You can’t control the first impression a teacher had of you. You can control the fortieth.

Early impressions form fast and out of very little, often from a bad week you did not choose. Arguing with one rarely moves it. Repetition does, because an opinion formed in September is held up by the evidence that follows it, and you supply most of that evidence.

Pick one class where you think you are already written off and change something small and visible for three weeks: in before the bell, handed in on time, one question asked. Say nothing about turning a corner. Let the next forty days do the talking.