I think @bjkmom has offered excellent advice.
I’d like to add is that, despite the extreme pressure today’s high school students are feeling, and in spite of the urgency-filled posts here on CC, your future will be fine despite this difficult turn.
The key is to find a way to address the situation.
You wrote, “I was wondering if there is any way I could make up for it,” and you also wrote, “I tend to have a ton of anxiety when talking to the teacher about it.” Therein lies the challenge, in my opinion. The very people you need to talk to in order to know how to solve this problem are absolutely your teachers. There’s no getting around it.
The good news is that teachers tend to be receptive to students who care and want to improve.
Even more good news is that you have options about how to reach them:
- write personal letters to each teacher detailing your concerns and questions
- ask a parent or other supportive adult to come with you to speak with your teachers
- email each teacher
- seek support from an academic counselor at your high school
etc.
Anxiety can feel debilitating, and I sympathize with your situation. It’s VERY important that you learn to manage it enough to communicate to your teachers that you genuinely care about the courses, the material that they are teaching, and your grades.
To that point, I regularly share this helpful article with my (college) students. It is about anxiety and focuses on a calming exercise: https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/kzxe83/this-breathing-exercise-can-calm-you-down-in-a-few-minutes Many students have told me privately that they found it to be especially helpful. I hope you find it useful.
On a separate but related note, I am wondering if you may need some additional academic support. Why are you missing days and assignments? Are you having difficulty with focus, executive function, auditory or visual processing? None of these challenges would be anything to be embarrassed about, but, rather, something to investigate promptly so that you can receive any appropriate accommodations.
You will be okay. The key is to put one foot in front of the other and move forward through this situation. You can do it. Even if these do end up being your final grades, life will be all right. I know there are so many messages bombarding you that grades are the be-all-end-all of life, but it’s not true. Good grades may make the path easier, but they are not mandatory. Many, many highly successful people had low high school GPAs. And in colleges across America, “average” and “below average” students are earning their degrees and looking forward to their bright futures.
You come across as an intelligent student who tries hard, but whose efforts are not currently reflected in your academic marks. A key, in addition to finding a way to communicate with your teachers, will be to figure out why things are going wrong. This will help you in future quarters. You are obviously a hard-working person who really cares. Good luck as you address all of this. You have already taken the first step by writing this post. It will be okay.
