How to Meet with Your Professor

I mentioned briefly previously about meeting with one's professor. In that post, I argue that many community college students don't know how to ask help, and yet we should expect students to ask for helping. I've found that many students either fear their professor (like an alien, nonhuman), find too busy to meet that professor, or somehow inaccurately believe that meeting a professor is not worth the energy.

A few truths:

1. You have the right to meet with your professor, no matter how big or small the class section. You have that right because of your financial and time investment to your academic and community success. 
2. Your professor is obligated by the college to meet students. As professors, we must provide hours to meet students.
3. Multiple studies show that the more time students meet with professors out of the classroom, students are more successful. That's important -- the more time you meet out of the classroom, the more success you will be.
4. On the other hand, the professor has limited time and space to meet hundreds of students (remember, underpaid, overworked UPOW), and students learn to a level of independence. OTOH OTOH, freshmen and sophomores should be much more dependent than upperclassmen. It's ok to be dependent for freshmen in community college. Professors need to remember that.

Dali, "Persistence of Memory"

Here some rules for meeting your professor:

1. Check the syllabus (we need to talk about how to read a syllabus; professors assume freshmen students know how to read a syllabus, but it's a strange genre -- another discussion). Check the syllabus for location, times, and any professor expectations for meeting. Check the syllabus again. Professors worship their own syllabus as if holy texts need to be studied them.
2. Similarly, check on-line resources for offices and locations. Often additional or changes to hours are notified on the on-line (at my college, D2L). We'll talk more about using on-line resources.
3. Once you identify location and time, phone or e-mail a request to meet that professor and prepare a brief agenda. Keep your agenda for 10 minutes until the professor determines together need additional time.
1. Phone calls are usually more useful than e-mails. Some professors just don't check e-mail often.
2. Ask for a full week ahead. Professors (UPOW) can rarely meet within 24 hours, even though you feel the time is urgent.
3. Keep phone messages and email messages very brief. Don't ramble. We'll talk more about more efficient communication strategies.
4. Focus on 1 or 2 agenda items. You can always meet your professor about other questions and concerns. Focus.
4. Practice the location a few days before your meeting. I've found some students get lost in their buildings. Ask for the professor's assistant to clarify that the actual place is correct.
5. Arrive at least five (5) minutes early. Never ask your professor to wait. I realize you're very busy. I know that. But professors (UPOW) are busy, too.
6. Keep 

After your meeting with your professor, write your own debrief:

1. Propose a future meeting in two weeks to learn about your concern
2. Write notes about your meeting
3. Write notes connections between the meeting with the actual class experience
4. Write notes how you can connect this meeting with other courses as a metacognitive learning exceptions

As you reflect on that meeting, e-mail (really, here e-mail only) a brief summary of the meeting, expressing both grateful and any concerns. In that brief e-mail, suggest a future meeting in two weeks to demonstrate how your classroom and learning has improved and how to continue your learning.

In summary, prepare, be brief, reflection, and prepare again.

Student Learning Involvement

1. Practice. When you start your semester, arrange to meet your professor in or out of office. Practice the plan, the meeting, and be prepared for note-taking.
2. Reflect. Reflect before how you feel about meeting your professor, what you learn in the meeting and learn about the meeting, and what you suggest for your future meetings. 

Professor Learning Involvement

1. I'm interested how professors urge meetings with students and to teach them how to meet. I feel that professors have assumed their old college experiences and how university (especially grad school) is different than the community college experience. We need to learn more about that.
2. Similarly to suggestion above about student learning, we need to reflect about our own power relationships with students. How do we reflect about communication, teaching students for small conversations, and how effective meetings can support student learning. I plan to blog in future posts about (anonymously) student meetings to learn how I manage.

Resources

Dali, Salvador. "Persistence of Memory." 1931. Painting.