Before you email your instructor…
…perhaps go through this flowchart?
To be honest, I love it when my students seek me out to ask me questions… except when those questions can be answered by just reading the class syllabus.
Although I cannot speak for all the instructors out there, what I do think is that most of instructors enjoy being part of the students’ learning experience. I look forward to office hours and discussing class topics with students – it does not matter to me whether the subject matter is advanced or not, I love to make clarifications and serve as a resource for students who strongly desire to learn the materials.
Yet, when they continue ask me questions that can be answered by the syllabus,…I hesitate and wonder whether to answer their questions or to refer them to the syllabus so that they can find the answers on their own. While I do not want to discourage students from asking me questions, I do not want to encourage them to ask me questions that they can easily find with a bit of effort…. I think it is not very healthy for students to be fed immediate answers, without learning to seek the answers for themselves. What would you do?