How to Write an Email to Your Teacher

Jim LaBate
5 min readAug 14, 2019
Photo by Dan Dimmock on Unsplash

Email is an extremely efficient way to communicate with your teacher, especially if you have to send a quick and simple message or ask a question. Under ideal circumstances, you should be able to connect with your teacher almost immediately and, if needed, receive a timely reply. On the surface, an email to a teacher may seem similar to a text message you might send to a friend, but they’re not quite the same. So here’s a list of ideas to keep in mind before you begin.

Make sure the email is really necessary. As you can imagine, your teacher is dealing with numerous students and probably receives hundreds of emails during the course of a week. Thus, you shouldn’t burden your teacher with an unnecessary email about a paper’s due date or a question about a common procedure. Most general information about the course will be included on the course syllabus, or your teacher may have an online discussion board called “Ask the Professor” set up, so you can see the answers to frequently asked questions. Be sure to check both of those possibilities before you send an email. After all, you want your teacher to know that you are somewhat independent and resourceful.

Use the appropriate email address. When sending an email to a teacher, make sure you use the school’s email address rather than your personal email address. Yes, you may prefer to use your personal…

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Jim LaBate

Jim LaBate is a writer and teacher who assists in The Writing Center at Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) in Troy, New York.