If you are in a high school class, see your teacher outside of class hours. Meet to discuss any issues or challenges you are having, or simply to discuss something in particular that piqued your interest. If you are in a college course, visit your teacher during their office hours. Ask questions, raise concerns, or bring work that is in progress to get your teacher’s feedback.
If you are learning about military strategies in WWII, relate it to WWI strategies that you learned about earlier in the year. You could say “it’s interesting that the machine gun was developed during WWI but it really helped turn the tide during WWII. ” Relate what you have read to real-world issues or decisions. You could ask “did you know that after Melville’s White Jacket was published Congress banned flogging in the Navy?”
If you know that your teacher generally asks questions from the lecture notes from the day before, take good notes. If your teacher asks for opinions, think about where you stand in relation to the issues you have read or learned about. Do you agree or disagree, and why?
If you disagree, say something along the lines of “I can see why you feel that way, but in my opinion…” or “from my point of view…”
