Communicating with Your Teacher

When communicating with your teacher or other people from your distance learning school, it is important to consider your tone and word choice carefully. This is true, whether you are communicating by phone, email, face-to-face, or through an assignment.

• be clear and logical
• use an appropriate tone
• follow proper sentence and paragraph structure
• consider your audience

When communicating in a school environment, your communication typically will be semi-formal, like the level of language you would use in the workplace. For example, slang may not be appropriate word choice when communicating with your teacher.

To see the impact of structure and tone, let’s look at different versions of an email from a student to a teacher.

Poorly Written:

Hey Mr. M. How come the textbook says the last Census was in 1997 I don’t get it maybe I’m just dumb.

Later,
Jill

Problem 1: This email contains run-on sentences making the content difficult to understand. This student has not proofread her note before posting it.

Problem 2: This learner may be trying to use humour to deflect criticism to herself, or is honestly self-deprecating, but either way the effect is one of casual disregard. Remember, your learning is more important to you, the learner, than to anyone else—you don’t have to apologize for not understanding, but you do have to be your own advocate.

Problem 3: The language and tone is too informal for school communication. You might say “Later” to a friend, but a more formal salutation would be more appropriate to this environment.

Well Written:

Hi Mr. Marker,
I was wondering if you could clarify this for me. There is conflicting information between what I was reading on page 32 of the textbook, and what is written at this website: www.censusRus.com. The two sources seem to be drawing different conclusions from the same information. I wonder if I am misreading something and I am hoping you can help clarify.

Thanks from Jill

This revised email is more appropriate: the email is friendly, easy to follow, and the language is appropriate for student/teacher communication. Notice the learner quotes a source of course information and an outside link - showing that she tried her best to answer her own question. She clearly points out the discrepancy, asks politely for clarification.

In summary:

• Think about appropriateness
• Be thoughtful and clear
• Use a respectful tone
• Use semi-formal language