It could help to write down some of your queries. Don’t go in and read a script, but this could be a useful way for you to visualise your concerns and put them down on paper.
A teacher is highly likely to begin by asking you ‘what do you think is going wrong?’ You’re hoping to get to the bottom of that together, but have some answers prepared. If you’re stumped, be ready to admit that and ask for help: ‘I don’t know why my grades are so low, can you help me understand that, and improve them?’
If you want to talk about something very particular, let the teacher know in advance. This will give them a chance to prepare any materials they might want to bring along. If you want to have a more general chat, say something open like ‘I was wondering if I could talk you after school’, or ‘I need some advice and was hoping I could chat to you about it’.
Your teacher will be impressed by you seeking out help and advice, but be sure to ask for guidance rather than demanding the answers outright. [1] X Expert Source Alexander Ruiz, M. Ed. Educational Consultant Expert Interview. 18 June 2020. Remember, your teacher is a person too, so talk to them like you’d talk to anyone else. [2] X Expert Source Alexander Ruiz, M. Ed. Educational Consultant Expert Interview. 18 June 2020. Use conciliatory not accusatory language. ‘I want to understand why I’m not getting the grades I expected to achieve, I was wondering if you can talk to me about where I am going wrong’. Don’t say ‘why do you keep failing me?’. Show you are taking responsibility by saying something like: ‘I am failing, and I want to improve with your help’.
If you have worked out a timetable for studying, ask them to look over it. They will have an idea of your strengths and weakness, so say ‘can you tell me which things I should focus on most of all?’
You will also be seen as proactive, attentive and interested in your work.
Chances are they want to understand the reasons why things are going wrong so they can better help you put them right. [3] X Trustworthy Source National Health Service (UK) Public healthcare system of the UK Go to source If you are having problems at home, you might prefer to talk to the school counsellor (if you have one). But if you have a teacher you trust and have a good relationship with, they could be the best choice. [4] X Trustworthy Source TeensHealth Website run by Nemours, a nonprofit children’s healthcare system, for the purpose of providing teens and young adults with specific health resources Go to source
If you are in this situation, try improving your grade for the upcoming marking period. Ask for extra-credit work so that you can shift your point average.
In the case of an essay question, you can ask your teacher to go through your answer with you. Reading your essay together will give you the opportunity to understand in more detail how it was graded.
Find good assignments to use as examples or backup. If you can demonstrate that your low score was a fluke and shouldn’t drag down your entire grade, you stand a much better chance of getting it changed. If the problem was that you had an unreliable teammate in a group project, don’t blame it all on him/her or you’ll seem like a bad team player. Instead, say that if you’d given him/her extra help, you wouldn’t have done as well on your half of the project, and that it’s not fair to get a bad grade because of somebody else’s work.
Consider trying to mark someone’s work whose handwriting is all but impossible to read. Think about how much extra time this must take.
Although extra credit can be extremely helpful, it’s not meant to make up for your faults. Extra credit is designed to help bring students who have been trying in the past to further bring their grades up. It’s unlikely that a teacher will assign enough extra credit to change an F to an A.
It’s a great feeling for a teacher to see a student improve. Your teacher will be delighted to see your grades go up when you put into practice the things you talked about together.
