Attention Students:  Know Your Professors!

Educators, you can use this as a tool to show your students. Spice up your syllabus a bit perhaps. They should read this so that they know it is OK to get to know you. As a student myself, this would have helped me my freshman year in college.

It’s your freshman year, at a new school, in a new city. Everything is new. The teachers you have known from the past four years are still back home. It’s a whole new ball game now and you are intimidated. If you are not now, you will be at some point. No matter how independent or optimistic you are about your first year of college, there will be times when you struggle with something. However, you can prevent this and there are a thousand ways to do that. Here is one: Get to know your teachers. This should be in the top 10 of the 1000 ways to succeed in college.

Students, the truth is there will be some professors out there that are going to challenge every fiber of your being. There will be some that will give you a terrible grade when you know you deserve better. There will also be some that believe that if you are even one minute late, you should not come to class and if you do, you better bet that they will call you out on it and may kick you out of class. They do it to challenge you. They do it because in the real world, assignments will not be accepted if handed in late, you won’t get a clients support or trust if you’re late and unprepared. However, college professors also know that they cannot just expect you to be perfectly acquainted with these good habits. If you were, they wouldn’t be there. They want to see your best work and they want to see you succeed. Better yet, they WANT to help you. The thing is, your professor probably has a good lot of students. They are just as busy as you when it comes to school. Plus they do have a life at home that they are challenged with every day just like you. So, it is left up to you, the student to take initiative to know them and make sure they know you. In some classes it may be easier and in others, it will be harder. Nonetheless, you can do this and ACE your classes.

The first day of school is hectic because the campus is buzzing, new relationships are blooming and everybody is starting a fresh year. On the first day, it’s ok if you don’t introduce yourself to your teacher. I would go for the second or third day. Just go up at the end of class and say “Hi professor NAME, I am YOUR NAME HERE.” I would suggest at the end of class. The beginning of class can be awkward. You don’t want to come off as a suck up or too eager. If you are particularly not good at this particular class’s subject, with your introduction say “I am nervous about Chemistry because it is just not my thing but I am going to work hard to learn it.” That way you are letting them know that you are serious about your school work and will have problems that you want to overcome.

Usually, professors are required a certain amount of office hours per week. They usually elect to have more in order to give their students plenty of time to come in and talk about their grade or the paper that will make or break their grade. This is what they want. Professors want students to use them as resources. They are your best one and give the best advice about their subject. Don’t be shy. This is their job and hopefully it is what they love to do.

The benefits for you are great. By just stepping up and introducing yourself, you have illustrated to this educator that you want to learn. In the future, they will be more accommodating and willing to help because they know that you are taking your academics seriously. Plus, when you need a recommendation for a scholarship like to study abroad, or get a job or internship, you can count on them to speak highly of you because they know you as a student through your personality and work ethic in class. Overall, you can’t go wrong. So get to know the people around you, friends and educators. It will prove to be very beneficial in the future.

Here is a good link for learning and getting to know your professors and instructors.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/school/teacher_relationships.html