<p>This may seem like a rather stupid question coming from a socially awkward nerd, but when you email your teachers or contact them any other way, do you start with "Dear Mr/Mrs <em>_", or do you just say "Hello/Hi/[insert greeting here], Mr/Mrs _</em>" I know it's not really an important thing to worry about, but I'm just curious as to how formal you guys are when writing to your teachers, as in, I don't want to be the only one to say "Hi" while everyone else writes a business letter of sorts. Thanks :D</p>
<p>Well I think that the greeting that you are comfortable with stating depends on your interection with the teacher in the class room, but as for me, I just start with a quick Hello/Hi Mr./Mrs. ________, and then proceed with my questions. It doesn’t seem too formal/unformal to me. (:</p>
<p>I just say start off by saying hi. I think it would be awkward saying “Dear…” :P</p>
<p>Just say hello. You can give your principal the “dear.”</p>
<p>^ Would Dean of Studies be considered principal level?</p>
<p>Yeah, I normally say “Hi, Mr/Mrs…,” but I see a lot of friends/classmates putting “Dear” instead. So I kind of just assumed that I was doing the wrong thing.</p>
<p>Sure, you can say “dear” to him/her. At the teacher level, you’ll see them every day and it gets a little more personal I say. I often give adults in the community a “hello,” it sort of puts you at their level and you can still work professionally with them.</p>
<p>Okay, so I guess I’ll write “Hi” or something of the sort from now on. Thank you all for the advice!</p>
<p>When I email any teacher who knows me (ie any teacher who I’ve had for at least a month or so), I say “Hey, Mr./Ms. __<strong><em>, it’s Amelia </em></strong><strong>." When I email an administrator or a teacher I don’t know well or am discussing something important (and by this I don’t mean grades; I mean serious concerns or anything official), I just say, "Mr./Ms. __</strong>,” then skip a line and start in on what I want to say. You can’t go wrong if you don’t put anything at all! It’s also the default way to address someone if you’re unsure. Many letters from businesses or anyone you don’t know start that way because it would be odd to say anything else.</p>
<p>I email them the same way i would anyone ;)</p>
<p>If I’m just emailing homework I don’t adress it to them, and it’s not formal. If I have questions or something like that I just put the teacher’s name at the top ie:</p>
<p>Mr Smith,
I was wondering whether you could help me with…</p>
<p>Well, I know most of my teachers well and talk to some of them really casually (as in, more casually than I care to admit/would ever tell my uptight parents), so usually i’d just drop in unannounced if I had a question. When I DO send an e-mail though, i’ll start with either a “Hi, Ms. Teacher,” or just a “Hi.” I feel like anything more formal, especially a dear, would be awkward, especially if it’s a teacher I know kind of well but don’t really talk to outside of class.</p>
<p>Then again, I prefer face-to-face interaction with teachers unless it’s absolutely impossible (argh it’s 10AM on Sunday I have no idea how to do this must catch teacher before football starts arghhhh).</p>
<p>Ugh, my teachers are so irritatingly informal about email. They respond with no greeting, no capitalization, no punctuation. Lazy lazy lazy.</p>
<p>^ I’ve noticed that a lot of adults are that way about email. I don’t get it. Is it because they never bothered to learn to type as kids do today? I’m with you, fascination - I’m appalled at the laziness I see in emails.</p>
<p>@fascination and MaineLonghorn Last year I had a teacher who, whenever I emailed him, would respond with single words or letters b/c he was too lazy to type anything out (or maybe he hated computers, IDK). Once I asked him whether an assignment should be written in paragraph form or a numbered list, and his email reply was: “#”. Just that.</p>
<p>@fascination same. I used to make my emails formal, but now I don’t know how I’m supposed to make them.</p>
<p>I’m so awkward with email :(</p>
<p>It really just comes down to the comfort level between you and the teacher. My English teacher and I email back and forth and it’s very, very, very informal. The same goes with my math teacher, my principal, guidance counselor, and front office staff. But with my science teachers it has always been formal-to an extent. I say hi and go on, but it’s always with proper everything. I don’t really make as many jokes as I would in other emails or really much else. It’s basically all business.</p>
<p>I say Hi/Hello Mr./Ms. _____. Some of my friends don’t even start off their emails with greetings- they just go straight to “tell me what I want to know”, haha.</p>
<p>Also, it only just occurred to me, but i’ve never put my own name (and usually not the teacher’s name) in my e-mail, because our school has e-mail accounts for all of us, and it’s made clear as to both who’s sending the e-mail and who’s receiving it.</p>
<p>Huh. Weird.</p>
<p>I don’t email my teachers very often… but whenever I email adults like faculty/advisers/things of that sort, I usually just start with Hello/hi, and then proceed with the message. Then I end it with Thanks, _____ ← and my name.</p>