Personal Questions to Ask Your Teacher
Twenty questions a student can ask a teacher outside the lesson plan: how they ended up teaching, what they were like at school themselves, which parts of the job nobody sees, what they wish students would ask for help with, and what they are still learning.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What made you want to teach in the first place?
Why ask it
A safe opener that almost every teacher enjoys answering, and the answer is rarely the obvious one. Many will name a specific person or a specific year rather than a general love of the subject.
Was teaching your first plan, or did you do something else before this?
Why ask it
A good number of teachers arrive from another career, and that history usually explains their teaching style. Someone who came from engineering or nursing will have examples nobody else in the building uses.
What subject did you like least when you were at school?
Why ask it
It gives a teacher permission to be honest about struggling with something, which is unusual for a student to hear. It also tends to make the rest of the conversation less formal.
What were you like as a student at my age?
Why ask it
Teachers who were quiet, or in trouble, or bored tend to remember it vividly. The answer often explains which behavior they are patient with in class and which they come down on quickly.
Who was your favorite teacher, and what did they do differently?
Why ask it
You are asking what they are trying to copy. The specific thing they name, learning names fast, never humiliating anyone, sitting with people after class, is usually visible in how they run your lessons.
What is your favorite thing to teach in this subject, and which part do you dread?
Why ask it
The dreaded topic is worth knowing because it is often the one students find hardest too. Teachers rarely volunteer it, but most will answer honestly when asked directly.
What do you do outside school that we would never guess?
Why ask it
This is the polite version of a nosy question, and it lets the teacher choose how much to share. Answers are often surprising enough to change how a class treats a teacher.
What is the best part of your day here?
Why ask it
The answer is almost never the lessons. Teachers usually name a corridor conversation, a particular class, or the fifteen minutes before the building fills up, which tells you something about what they actually enjoy.
What is the hardest part of the job that students never see?
Why ask it
Grading, paperwork, meetings and worrying about individual students are the usual answers, and most students have no idea of the volume. It is also a question that makes deadlines and slow feedback make more sense.
How long does it actually take you to grade a set of our essays?
Why ask it
A number lands harder than a general complaint about workload. Once a class knows the figure, arguments about turnaround time tend to change tone for the rest of the year.
What do you wish we would ask you for help with?
Why ask it
Teachers usually have a specific answer waiting: come before the test rather than after, ask about the question you skipped, say when you did not follow the explanation. Most students never ask and never find out.
How do you want us to tell you when a lesson is not landing?
Why ask it
It gives you a legitimate route for feedback instead of the class going quiet. Notice whether they name a method they will actually check, or say they can tell by looking, which is often not true.
What is the most useful thing a student has ever said to you?
Why ask it
Teachers tend to remember one comment for years, often a criticism they took on board. It shows that student feedback registers, which is not obvious from the front of a classroom.
Have you changed how you teach this class since you started, and why?
Why ask it
Anyone who can describe a specific change and the reason behind it is paying attention to whether the teaching works. A teacher who says it has always worked well is telling you something different.
What is something you were taught at school that turned out to be wrong?
Why ask it
Every subject has these, from planet counts to grammar rules to historical accounts that got revised. Hearing your teacher describe knowledge changing is more useful than being told that it does.
What do you think we will actually remember from this class in ten years?
Why ask it
Most teachers will admit it is not the content, which is a candid thing to say to a student. The answer often reveals what they have quietly prioritized behind the required syllabus.
What would you tell someone in my year who wants to do what you do?
Why ask it
Teachers are usually frank about the job with students who are seriously considering it, including the parts they would not say to a parent. Expect pay, hours and the first two years to come up.
Is there a student you still think about?
Why ask it
Leaving it open lets them pick the story they want to tell, which may be a success or a regret. Do not push for a name; the point is the story, not the identity.
What are you still learning?
Why ask it
It can be a subject, a language, a technology or a way of running a room. Either way it puts the teacher on the same footing as the class, which is why the answer tends to be remembered.
If you were not teaching, what would you be doing instead?
Why ask it
A good closing question, since it invites a real answer without forcing one. Some name a road not taken; others say they cannot picture anything else, and both tell you something worth knowing.
Asking a Teacher About Themselves
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Timing and Setting
Not in the middle of a lesson
A personal question during class puts a teacher in an awkward position, because thirty people are listening and the clock is running. The five minutes after class, a free period, or a club or trip are where these conversations actually work.
Ask one, not ten
One question with genuine follow-up reads as interest. Working through a list reads as an assignment, and teachers can tell the difference immediately. Save the rest for another day.
Accept a short answer without pressing
Teachers hold a professional line about what they share with students, and the line differs from teacher to teacher. If an answer is brief, take it and move on rather than repeating the question in different words.
What Not to Ask
- Anything about salary, relationships, or living arrangements. These are the questions that make a teacher shut down the whole conversation, including the parts they would happily have answered.
- Anything about another student's grades or behavior. A teacher who answered that would be doing something they are not allowed to do, and asking puts them in a bad spot.
- Anything about colleagues. A question about which other teacher they rate has no good answer available to them.
- Their opinion of you, phrased as a personal question. If you want feedback, ask for feedback directly and separately.
- Politics or religion, unless it is the subject of the class. Most schools have rules about this and the teacher will have to decline, which makes both of you uncomfortable.
- Anything you would only ask to see them squirm. It is usually obvious, and it costs you a teacher who would otherwise have helped you.
Getting More Than a Polite Answer
- Follow up on the detail, not the topic. If they mention a career before teaching, ask what made them leave it rather than moving to your next question.
- Say why you are asking. A teacher answers what made you want to teach differently when they know you are considering it yourself.
- Leave a pause. Teachers spend all day filling silence and often add the more interesting half of an answer once they realize you are still listening.
- If you get a real answer, do not repeat it around the school. Teachers share more with students who have proved discreet, and word travels fast in a building.
- Come back to it later in the term. A question they gave a guarded answer to in September often gets a fuller answer once they know you.