Questions to Ask Teachers from Students
Questions a student can bring to a teacher, covering grading and expectations, getting help after falling behind, study methods suited to the subject, and where the material leads after the course. The last group is for students with a profile to write: good interview questions to ask teachers for the school paper, a class assignment or a careers project.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Start of term
What's the best way to do well in your class?
Why ask it
Ask in the first week rather than after the first bad grade. Teachers usually name the one habit students skip, such as doing the reading beforehand or handing in a draft early, and that is a better guide than the syllabus.
How do you prefer students to reach you: email, after class, or office hours?
Why ask it
Settles the thing that causes most friction later. Some teachers answer email at ten at night and some will not open it until Monday, and knowing which saves you from assuming you were ignored.
What got you interested in this subject in the first place?
Why ask it
A specific answer, a class they took or a job they had, gives you a hook for later conversations. A vague answer often means they inherited the course rather than chose it, which is also worth knowing.
What do students usually find hardest in this course?
Why ask it
Puts the difficult stretch on your calendar before you reach it. A teacher who has run the course several times can name the exact unit where grades tend to drop.
What should I focus on when I study for your exams?
Why ask it
Tells you the format as much as the content. If the answer is about definitions you prepare differently than if it is about applying a method to an unfamiliar problem.
How do you decide what goes into this course and what gets cut?
Why ask it
The answer separates what the department requires from what the teacher chose, which tells you where they will spend the most energy.
What's the best project you've seen a student do in this class?
Why ask it
Gives you a real standard to aim at instead of guessing from the rubric. Ask what made it good, not just what it was about.
How would you describe a strong answer in your subject?
Why ask it
Every field has its own idea of a good answer and it is rarely spelled out. Hearing it from the person doing the grading removes most of the guesswork.
How much time outside class should I expect this course to take each week?
Why ask it
The number tells you whether the syllabus is realistic and lets you plan around your other courses. If the answer is that it varies, ask which weeks are the heavy ones so you can move other commitments off them.
Do you want us to do the reading before the lecture or after it?
Why ask it
Some lectures are built to preview the reading, others to unpack it, and doing it in the wrong order wastes hours every week. Teachers usually have a firm preference and are surprised to be asked.
Which chapters and resources do you actually use, and which can I skip?
Why ask it
Reading lists carry material nobody ever touches, often because the book was chosen years ago. Finding out what is decorative buys back real time, and asking shows you intend to use the rest.
What counts as participation in here, and does it affect my grade?
Why ask it
Participation can mean talking in class, posting on the forum, or just showing up, and the working definition often differs from what the syllabus implies. Quiet students in particular need to know which version is being scored.
How do you want us to work together on homework without it crossing into copying?
Why ask it
Honesty policies are written vaguely and enforced specifically, and the person who decides is standing in front of you. Asking where they draw the line protects you far better than rereading the policy page.
When you say to show your work, how much detail do you want?
Why ask it
The gap between what students show and what teachers expect costs marks in almost every subject, and it takes one sentence to clear up. Ask for an example of an answer that got full credit rather than a general description.
Is there anything about how I work, or what I need, that you'd rather hear now than in week ten?
Why ask it
This opens the door to mentioning an accommodation, a job, a language, or an ongoing family situation while it is still a planning conversation rather than a crisis. Teachers can work around almost anything they know about early and very little they learn late.
Help and feedback
How do you want me to use your comments on my work?
Why ask it
Most students read the grade and skip the margins. Asking signals you intend to revise, and the answer often comes with an offer to look at a second draft.
If I fall behind, what does getting extra help look like?
Why ask it
Asking while you are still keeping up is very different from asking in a panic. You also learn whether help means office hours, a tutoring center, or a study group.
What mistakes do you see students make that are easy to avoid?
Why ask it
This usually gets process advice rather than content advice: starting the essay the night before, ignoring the rubric, citing sources loosely.
Do you have advice for sticking with something once it stops making sense?
Why ask it
This asks about the middle of learning rather than the start. Most teachers have a specific routine here: rewriting notes by hand, working a problem backwards, leaving it overnight.
What's one thing I could change this week to do better?
Why ask it
Small and immediate, which makes it easy to answer honestly. A teacher who has been paying attention will name something about your work rather than a general study tip.
Can I show you a draft before the deadline, and how far ahead do you need it?
Why ask it
Some teachers will read a draft a week out and will not look at anything sent later, some cannot read drafts at all for fairness reasons. Either way you learn the real deadline sitting behind the printed one.
Are the practice problems about the same difficulty as the test, or harder?
Why ask it
This is a fair question and teachers usually answer it honestly, which changes how you read your own practice results. If practice is deliberately harder, struggling with it means less than you think; if it is easier, breezing through it means less.
I followed the lesson but could not do the homework. Where does that usually break down?
Why ask it
This is the most useful sentence in the list because it separates understanding from execution, which is a distinction most teachers immediately recognize. Bring the specific problem where it stopped working, not just the feeling of being lost.
Could you work one example all the way through, including the steps you normally skip?
Why ask it
Teachers compress familiar steps without noticing, and those skipped steps are frequently the ones that confuse everyone. Naming the skipped steps makes the request concrete instead of asking them to explain it again the same way.
Is there a way to check whether my answer is right without asking you?
Why ask it
Self checking turns homework from guessing into practice, and most subjects have a method: substituting back, estimating, or a source you can compare against. A teacher who says there is no way to check has told you something worth knowing about the subject too.
On my last assignment, what would have moved it up one grade?
Why ask it
Far more answerable than asking how to improve generally, because it points at one piece of work in front of both of you. If the reply is only about presentation or length, ask whether the thinking was where it needed to be.
Which of my mistakes were careless and which ones mean I misunderstood something?
Why ask it
The two need completely different responses, and students routinely treat a misunderstanding as a slip and then repeat it. Teachers can usually sort your errors into those piles in under a minute if you bring the marked work.
How much of this do we build on later, and how much is just for this unit?
Why ask it
It tells you what to actually retain versus what to learn well enough for now, which is a legitimate use of limited time. Anything named as foundational is worth going back to even after the test is over.
Where does the way you explain this differ from how the textbook does it?
Why ask it
Teachers usually have a reason for their own version, and hearing it resolves the confusion of holding two conflicting explanations. It also tells you which one to reproduce in an exam answer.
Beyond the class
Is there a book, video, or site you'd point me to if I want more?
Why ask it
Teachers hold recommendations they rarely get asked for. A specific title means they follow the field beyond what the syllabus requires.
Can you say more about the topic we covered last week? I keep thinking about it.
Why ask it
Naming a specific topic shows you were paying attention and lets a teacher talk about the part of the course they actually like. General praise for the class does neither.
Where does this subject show up outside school?
Why ask it
Pushes past the textbook example. If no example comes easily, the material may be more abstract than the course suggests, which is useful before you choose a major.
What kinds of work or further study does this subject lead into?
Why ask it
Teachers see where former students end up. Their answer is more grounded than a careers page because it comes from people they taught.
How could I push myself further in this class?
Why ask it
Worth asking only if you are already on top of the work, otherwise it reads as posturing. Answers range from an extended assignment to a reading list to a research placement.
Is there anything you'd tell me that I haven't thought to ask?
Why ask it
Leaves room for what does not fit your other questions: a changed deadline, a program you qualify for, an observation about how you write.
Interview questions
How long have you been teaching, and what did you do before this?
Why ask it
An easy opener that also collects the facts a profile needs: years, schools, earlier jobs. Write the dates down as they speak, since those are the details a teacher will notice if the article gets them wrong.
When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?
Why ask it
Listen for a moment rather than a general statement: one class, a summer job, a teacher of their own. If the answer stays general, ask where they were when they decided.
What was school like for you when you were our age?
Why ask it
Classmates tend to turn to this answer first. Ask which subject gave them trouble, because a teacher admitting to a bad year in maths makes a better quote than a list of prizes.
What keeps you interested in teaching this after years of it?
Why ask it
Invites honesty rather than a pep talk. The best sign is an answer built on something small, one good discussion or a student who came back years later, rather than a statement about shaping young minds.
What does your day look like once the last bell rings?
Why ask it
Students only see the part of the job that happens in the room. Marking, planning, meetings and clubs sit in the rest, and a plain account of one ordinary evening can surprise readers more than any opinion does.
Can you tell me about a lesson that went completely wrong, and what you changed afterwards?
Why ask it
Give them a few seconds, because the first answer offered is usually a safe one. The experiment that failed or the plan that ran out after ten minutes is the story people repeat once the interview is printed.
What has changed most about teaching since you started?
Why ask it
Suits someone who has been at it for a while, and it brings out concrete things: phones, class sizes, how homework gets handed in. With a new teacher, swap it for how the job differs from what they pictured in training.
Which moment in a classroom are you proudest of?
Why ask it
Ask for one moment, not a career summary. A single day, with what was said or done, gives you a scene to open the piece with. Leave any student in the story unnamed unless the teacher says otherwise.
What do you do outside school that your students would never guess?
Why ask it
Here is where the band, the marathon or the second language comes out. If it is for the school paper, ask whether they have a photo and whether they are happy for it to be printed.
If you could change one thing about how school works, what would it be?
Why ask it
Teachers hold views on timetables, testing and class sizes and are seldom asked for them on the record. Say that it is for publication before they answer, so they can choose how frank to be.
What advice would you give a student who is thinking about becoming a teacher?
Why ask it
The one to ask when the interview is for a careers assignment. Follow it with what they studied and what they would do differently, and note where they trained, because the route into teaching depends on the country and the state.
What do you wish more students asked you about?
Why ask it
Teachers tend to name the thing they repeat every single term and nobody hears. It is also one of the few polite openings to hear what frustrates them about the course, told calmly rather than in an end-of-term review.
What would you like students to remember about your class ten years from now?
Why ask it
A good last question, since it lets them sum up in their own words. The reply is often short enough to quote whole, which hands you an ending.
Talking to a Teacher Outside Class
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Where Each Question Belongs
- During class: clarifying something being taught right now, if the teacher takes questions as they go.
- The two minutes after class: one short follow up, or a request for a longer conversation later.
- Office hours: study strategy, extra challenge, career questions, anything that needs more than a minute.
- Email: scheduling, absences, extension requests, anything you want a written record of.
Making the Conversation Worth Their Time
Bring the attempt, not just the question
Show the notes you took, the paragraph you got stuck on, or the two answers you cannot choose between. Teachers can diagnose a specific mistake far faster than a general feeling of confusion.
Say how much time you need
Opening with "do you have five minutes" or "this needs longer, can I come to office hours" lets them answer properly instead of rushing you at the door.
Report back
If you try a study method they suggested or read something they recommended, tell them what happened. That single follow up is what turns a teacher into someone who writes you a reference later.
Interviewing a teacher for the school paper
Book a time instead of catching them at the door, and say what the piece is for and where it will appear. Open with the easy factual questions, ask whether you may record or should take notes, and read names, dates and quotes back to them before anything is printed.
What Lands Badly
Asking what is already in the syllabus
Deadlines, weightings, and office hour times are usually written down. Check first, then ask about the things a document cannot answer.
Making every conversation about the grade
Arguing points question by question rarely changes a total and uses up goodwill. Ask what a better version of the work would have looked like instead.
Asking for help the day before it is due
A teacher can usually rescue a plan with a week to go and almost nothing with twelve hours to go. The timing of the request is part of the request.