving; typically teachers have a few free moments before they need to be at their next class. That being said, ideally a student should email their teacher and ask when they have a few minutes free to discuss the issue - make whatever time they have work for you.
-Don’t make the request about the grade you got. If you are asking for an extension or special consideration, make the request about the work and the focus it requires and deserves. If you think your project or paper was graded incorrectly, you can certainly state your case for why you think you should have received higher marks, hopefully based on a rubric, but your case is stronger when you put it in terms of a question: “What can I do on the next assignment to better demonstrate my understanding of the material?”
-Be open. If you are asking for special consideration, be aware that there may be additional requirements from the teacher. If you want to improve your grade by offering to do additional work, be ready to do the additional work they propose.
-Express your gratitude. A brief and thoughtful thank you, handwritten or emailed, is always in order.
Overall, the best approach is to put in the work now, so you can get the consideration later. In general, teachers value dedicated work, and consequently, they’re more liable to give additional considerations to students who are adding to their class rather than taking away from it. If you have a sense that you might need additional help down the line, jump into your class discussion today.