DR. WALLACE: The other day at school, I was talking to a friend of a friend, and I told her various things. At one point, I used one of our local slang words here to refer to a particular garment of clothing.

I later found out that she misunderstood what I was talking about because she thought I was making a direct put-down of her when I absolutely was not. I also found out that she came from a different part of the country to our school, so she's likely not familiar with everything we say here, especially the way we use local slang at our high school.

What can I do about this? I feel terrible, but the two times I've tried to talk to her, she just put her hand up and walked away from me. — I Truly Meant No Disrespect, via email

I TRULY MEANT NO DISRESPECT: Instead of trying to plead your case directly to her continuously whenever you come across her path, explain to your common friend what you were saying and why. Let that friend know you feel terrible about the situation.

Do the same with other friends of yours whenever her name comes up in conversation or whenever you have an opportunity to let your friends know you feel bad about something that you didn't intend to have a negative connotation.

Beyond that, there's not much more you can do. In the future, if you're not sure that someone is from your area, still feel free to use your local slang words, but quickly define the slang term right after saying it to avoid any future misunderstandings. Communication indeed is important between friends and acquaintances, and words matter. However, in your case, I side with you because you explained your intention well. Hopefully, someone at your school will eventually be able to convince this girl that you truly meant nothing disrespectful at all during your conversation with her.

MY TEACHER SHUT ME DOWN AND DOCKED MY GRADE

DR. WALLACE: I'm an excellent student and I fear I've now jeopardized one of my grades in an important class of mine during my senior year of high school. I've never had to do a make-up assignment before, but we had a family incident a week ago that caused me to miss several days of school, which was not my fault.

I had assumed that a make-up assignment was simply completing and submitting any homework assignments missed, but this teacher apparently had mentioned early in the school year that a make-up assignment included not only missed homework assignments, but additionally a three-page essay on any chapter we had studied in this class.

When I turned in the homework that I missed, the teacher asked me for the extra essay, and I simply asked her what essay she was talking about. Once I realized my mistake, it was too late because she told me not to worry about it as she would just "mark down" my homework grade as incomplete for the three homework assignments I had missed, even though I had them completed and turned them in to her. I started to plead my case a bit more with this teacher, but she quickly shut me down and a sixth sense told me not to push the issue further.

I've had a good grade in this class so far, so what can I do to be sure that this incident won't impact my overall grade in this class? I aim to attend a major university next fall. — I Didn't Know About the Essay, via email

I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE ESSAY: My sixth sense tells me that your teacher indeed explained the essay early on in the school year, but because you're the type that never misses assignments, you likely dismissed it almost subconsciously as soon as you heard about it back then. In any case, you were correct not to press the matter further, as you would have been risking elevating your teacher's ire.

What you can do is to continue working hard in this class, be extra sure to participate earnestly in classroom discussions and wait until there are about 6 to 8 weeks left in the school year. At that point, you could ask this teacher one day after class if there might be an opportunity to do any additional work. Be sure to say that you would be asking not simply on behalf of yourself, but on behalf of the whole class, as you would be quite interested in doing more work to continue bolstering your grade, and you are aware of other students who would gladly like to do the same.

This earnest request would be realistic and reasonable, since you are not asking for it on your behalf alone. You would also indicate to this teacher how much value you place on receiving a good grade in this class. Doing an excellent job academically in this class between now and the point you bring up the suggestion will give you the best opportunity to have this teacher potentially provide access to make up the ground you previously lost.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: Estúdio Bloom at Unsplash