Questions to Ask Your English Teacher
Questions for a student to ask an English teacher about how work is marked, how to build an argument rather than summarise a plot, what feedback to act on first, and what to read next.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What are we actually being marked on in this class?
Why ask it
Most students guess at this for a whole term. The answer is usually a rubric with weightings, and hearing which category carries the most marks changes where you spend your effort more than any study tip will.
Which book on the syllabus are you most looking forward to teaching?
Why ask it
An easy question that gets a real answer, and a teacher's enthusiasm tells you where the best lessons will be. It also reveals which texts they teach because they chose them and which arrived with the curriculum.
What do the strongest essays you get have in common?
Why ask it
Marking criteria describe standards in the abstract; this asks the person holding the pen. Expect something specific about a clear line of argument or precise use of quotation, and treat whatever they name first as the priority.
What is the most common reason a paper loses marks here?
Why ask it
The inverse of the previous question and often more useful, because the failures repeat. If the answer is retelling the plot or unsupported assertion, you now know the two things to check for before you hand anything in.
Could you show me a strong paragraph next to a weak one?
Why ask it
Abstract advice about analysis rarely transfers. Two paragraphs side by side make the difference visible in a way no comment in a margin can, and most teachers keep examples they can anonymise.
Out of all your comments on my last piece, which one should I fix first?
Why ask it
Feedback usually arrives as a dozen notes of unequal importance. Forcing a ranking gets you the structural problem rather than the comma splices, and it stops you spending revision time on the easiest corrections.
How do I write about a book I did not like without it turning into a complaint?
Why ask it
A real difficulty, and teachers have a technique for it: analyse what the text is trying to do before judging whether it succeeds. The answer also tells you how much disagreement they will tolerate.
Am I allowed to argue against the standard reading of a text, and how do I do it well?
Why ask it
Some teachers welcome this and some quietly punish it, and you want to know which before you stake a paper on it. Either way you learn what evidence they expect before an unconventional claim is taken seriously.
What should I do when I have read the whole thing and still have nothing to say?
Why ask it
Every student hits this and most assume it means they are not clever enough. Teachers have concrete methods for it, annotating a single page closely, looking for what is missing, and hearing one is worth more than a reading list.
How do I build an argument instead of retelling what happens?
Why ask it
The single most common weakness in school essays. Listen for whether they describe an argument as a claim someone could disagree with, which is the test that makes the difference practical rather than abstract.
How much quoting is too much, and how short can a quotation be?
Why ask it
Students tend to quote in long blocks to prove they read the book. The useful answer is usually about brevity and analysis, a few words followed by a sentence on why those words, and that is a habit you can change immediately.
What is a habit in my writing that I probably do not notice?
Why ask it
Teachers see patterns across a term that you cannot see in one piece: hedging, long sentences that lose their subject, a favourite construction repeated. A named habit is fixable, whereas write more clearly is not.
What exactly are we meant to do with the poems? Reading them once does not seem to be enough.
Why ask it
Admits the real problem rather than pretending. Expect a process: read aloud, mark what repeats, notice where the rhythm breaks. Poetry is where method matters most and where students are most often left to guess.
Do you mark grammar separately, and how much does it move a grade?
Why ask it
Practically useful, since the answer varies from a small proportion of the marks to a hard ceiling on the grade. It tells you whether proofreading is a finishing touch or the difference between two grades.
Can I redraft something for a better mark, or is the point that I carry the note into the next piece?
Why ask it
Policies differ and are rarely stated. Even where redrafting earns nothing, asking often gets you an offer to read a revision informally, which is the most valuable feedback in the course.
What are you looking for in class discussion, and does staying quiet cost me?
Why ask it
Participation marks are often real and often unexplained. The answer also tells you what counts: some teachers want volume of contributions, others one comment that engages with what somebody else said.
If I want to read more on my own, where would you send me next?
Why ask it
Recommendations pitched at you specifically beat any general list, and teachers pay attention to a student who asks. Ask them to name where to start rather than an author, since the wrong first book puts people off for years.
What made you want to teach English rather than write?
Why ask it
A fair, personal question that is not intrusive. The answer often explains their emphasis in class, whether they came in through literature, linguistics, or writing, which tells you what they are best placed to help with.
What do students most often misunderstand about how you mark?
Why ask it
Invites the teacher to correct a rumour, and there is usually one: that longer is better, that a strong opinion is risky, that secondary reading is required. Correcting it early saves you a term of misdirected effort.
Which skill from this class do you think matters most after the exam?
Why ask it
A closing question that asks them to be honest about the difference between the syllabus and the point. Answers usually concern reading closely or making a case in writing, and knowing which they mean tells you what they are really teaching.
Making these conversations count
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Where and when to ask
Not in the last thirty seconds of a lesson
Questions about your own work need ten minutes and a marked piece of paper on the table. Ask for office hours, a break, or the time after class, and say roughly what you want to discuss so they can bring the file.
Bring the work with you
A conversation about a specific paragraph goes somewhere. A conversation about how to be better at essays does not. Mark two places you were unsure about before you go.
Write down what they say
You will remember the tone and forget the instruction. Note the exact phrasing of any criterion they name, since that phrasing tends to reappear on the marking sheet.
What to do with the answers
- Turn the single most important comment into a checklist item you apply to your next piece before submitting it.
- If they name a habit in your writing, search your last essay for it and count the instances. The number is usually higher than you expect.
- If they offer to read a draft, agree a date there and then rather than leaving it open.
- Keep a running list of the texts they recommend and which one they said to read first.
- Re-read one marked essay a month after the mark. The comments make more sense once the disappointment has faded.
Things to avoid asking
Anything answered on the first page of the handout
Word counts, deadlines, and the reading order are all written down somewhere. Asking about them uses up the goodwill you need for the harder questions.
What mark will I get
Teachers cannot answer this and asking puts them on the defensive. Ask what would move the work up a band instead, which is the same question in a form they can answer.
Can you just tell me what to say about the book
Whatever wording you receive, it will read as borrowed. Ask instead how they decide what is worth arguing about in a text.