A formula for emailing teachers
Last spring, my client, a high school junior, came to our session right after a challenging experience that day at school.
She had recently missed a week of school and needed to make up a test. She had taken the make-up test earlier that day, but a series of events lead to her feeling like she absolutely could not focus.
· For one, the testing environment that day was anything but quiet.
· She was also asked to change classrooms halfway through her test.
· And the teacher was conducting a meeting with a colleague as she worked, so was he unavailable to her for any help.
She walked out feeling like she had totally bombed the test.
So what to do now?
First, we discussed her recent ADHD diagnosis and new 504 plan. She knows that she is entitled to accommodations, including a quiet testing environment, but she hasn’t used them much. Nor has she become comfortable with advocating for herself just yet. To be clear, it’s the teacher’s job to offer these accommodations, but more often than not, students and parents have to specifically request them.
Then I asked if she would feel comfortable emailing her teacher to tell him her experience. She wasn't so sure. She claimed that he would “never let her take the test again,” and she wasn’t quite sure what she would say in an email like this anyway.
Because self-advocacy is one of the many things I teach students, I encouraged her to think about it. Sure, he could say no, but you don’t know if you don’t ask. Not only would an email show self-advocacy, but it would also show that she cares about school.
After some back and forth, she reluctantly agreed. I taught her a simple formula to use when emailing teachers (slightly modified from another EF coach, Sean McCormick).
I taught her the PING formula:
P = Pleasant introduction
Begin with a pleasant introduction. A simple example is:
Hi [Teacher’s Name],
I hope you are well.
I = Inform/inquire
Then, tell the teacher why you’re emailing. My student could say:
When I took my make-up test yesterday, I really had a difficult time focusing. My brain needs quiet when I’m testing, and the classroom was really noisy. It was also difficult for my brain to refocus when I was asked to change classrooms in the middle of the test. I’m pretty sure I did not do well.
N = Negotiate your needs
She could say something about her 504 accommodations here, if she wanted:
My 504 plan allows me to have a quiet testing environment with as few distractions as possible. Would I be able to take the test again?
Or she could just say:
Would I be able to take the test again?
G = Gratitude for their assistance
Finally, she should close with some gratitude:
Thank you for considering.
[Sign name]
Or just:
Thanks,
[Sign name]
I assured her that if I had received an email like this when I was a teacher, I would be impressed. And, though she doubted, I was pretty sure that her teacher would respond positively.
By the next week’s coaching session, I was itching to know what happened. I wondered if she wrote the email; I wondered if she sent the email; I wondered how the teacher responded; and I wondered how she was feeling about it all.
Well, she tried it! (Win #1)
And the teacher allowed her to re-take the test in a more conducive testing environment! (Win #2)
And, she even said she'd be willing to consider emailing a teacher again in the future. (Win #3)
Even better, she now has a sample email that she can use again and again – anytime she wants to email a teacher. (NOTE: If you use Gmail, here's a video where I show you how to create an email template.)
And since you know how I feel about breaking up a daunting task into smaller chunks, maybe just drafting the email is the first step. That gives you time (and permission) to think about whether you want to actually send it or not. Progress is measured in baby steps, after all.
And this same formula can be used when parents need to email a teacher, too!
